posted by Tezzeret,
It is Thursday and Valve have just released the list of invited teams to the Western and Eastern Qualifiers for The International 2013. As mentioned before the Western qualifier will be hosted by The GD Studio while the Eastn qualifier will be hosted by BeyondTheSummit. So let's now take a look at what's in store for us on May 13th.


Western Qualifier:

May 13th - 19th, 2013


With so many good teams being invited to the Western qualifier, this is arguably one of the most stacked tournaments of the year. It is also possibly the closer fought qualifier of the two regions. With half of the teams having recent roster changes, the field is also highly difficult to predict, as old wisdom may fall short in the coming days.

The Old Dogs



us Evil Geniuses and de Mousesports have been long time top tier teams of the western scene, and were not far from consideration for a direct invite, if it had not been for greater inconsistency, and in the case of EG a prolonged period of absence from the scene, both of these two teams might well have seen themselves already invited. However, with both teams trying to inject some new life into their rosters for this qualifier, they are the teams who have to defend their ground against the onslaught of talented challengers.

Young Hounds From The CIS



Meanwhile, before the shuffle began to take place, two teams were on the ascension within the CIS scene, the second place finishers of RaidCall EMS One Spring Season, ru RoX.KiS, as well as the second place finisher from TechLas Cup LAN event in Moscow, ua iCCup. These two teams may have been slightly overlooked with all the buzz surrounding the newly formed star studded rosters, especially as earlier predictions of ua Artur 'Goblak' Kostenko returning to lead his former teammates in iCCup fell through, but they are certainly out to prove that had they only been given a short time longer to grow, they would have had to be in consideration even for a direct invite.

Redemption Song



Two teams which have had a rough while after a period of dominance are certainly ru Team Empire and fr dd.Dota. After losing ua Gleb 'Funn1k' Lipatnikov to ua Na`Vi, Empire stuggled to find stable ground, in the end seeing their former core split into two. The half that remained has now rebuilt around ru Dmitriy 'LighTofHeaveN' Kupriyanov, while the other half joined up with the French players of dd.Dota, who made up the core of the former eu mTw roster which won the Western Qualifiers last year. For both of these teams, this is now a quest of redemption, of vindication, as they seek to prove that they can once more reach the levels of their former successes.

Waiting For A Come-Up



Two teams who have constantly been on the verge of a breakthrough make up the final contestants for the Western Qualifier. dk Absolute Legends have not only a big name sponsor behind them, but also the Danish legacy of dk Meet Your Makers to live up to, but have not quite managed to make things click with their promising roster. Meanwhile, eu QPAD Red Pandas represent a very different kind of potential, presenting several young talented players along with a harrowed Starcraft 2 veteran and the might of a LAN environment, which however has after some initial success fallen short of the hopes of many fans. Both of these teams are not with their backs against the wall looking to make things happen at the 11th hour.

Western Qualifier Schedule and Format



The eight teams will be split into two groups of four, which will then play a miniature best-of-three double elimination bracket (GSL style) which will produce two teams which will advance to the second stage of the competition.


Image by GD Studio


Following this there will be a second group stage identical to that of the first group stage. The top two teams will then proceed to play a best-of-five Grand Final, the winner of which will qualify for the International 2013, while the runner up moves into contention for the Wildcard slot, to be played right before the event itself between the wildcard contestants from both West and East.

And according to GD Studio the Groups will be released in two days time live on their stream:




Schedule



May 13th 13:30 CEST: Group Stage 1: Group A, initial matches and winner’s match (3xBO3)
May 14th 17:00 CEST: Group Stage 1: Group A, loser’s match and final match (2xBO3)
May 15th 14:00 CEST: Group Stage 1: Group B, initial matches and winners’ match (3xBO3)
May 16th 17:00 CEST: Group Stage 1: Group B, loser’s match and final match (2xBO3)
May 17th 14:00 CEST: Group Stage 2: Initial matches and winner’s match (3xBo3)
May 18th 17:00 CEST: Group Stage 2: Loser’s match and final match (2xBO3)
May 19th 17:00 CEST: Grand Final (1xBO5)

Qualifier Teams Rosters:



Mousesports de Adrian 'Fata' Trinksde Dominik 'Black^' Reitmeierde Pascal 'paS' Lohmeierde Max 'Qojqva' Broeckerdk Troels 'syndereN' NielsenAbsolute Legends dk Brian 'MaNia' Strandbydk Mikkel 'miGGel' Bergse Jesper 'Miracle' Nyhléndk Jonathan 'unicorn' Argedk Christoffer 'Ryze' Wintherdd.Dota ua Artur 'Goblak' Kostenkofr Sebastien 'Ceb' Debsfr Titouan 'Sockshka' Merlozfr Thibault 'Funzii' Calonneru Airat 'Silent' GazievRoX.KiS ru Stanislav 'BzzIsPerfect' Glushanru Gleb 'hardEEv' Ushenkoru Vladimir 'Yol' Basovru Andrey 'Dread' Golubevru Aleksey 'Solo' BerezinEvil Geniuses us Clinton 'Fear' Loomisus Jimmy 'DeMoN' Hous Robert 'Bdiz' Tinnesca Jio 'Jeyo' Madayagnl Alaan 'Bamboe' FarajQPAD Red Pandas se Niklas 'Wagamama' Högströmse Hampus 'Mini' Olssonnl Wehsing 'SingSing' Yuenkr Kyung Hyun 'SeleCT' Ryoofi Jesse 'JerAx' VainikkaTeam Empire no Visar 'Valeera / twiSta / faker--' Zymberiru Vladislav 'blowyourbrain' Morozyukru Roman 'Scandal' Sadotenkovhr Damir 'Mitch' Skaricicru Dmitriy 'LightOfHeaven' KupriyanoviCCup by Maxim 'Jackal' Doroschenokby Oleg 'wejustzik' Zinovenkoua Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominokua Andrey 'alwayswannafly' Bondarenkoua Andrey 'Mag' Chipenko

Eastern Qualifier:

May 20th - 26th, 2013


As ever with the East, the Chinese teams look to dominate the qualifier against a varied field of talented teams from accross South-East Asia. With most of the big talent from Malaysia and Singapore already invited to the event, will the challengers be able to put up a fight? Let's have a look.

Our Chinese Overlords



Having won the Eastern qualifier last year without dropping a single game, cn TongFu will be looking to repeat their dominating performance. With cn Yang 'KingJ' Zhou solidifying their roster, they may very well do that, but they will face stiff competition from two teams that were formed after last years International, namely cn ViCi Gaming and cn RattleSnake.

While ViCi represent youthful talent, their playstyle has so far harkened back to old 4-protect-1 strategies, and looks unlike to have changed with the addition of legendary farmer cn Gong 'ZSMJ' Jian. Meanwhile RattleSnake represent a often more experimental take on the game, not being afraid to borrow strategies commonly seen in Europe. The wildcard of the group is cn Rising Stars, a team that was formed around the same time as RattleSnake but which has not quite come into their own yet.

Familiar Challengers



Even though th MiTH.Trust and ph Mineski have not made headlines lately in regards to their performance they are still considered to be the best teams their respetive countries have to offer, and the names of the respective organization are well remembered within the Dota scene. In particular MiTH may pose a threat to the Chinese teams.

The Underdogs



The perennial underdogs include up and coming team sg First Departure along with sg Neolution.Int. Both teams have had strong showings in tournaments based in South East Asia but never seem to be able to get that "big break" when going up against more seasoned opponents. Their big strength will be that the qualifiers are played online, with Singaporeans having famously good performances due to low pings.

Qualifier Teams Rosters:



MiTh.Trust th Trai 'Tnk' Akaravinakth Chanon 'aabBAA' Chiwpreechath Nattapong 'r5r5' Petkong th Pipat 'Lakelz' Prariyachatth Noppadon 'FeiMao' PaopongprapunVici Gaming cn Chen 'Cty' Tianyucn Lu 'Fenrir' Chaocn Xu 'Xtt' Xuntaocn Xu 'Fy' Linsencn Gong 'ZSMJ' JianFirst Departure sg Galvin 'Meracle-' Kang Jian Wensg Paul 'Hana' Tan Ke Dasg Wilson 'Poloson' Koh Chin Weisg Chan 'Lubby' Jun Jiesg Jonathan 'Scripted' Lee Wen JunRattleSnake cn Zhi Cheng 'LaNm' Zhangcn Kai 'kabu' Zhaocn Peng 'Icy' Wangcn Luo 'Xi' Yinqicn Guo 'Sag' LiRising Stars cn Xiaodong 'InJuly' Yangcn Yuxiang 'Air' Yincn Zhang 'Rabbit' Wangcn Su 'super' Pengcn Silong 'xdd' LiuLedion Dreamz ph Hiroshi 'Yoshi' Yoshimotoph Hiroshi 'Owey' Dela Cruzph Julius 'Julz' De Leonph Lloyd 'LA' Alfredph Patrick 'JyC' PascuaTongFu cn Chen 'Hao' Zhihaocn Zhang 'Mu' Pancn Wang 'SanSheng' Zhaohuicn Wang 'Banana' Jiaocn Zhou 'KingJ' YangMineski HyperX ph Raniel 'Yani' Ogdolph Jose Miguel 'Gio' Ramoleteph James 'Wootz' Valdezph Ryan Jay 'raging-potato' Quiph Joshua 'Owa' Dela Sernaph Joven 'Joven' Pancho

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