As we enter April, professional Dota 2 teams are preparing for the stretch run before The International 5 qualifiers after the second reshuffle period in February. Aside from EG and Secret, the field is very wide open. Every match is a chance for teams to prove that they have earned their place in Dota 2’s most prestigious tournament.

The Summit EU Qualifiers:

Cloud9 versus NiP (Loser’s Round 3)

The Summit’s loser’s bracket has seen C9 pull out win after win in a desperate bid to stave off elimination, most recently ending Alliance’s quest to show they deserved that controversial invite to the second Summit 3 qualifier stage. Will NiP be the team to finally end Cloud9’s dreams of making it to LA, or will the Swedes fall beneath their off-meta picks?

Prediction:

Cloud9 often builds a big lead and then makes mistakes, so the key for them will be to minimize the mistakes while ahead. NiP will look to prevent C9 from exploiting their greedy draft.

Secret versus ASUS (Winner’s Finals)

Despite their defeat at the hands of Evil Geniuses at DAC, Secret has continued to look ascendant and many consider the team all but qualified for the Summit 3. Now, the all-Russian ASUS is all that stands between Secret and a slot in the third installment of BTS’s home tournament.

Will Puppey’s keen insight defeat whoever drafts for ASUS? Will Arteezy defeat God himself in midlane? Tune into the second match of The Summit 3 Beyond the Summit Qualifier Winner’s Final as the winner qualifies and the loser will play the winner of Cloud9 and NiP in the Loser’s Round 3 which is scheduled directly before this match.

Prediction:

Secret is heavily favoured but overconfidence could be their downfall against a spunky ASUS team that will fight for every inch of the map. We are surely in for a treat today of excellent Dota 2.

Fig. 1: Pictured above, a teamfight from Valve’s popular multiplayer game Dota 2.

Dota 2 Champions League:

Empire versus HellRaisers (Group Stage)

Not long ago, Hellraisers looked set to erupt onto the international scene in fine style. Afterward, the team seemed to have cooled, but its 5-1 record in D2CL has the red-logo’d team sitting in third place in the European group, as the team is from Russia and the tournament organizers did not place it into the other, non-European group. If they can take down Empire they will be second only to the initially mocked but now feared Burden United, which was invited to replace the now defunct Meepwn’d, a team that disbanded two weeks ago.

Prediction:

In the social media battle, Empire’s Twitter account remains strong, but in the actual game it could go either way. This match’s outcome may very well be decided by which team drafts and executes better in the game.

NiP versus BBC (Group Stage)

Ninjas in Pyjamas will play a second game today against the BBC. Despite their relatively low standing, BBC has potential to cause an upset, particularly given its roster full of seasoned veterans, whose insight into the game is largely unparalleled outside of other Dota 2 teams.

Prediction:

Will NiP be tired after their earlier match? One can only watch and find out to see if this is the case. We are in for an exciting day of Dota 2 as this match only adds to the a great day of Dota 2 competition.

ESL One:

Alliance versus Na`Vi (Winner’s Final)

In a rematch of the TI3 finals that many remember as being among the greatest games of Dota ever, where Alliance came back from a 1-2 deficit to take first place on the back of great plays by Akke, Loda, EGM, Bulldog, and s4, Alliance now face their nemesis Na’Vi again. At TI3, Alliance went undefeated in group stages and then faced LGD where they defeated the Chinese team 2-0. Afterward, they went on to play DK and triumped over Burning and other players on DK in a close 2-1 series. Then they went on to beat Na’Vi in the winner’s finals 2-0 before playing them again in the grand finals best-of-five.

Na`Vi won TI1 , at the time it was only called The International, the “1” was added later as further editions of the tournament arrived with numbers appended to the title of the tournament.

Prediction:

Alliance and Na`Vi while not in the best form right now are growing strong and may show us a glimpse of past glory. We are in for a real joy of a series as this harkens back to the great days of Dota 2 in 2011-2015.

The Summit Americas:

Not Today versus Leviathan (American Qualifiers Round 2 Semifinals)

Not Today, the Peruvian team that became the unexpected darlings of The Summit 2, continue their struggle through the American qualifier for The Summit 3. Today, they face off against Leviathan gaming. Not Today’s roster boasts The Summit 2’s MVP, Freddy “Smash” Sina, along with Jesus “Ifrit” Valencia, Juan “VaNn” Tito, Hektor “2owlerz” Gallegos, and Ricardo “Mstco” Roman.

Prediction:

This North versus South American clash could go either way as we are lucky to watch two up and coming squads that will be forces to be reckoned with in the Americas TI5 qualifiers face off against each other. Team Leviathan features Andrew “Jenkins” Jenkins, Eric “Shredder” Sheeder, Josh “Shiibbyy” Trenholm, Michael “FlyingZebra” Stanus-Ghib, and Jason “Newsham” Newsham. They are captained by Michael “FlyingZebra” Stanus-Ghib.

Complexity versus Evil Geniuses (American Qualifiers Round 2 Semifinals)

EG will line up against the latest iteration of Complexity Gaming. The winner of this match will play the winner of the previous match of Not Today against Leviathan, which undoubtedly will feature spectacular play from Freddy “Smash” Sina, along with Jesus “Ifrit” Valencia, Juan “VaNn” Tito, Hektor “2owlerz” Gallegos, Ricardo “Mstco” Roman, Andrew “Jenkins” Jenkins, Eric “Shredder” Sheeder, Josh “Shiibbyy” Trenholm, Michael “FlyingZebra” Stanus-Ghib, Jason “Newsham” Newsham.

Prediction:

Evil Geniuses is the odds-on favorite but look for Complexity Gaming to make a run at one of the world’s top teams. If Complexity is able to take the first game, and then pull out a win in either the second or the third game in addition to taking the first game, then they will be able to defeat Evil Geniuses 2-1 or 2-0 depending on which game they won and in which order.