posted by joinDOTA Staff,
Newbee
I've been reading a book called Silk Roads – A New History of the World, which is a history of the world via the trade routes of central Asia. It tells the story of how wealth has flowed from the Middle East to the West and China, and how China and the US have become both rivals and co-dependent. Amongst this historical backdrop, and the current protracted trade-war between the two superpowers, it's difficult not to see Newbee's pick up of the mostly American ex-Forward Gaming as a microcosm of the history of the world.
Has nobody told Donald Trump that the only majority American team at The International, the biggest esports tournament in history, is now Chinese-owned? It seems like something he'd be interested in, the stripping of American assets by a foreign superpower. Because ex-Forward Gaming are the best America has to offer, in any field, and it feels like they should be protected at all costs.
Somebody tweet him about this, or get Fox and Friends to talk about it – because a proxy war fought through the ownership of ex-Forward Gaming is something that I would like to see.
Chaos
Everybody mocked Rasmus 'rASmus' Fillipsen when he announced that he was leaving South America and returning to Europe. Why would you leave the weakest region to return to the strongest? Well, he's had the last laugh because after every team from Europe that even glimpsed a major qualified for The International directly, leaving a power vacuum in the EU qualifies that allowed even a British member to reach the playoffs.
As such, it’s impossible know how Chaos Esports Club, who have numerous skilled players but have not been properly tested, will fair at The International. With Lasse 'Matumbaman' Urpalainen currently enjoying the usual post-kick bump in popularity, and the organisation exploiting their assistant coach/resident jester Robson 'TeaGuvnor' Merritt for all his awkward British charm – it's safe to say that whatever Team Chaos do at The International a lot of attention will be focussed upon them.
It would be lovely to see the team do well. Matu and Milan 'MiLAN' Kozomara who have both been subject to possibly unfair kicks this season, proving their doubters wrong. The Dota equivalent of sharing numerous pictures of you having a great time, with great looking people, on Instagram directly after a break up. They should take the advice of the friendly drunk in the nightclub toilets. Live your best lives Matu and Milan, forget your exes!
Mineski
I’m going to be honest here – I don't know much about South East Asian Dota. Due to the entire region existing in a timezone which largely operates when I'm sleeping, it's quite difficult for me to follow teams like Mineski who have qualified for few majors and haven't gotten very far in the ones that they have. Damien 'kpii' Chok seems like a cool dude and Michael 'ninjaboogie' Ross is tight, but the selfishness of the South East Asian governments in wanting their countries to operate according to daylight hours rather than when a middle-class man in London is awake has made writing anything here mildly difficult.
They kicked Kim 'Febby' Yong-Min and then immediately asked him back to stand-in for ESL One Mumbai 2019, which was such a harsh move that he won a car pretty much by default, which angered China, who deserved a car – so that’s fun. They’ve brought in a Bulgarian mid-player whose highest achievement was coming 6th in a Dreamleague with a team called Basically Unknown, which at the time must have felt like a fun ironic little name to give a team full of upcoming players, but as the top name on your CV feels quite sad. So, I hope for his sake Mineski do very well at TI.
Look, what I’m saying is that you’re going to have to write your own jokes about Mineski, because I haven’t got any. It’s not difficult, my process is going to their Liqudipedia page or sitting back and remembering everything they did in the season, pinpointing a moment that was slightly unusual, and then abstracting it to absurdity. It’s not difficult, do it yourself.
Infamous
Infamous used to be the cat burger team – which was a fun logo and it’s disappointing that they’ve sold out to big esports and will no longer use the cat burger logo. Capitalism ruins everything and it is for this reason, and this reason alone, that I’m going to finally knuckle down and read the communist manifesto – Marx must have said something about this in there.
For the Cat Burger team (I refuse to use their corporate name) expectations for The International are rightfully low, South America was discovered by Icefrog in 2017 by accident (he was trying to reach India) and in the last two Internationals the lone South American teams have either been knocked out in groups or in the first round of the playoffs – so for the Cat Burger team to even win a game on the main stage would be unprecedented.
But – they’re a disgustingly young team, and Adrian 'Wisper' Cesperes is the first Bolivian player to ever qualify for an International – which means there’s a full 30 countries represented at The International – which has got to count for something! With South America largely cut off from the rest of the Dota scene, and Heitor 'Duster' Pereira having sent the last of the foreign imports packing, who knows what’s going on down there. For all we know, South America could have clubbed together to cook up some mad unprecedented strategy. Perhaps the combined minds of a continent united could propel the Cat Burger team to at least the lower bracket round 2. Dare we dream?
Na'Vi
The ship of Theseus that makes up Natus Vincere lost its last plank at the start of this year when Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin left the squad to wander the wild-lands of Dota as a solitary hermit. Since then, the squad have qualified for one Major – in which they achieved a last place finish and gotten 3rd place at ESL One Mumbai. Still, there was significant excitement when they qualified for The International, beating out my personal favourite AS Monaco Gambit, who have the best apparel in esports, who badly unperformed.
However Dendi's career ended, he should feel proud that he help build a brand so strong that it's qualification to TI would provoke such a reaction. Marketing managers would pay millions to build a brand that can still project an image of excellence while only occasionally projecting anything much above mediocrity.
That's not to do their players a disservice, Akbar 'SoNNeikO' Butaev has in the past been a genuinely sensational support – and as a commentator on a previous article said – looks even more like Barry Keoghan than Michał 'Nisha' Jankowski, so he's got that going for him.
PSG.LGD
PSG.LGD are the team I personally support, and it says a lot about how nice a boy Yap Jian 'xNova' Wei is that I do so even while simultaneously hating the PSG football club more than any other. LGD were dominant last season, only halted from winning TI by a demon who took possession of Anathan 'ana' Pham. This season they've been remarkably consistent, achieving between a 4th and 6th place finish in all five majors – and in the spirit of international cooperation have been knocked out of each Major by a team from a different region (though Evil Geniuses knocked them out twice, though did it once on behalf of South America for secret reasons).
Having completed their cross-regional ritual of surrenders, PSG.LGD must have gathered enough power to summon the demon who was released when Ana returned home and bind him within Yao 'Somnus' Lu. They're going to storm their way to return the Aegis to China, and in doing so will cure all of the worlds ills.
That said, when I looked at buying a PSG.LGD shirt, they cost twice the amount of any other esports shirt. What's going on there? Now that I've written such nice words about you, LGD, send me a free one, please? We aren't all sitting on millions of barrels of oil.
Photo credit: Valve
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