The announcement for the 2015 International invites could be just a day away, and with our predictions for the West explored, it's time to look at the East. Over the past couple of months, the performance of the top tier Chinese teams have distinctly separated themselves ahead of the competition, but there are still squads biting at their heels in search of a spot at TI5.

Recently, we saw the second coming of the Great China Reshuffle, where a majority of of the roster reshapes happened in trades, changing contracts, and even players coming out of 'retirement'. To fans rejoice,

Xu 'BurNIng' Zhilei was one of them, initially part of the DAC team

Big God 2.0* along with

Bai 'rOtK' Fan and

Zhi Cheng 'LaNm' Zhang, before the players went off in their own direction. "The Director"

Xiao8* also came back from holiday mode with a transfer to

PSG.LGD.

In the SEA scene, the top teams have been more consistent this past half year, but that doesn't mean they have been playing on the same level as the tier one teams from other regions. To top it off, the yearly recurrence of a dominating new roster, usually masterminded by

Chai 'Mushi' Yee Fung, has revealed itself in

Team Malaysia*, making the prospects of SEA at TI5 even higher.

As it has been revealed by The Compendium, there will be 10 invites all up. They also gave owners of The Compendium the chance to guess who will be invited, having no restrictions on the number of teams per region. For the sake of this article, I will be assuming that China will receive four direct invites, and South-East Asia just one, meaning that the East will pocket half of the free passes to TI5.

Predictions

Invites

The first question to ask is whether or not Valve will be inviting the defending champions

Newbee back, as their recent performance has dropped massively. Being fair, they were still the best team around post-TI4, winning four tournaments, both online and on LAN. To rub salt in the wound though,

Chen 'Hao' Zhihao has transferred to

Vici Gaming, and with xiao8 to LGD, the team is down two of their star veterans from the last International. Personally, I believe Valve will invite them back in the same way the invited

Alliance last year after falling from grace.

On the note of new acquisitions, Vici Gaming are currently the team to beat, as the have relentlessly dominated since their roster change post-TI4. Racking up the titles for ESL One New York, The Summit 2, VPGame Pro League, Starladder Series 12, and a runner up place at DAC, VG are a surefire invite. Though most of the year was with German carry

Dominik 'Black^' Reitmeier, Hao has melded into the team with ease, amplifying the aggressive yet flexible style of the Chinese titans.

VG crowned at Starladder Season 12 - SLTV's Facebook

Invictus Gaming stand out as Supergroup of Dota 2 with their revised star-studded lineup. To sweeten up the return of

Zeng 'Faith' Hongda, heralded carry BurNing joined the squad, making iG the most experienced team in the world as far as International appearances. These five burst onto the scene together by taking out the Major All Stars title dropping just a single game. They have also locked up the ESL One Frankfurt Qualifiers in first place, and had a respectable showing at Starladder Series 12, grabbing a second place. iG are looking to be the second easy bet for an invite.

iG Champions at Major All Stars

Now back under the guide of "Director 8", LGD Gaming's current roster might be the veteran organization's strongest lineup. xiao8 is back in a support role, alongside

Zeng Rong 'MMY' Lei who jumped ship from

DK*, to be the backbone behind

Liu 'Sylar' Jiajun,

Yao 'Somnus' Lu, and

Yao 'Yao' Zhengzheng. The past year of achievements have been underwhelming however, only winning G-League 2014 and i-League Season 2. They were close to winning VPGame Pro League after crushing VG in the Winner's Bracket Final, but were unable to repeat their actions in the Grand Final. LGD still seem like a solid contender for a TI invite, with their experience and good run the past months, round off my four Chinese invites.

Courtesy of LGD's Facebook Page

As far as the SEA invite goes, it seems to be a close race between

Rave* and

Team Malaysia*. While Rave have performed well across the past year, they have just 2 titles to show for it and a crowd-stunning DAC showing, netting them 5th place. Personally, I believe Team Malaysia, Mushi's current project, has impressed everyone with their hot run since being de-sponsored by EHOME, even qualifying for 2 LANs in 5 days. With former members of last year's

Titan* squad, and their constant domination over the SEA scene since teaming up together has snatched them a last minute invite.

Qualifiers: Teams to watch!

Out of the reshuffle, the once king organization of the DotA scene,

EHOME has returned with a strong squad filled with pride. With

Zhi Cheng 'LaNm' Zhang and

Bai 'rOtK' Fan joining the team, they have been going toe to toe with the other Chinese top squads, but with no significant victory to parade, it is likely they will be part of the qualifiers, missing out on a direct invite.

HyperGloryTeam* will most likely be joining them in the fight for a chance at TI5, but are a less experienced lineup fronted by

Gong 'ZSMJ' Jian. They had a strong performance at i-League Season 2, but also lack the title belts for an invite. The final team to keep an eye on in China would be

CDEC Gaming, a team that has had spurts of impressive play, stealing games off iG and VG.

Outside of Rave and MY,

MVP Phoenix* would be the next best SEA team continuously on top of the Korean scene. Going into the qualifiers, it seems it will be close between MVP and Rave. However,

Peter 'ppd' Dager might be right in thinking that SEA will get two invites, meaning we could see all three of these teams at the main event in Seattle.