posted by ProxyPL,
This week Alliance will have a chance to repeat history, as they return to Dreamhack Summer, the location of their last first place finish. The Swedes won DreamLeague Season 1 and now Season 3 is just around the corner. Their opposition includes a full-Navi squad and Virtus Pro. They took second at jD MLG Season 2 Championships but can they go one better to complete their comeback ahead of ESL One Frankfurt?

One year has passed since Alliance won their last LAN title



Dream League 1 was the
last first place finish for Loda
The last year has been a bumpy ride for se Alliance as they lacked stability and results. The return of se Jerry 'EGM' Lundkvist did not play out well, and Chessie's back injury at the end of 2014 forced the team to use additional stand-ins.

The post TI4 era did not go well for the TI3 winners, however, since the addition of fr Sebastien 'Ceb' Debs in early 2015 results for the team have picked up, and the 2nd place at the jD MLG Season 2 Championships a clear indication that Alliance are on the rise.

They will of course be joined at DreamLeague by NiP, the winners of X-Games, and given Dreamhack is on home soil and the current form of both teams, a Swedish victor at the event is very possible.

So what can we expect from NiP and Alliance? Io is a hero that both Swedish teams like to run and have a great success with. Of course they also favour the hot picks of this patch - Leshrac and QoP. Alliance will probably also turn to se Jonathan 'Loda' Berg's signature Slardar most likely paired up with se Per Anders 'Pajkatt' Olsson L. on Shadow Fiend. NiP on the other hand might prioritise Gyro yet again, despite not having the best win rate on that hero.

Despite entering the event on an even-keel in terms of form, the event is of far more importance to Alliance than to NiP. Alliance will head to ESL One Frankfurt shortly after Dreamhack Summer where they will be facing a much higher calibre of team. What is more they join the DreamLeague Season3 grid later than NiP, meaning this is definitely their event to lose assuming Navi and VP continue their slump when it comes to LAN performances.

Strongest on paper, not as scary on LAN



Can ArtStyle lead Na'Vi to
victory as he did in TI 5 qualifiers?
The two CIS teams attending the event would probably be strongest on paper. VP got invited to The International while Na'Vi triumphed in European qualifiers. However, neither backed that up with offline results as they both had an early exit at recent LANs.

To be fair at MDL in China the Ukrainians lacked their captain and drafter - ua Ivan 'Artstyle' Antonov which without a doubt played a huge role in their performance. In a recent interview ua Alexander 'XBOCT' Dashkevich said that MDL was supposed to be Na'Vi's big test.

With that unfortunate turn of events it didn't work out that way. Although, that probably means that Dream League 3 will be that test. Will we see the Na'Vi from TI5 qualifiers yet again, this time on LAN? Navi will not be attending ESL One Frankfurt next week which means this may well be their last LAN ahead of TI5.

Despite their poor showing at MLG, VP can definitely not be counted out. This time they will have time to adjusts to their opponents as they will only play BO3s. What is more their lackluster showing in Texas will for sure motivate them very much to bring their absolute A-Game to DreamHack. They have been invited to TI for a reason. If they play to the best of their abilities the Russian squads still should be the heavy favourites.

Sing_Sing during D2CL 5 finals

D2CL 5 3rd place finishers are also in the mix



eu Burden United will be coming into the event as underdogs. However that doesn't mean that they should be underestimated. They hold a very good record against X-Games gold medalists - NiP including a win at D2CL 5 LAN finals. That could come in handy as the Swedes will be on of their contenders in the first phase of the tournament.

Another thing that they have going for them if the fact that they didn't have to travel as of late. Not being exhausted or jet lagged as well as having an opportunity to watch their opponents play recently might be the right ingredients for an upset.

Basically Undisbanded? "Absolutely not."



eu Basically Unknown* will attend the event as a replacement for ru Team Empire who didn't manage to secure their visa. However, the team has disbanded one week ago. Does it mean that they will get back together? According to ro Ionut 'ArisE' Turtoi who has been interviewed by dotablast.com "absolutely not". Because of that it is hard to see this team achieving anything significant in this tournament.

Brackets



The playoff system in the DreamLeague Season 3 is similar to what we saw in previous editions. Based on the placing in the group stage top 2 teams are seeded directly into the Final Bracket while the other four teams have to battle in a double elimination bracket for the remaining two spots.

Image courtesy of dreamleague.dreamhack.se, click to enlarge.


Prize pool and schedule



The base prize pool of Dream League Season 3 was $100,000. It has been increased by the community up to nearly $150,000. The schedule of the event is as follows:

13th of June
13:30 – Preshow
14:00 – Match A – eu Burden United vs eu Basically Unknown* – BO1
15:15 – Match B – se Ninjas in Pyjamas* vs ua Natus Vincere – BO1
16:30 – Match C – Winner of Match A&B – BO3
19:00 – Match D – Loser of Match A&B – BO3
21:30 – Match E – Loser of Match C vs Winner of Match D – BO3

14th of June
13:30 – Preshow
14:00 – Match F – se Alliance vs Winner of Match C – BO3
16:30 – Match G – ru Virtus.Pro* vs Winner of Match E – BO3
19:00 – Match H – Loser of Match F&G – BO3
21:30 – Match I – Winner of Match F&G – BO3

15th of June
13:30 – Preshow
14:00 – Match J – Winner of Match H vs Loser of Match I – BO3
18:30 – Grand Final – Winner of Match I&J – BO3


Talent


  • Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden – Host
  • Shane “Shaneomad” Clarke – Co-host
  • Andy “Draskyl” Stiles – Commentator
  • Owen “ODpixel” Davies – Commentator
  • Troels “SyndereN” Nielsen – Commentator
  • David “Luminous” Zhang – Commentator
  • Jess Brohard – Reporter


You can watch the whole event here. For more informations about the event visit our coverage page.

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