posted by Abelle,
The CIS region in Dota 2 is one of the biggest in terms of player base, but for years professional CIS Dota 2 teams have seen only hints of greatness. With Virtus.pro’s second place finish at The Kiev Major, the time may have finally come for CIS Dota to finally regain some of its long-lost glory.


We might have been saying these things about ru Virtus.pro and CIS several months ago if things hadn’t gone unexpectedly wrong for VP at The Boston Major. After beating eu OG 3-0 in The Summit 6 Grand Final, VP were one of the favourites at the Major, but the pressure got to them and the team couldn’t get past us Evil Geniuses in the second round, finishing 5th-8th.

Their season since then was lacklustre thanks to an unfortunate run-in with internet issues and DDOS during Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 qualifiers which forced them to miss one of the biggest LANs between Majors. However, the team hadn’t grown weaker just because they weren’t competing in every LAN, and the Virtus.pro we saw in Kiev felt like a return to form after Boston’s minor setback.

So, what does Virtus.pro’s success mean for the CIS region? Firstly, it could help to promote roster stability. Virtus.pro’s current roster has been together since August of last year, and instead of making more shuffles when Boston didn’t go the way they’d hoped, they stuck together and worked through their problems.

In a region plagued by roster shuffles every few months, Virtus.pro’s example might give other teams something to look up to. It shows an alternative method to solving a team’s problems that focuses on working through issues rather than hoping the issues won’t persist with a new set of players.


Virtus.pro’s success should also help the CIS scene in a more concrete way, which is that it should free up room for other CIS teams to be successful in qualifiers without a much stronger team standing in their way. While Virtus.pro have already been receiving some direct invites to events, they made it to The Kiev Major through the newly created CIS qualifier.

If Valve keep the CIS qualifier for TI7, Virtus.pro shouldn't be in it. As the 2nd place team in the previous Major, they will most likely receive a direct invite to TI. With a CIS only qualifier, this would guarantee a spot in Seattle to one more CIS team.

Having at least one strong CIS team at TI7 will be big for the region since last year’s disappointing showing.

Only ua Natus Vincere attended The International 2016 thanks to a slightly baffling direct invite, and they finished 13th-16th after an atrocious group stage performance and a loss to cn Vici Gaming in the first round of the lower bracket.


Comparing last year to The International 2015 shows a stark difference. Two years ago, CIS had two direct invites (Virtus.pro and ru Team Empire), and two qualified teams (Na`Vi and ru Vega Squadron *) who had come out on top of the mixed EU/CIS qualifier.

If a team like Vega Squadron or Team Empire can pull off a strong showing in one the LAN events before TI7 qualifiers, maybe we’ll even see multiple direct invites for the region. If not, CIS is at least much better off than it was last year. Things have been rough, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter for fans of CIS Dota 2.

  • Abelle
    Abelle

    Abelle

    Annabelle Fischer
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