North America the most competitive region
Overall most teams have tried to compete in every single Regional Qualifiers with only
Evil Geniuses and 
Virtus.pro deciding to pick and choose where to play. From looking at the various Regionals, North America is the most competitive region after the birth of 
OpTic Gaming (ex-Team Dire) and 
Immortals* (2016 MVP.Phoenix roster). Meanwhile SEA and South America Regionals have been dominated by one team.
1.
Mineski2.
TNC Predator3.
ExecrationChallengers:
Fnatic / HappyFeet / Clutch GamersAhead of TI7
Mineski was shaky and Mushi was unable to work his magic quick enough to qualify the tournament. In the summer reshuffle the pick-up of a former Team DK team-mate 
Daryl Koh 'iceiceice' Pei Xiang along with 
Anucha 'Jabz' Jirawong has transformed the team's results. Mushi who had accepted to play support during his time in Fnatic is now in the driving seat on hard carries such as Anti-Mage and Lifestealer.Mineski are top of the food chain in SEA and have won 4 of the 5 Regional Qualifiers this month. The only tournament Mineski did not qualify for was ESL One Hamburg.
The biggest challenger to Mineski up until now has been
TNC Predator. TNC were runners-up behind Mineski in the SEA Regional Grand Finals for Starladder i-League S3 and Perfect World Masters. TNC were top 8 at TI7 and made no changes to the roster, continuing their run of good form which started when captain 
Theeban '1437' Siva joined the team in May.In 3rd place in SEA is
Execration who have finished top 3 in three of their four Regionals. They finished 1st in Group B for the PGL Open Bucharest ahead of TNC and WG.Unity before then finishing second overall behind Mineski. So far Jacky 'EternaLEnVy' Mao's Fnatic have had a hard time breaking into the top 3 in SEA.
1.
Vici Gaming2.
PSG.LGD3.
LGD.Forever YoungChallengers:
VGJ.Thunder / Invictus GamingThe chain of command in the Chinese region has not changed much with both
LGD.Forever Young and PSG.LGD still near the top of the food chain. One team which has slipped though is Invictus Gaming after the departure of Xu 'BurNIng' Zhilei. Vici Gaming have been the big new superpower this season and have benefited greatly from their coach Zhi Cheng 'LaNm' Zhang returning to play and captain the team. In the summer they also attracted iG.Vitality's star player Zhang 'Eurus' Chengjun to join the team, a very big power move. Behind VG sits LGD Gaming who qualified themselves for the Perfect World Masters but lost out to VG this morning in a heavy 3-0 defeat in the DotaPit Regional Grand Finals. LGD's only new recruit this season was
Xu 'Fy' Linsen who was brought in from VGJ to fill the void left by Yang 'Eleven' Wei Ren who joined VG.The LGD roster seems just a little bit ahead of TI7 4th place finishers LGD.FY but not by much. LFY fell to VG in the Grand Finals for SL i-League Season 3 Regionals and lost to VGJ.Thunder in the PGL Open Bucharest Regionals. LFY have yet to qualify for any Major or Minor.
I've excluded
Newbee because they have not competed since the TI7 Grand Finals in August.
1.
Virtus.pro2.
Natus Vincere3.
Team EmpireChallengers:
Vega Squadron * / M19 / Team Spirit Virtus.pro are still kings of CIS even amidst the talk about Na'Vi's rise in the Pro Circuit Regionals. Unlike other CIS teams VP have remained selective with which Regionals they compete in and skipped the qualifiers for both SL i-League S3 and the Perfect World Masters. They did however qualify for the first Major of the Pro Circuit ESL One Hamburg and the DotaPit Minor. They finished top 4 in the PGL Open Bucharest Regionals. Na'Vi is the big mover this season after the release of their former captain
Per Anders 'Pajkatt' Olsson L. and support 
Malthe 'Biver' Winther. They brought in Vladimir 'RodjER' Nikogosyan from Team Empire and placed their faith in fresh blood Vladislav 'Crystallize' Krystanek to act as their carry. In contrast to VP, Na'Vi have grinded these Regionals, winning spots at two Minors and finishing top 4 in 4 out of their 5 Regionals. Few would have expected such an incredible change in their results after the reshuffle but Na'Vi is "back", at least for now.Following VP and Navi is top 8 at TI7
Team Empire. Team Empire lost their super stand-in Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominok to OG but brought in Ivan 'Vanskor' Skorokhod to replace Rodjer. Team Empire were runners-up in the PGL Open Bucharest and DotaPit Regionals, and only just lost out to Vega in the Grand Finals of the Perfect World Masters Regionals last night. Empire have yet to qualify for a Minor or a Major but they've been mighty close.
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