The International 2014: All you need to know about the main event

The time has arrived for The International Dota 2 Championships 2014 main event to take off on the grand stage of Key Arena, Seattle. The biggest Dota 2 event of all time will run its course for four days from July 18th to 21st. The main event will feature eight teams that have made their way through the gruesome groupstages and playoffs. Chinese giants DK, Invictus Gaming and NewBee will represent the Eastern hemisphere alongside Evil Geniuses and Cloud9 representing the Western Hemisphere. The sole representative for CIS region is Natus Vincere - the only team to make it to consecutive finals for all TI's. These teams will fight to win a big chunk from the massive prize pool of $9,546,344 alloted to 1st-6th place. Every team can be considered as a potential winner, given the unpredictability the event has shown us in the last few days.



The Teams

Common heroes:



​

​ ​

Evil Geniuses has been touted as one of the strongest emerging teams in the competitive scene. Ever since acquiring the services of Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev, Peter 'Peterpandam' Dager, Ludwig 'Zai' Wahlberg alongside veterans in Clinton 'Fear' Loomis Saahil 'Universe' Arora, this team made waves in the community. However, due to a career threatening injury, the team received a big blow as Clinton 'Fear' Loomis was sidelined from participating in any tournaments. Stepping in for the old man was none other than Mason 'Mason' Venne; EG's current carry player. Relatively unknown, he soon made his presence known by displaying great versatality in the carry role due to which EG were back to winning ways.

Their drafting has been more versatile, and players have been showing dominant performances combined with timely synergy and the thirst to win. Also, combine this with Fear's expertise as a coach, the team is steadily reaching out to unchartered territories. The combination of young talent and experienced veterans seems to be favouring EG at this point of time. Deservedly, EG has cemented their place as a top contender in The International 2014 due to their sheer dominant play observed in the groupstage and play-offs.

Judging by their statistics, EG have been pretty dominant and impressive in competitions they have participated in. They are following in the footsteps of Alliance and Na'Vi; that is to dominate anything that comes their way. This young team has had more trophies to their name ever since it reformed as compared to the past 2 years before the reformation. They won The Summit against Team DK, D2L Western Challenge against Na'Vi, Monster Energy Invitational against Cloud9, achieved a silver medal in the recently concluded ESL ONE Frankfurt wherein they lost to Invictus Gaming, and a bronze during StarLadderTV IX.

Achievements:

1st - Monster Energy Invitational (2014) - $10,000

2nd - Netolic Pro League #5 West (2014) - $1,000

1st - MLG TKO America (2014) - $14,000

3rd - StarLadder Season 9, Kiev (2014) - $26,500

1st - The Summit, Los Angeles (2014) - $46,000

6th - DreamLeague, season 1, DHS14 (2014) - $20,000

1st - D2L Western Challenge (2014) - $29,500

2nd - ESL One Frankfurt (2014) - $40,000

Common heroes:



​

​ ​



This team certainly is one of the most beloved teams participating at The International 2014. Comprising of famous players such as EE-Saama aka Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao, WehSing 'SingSing' Yeun and talented players Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling, Johan 'pieliedie' Astrom and Armand 'bOne7' Pittner; this team has been through all ups and downs in their competitive careers, yet have risen above the shortcomings.

Starting with EternalEnvy's ousting from No-Tidehunter and SingSing making the decision to leave QPAD to their acquisition by RattleSnake and now by Cloud 9, the team has managed to shine through all of the aforementioned controversies. They even won MLG Columbus when Marco's RattleSnake/Speed Gaming fiasco erupted mere two hours before their grand finals against the Chinese Juggernaut, Team DK.

Ever since their first place finish at MLG Columbus, C9 has struggled to win a title and has consistently placed below the 1st rank in competitions; both major and minor. They came second in D2CL#2, DreamHack Bucharest, DreamLeague season 1 and Monster Energy Invitational. However, WPC-ACE #2 and D2L Western Challenge is a different story altogether since C9 didn't manage to even place in top 3.

C9 started their journey at TI4 on a positive note by dominating the early groupstage games. They even displayed a glimpse of versatility and won many hearts with their out-of-the-box drafts when they applied Meepo to the meta. Aptly cementing their position in the main event, however, they start in the lower bracket wherein a second chance doesn't apply.

Achievements:

2nd - Monster Energy Invitational (2014) - $3,000

3rd - MLG TKO America (2014) - $4,500

2nd - Dota 2 Champions League #2 (2014) - $31,000

2nd - DreamHack Bucharest (2014) - $8,800

5th-8th - WPC League, season 2 (2014) - $3,200

2nd - DreamLeague, season 1, DHS14 (2014) - $41,500

5th/6th - D2L Western Challenge (2014) - $1,800

Common heroes:



​

​ ​

Natus Vincere is a name that is easily remembered for the sheer number of massive accomplishments in both; major and minor tournaments. Combine that with a star studded Dota 2 roster, the name instantly shoots to fame and is one of the most popular teams in the history of eSports.

It also is a team which is stable in terms of roster and haven't undergone too many roster changes, unless necessary. They are also the only team that has made their way to consecutive three TI finals; winning the inaugural season. With rich history and experience to back them up, Puppey and company will look forward to leave an impact on this year's TI as well.

Their journey into TI4 began on a turbulent note as they were marred with more losses as compared to wins in the early groupstages. Known for "lose now win later" strategy, Na'Vi made their way up the leadership board slow and steady - enough for them to secure a position at the main event.

However, securing a slot in the winners bracket was much more convinient than starting out in the lower bracket, but the Ukrainians were unable to face the might of NewBee with adequate power and stumbled against them, thereby, being sent down to start in the lower bracket where a loss means direct elimination from the event.

Na'Vi has also struggled to put forth a stable performance this year as they have managed to place amongst top 3 in only a handful tournaments. Besides that, they have performed below par in StarLadderTV IX, The Summit and DreamLeague #1. Can Puppey pull out some new tricks similar to last year's Chen+Pudge combination, that sent a confident and heavy stacked TongFu out of TI3?

Achievements:

1st - StarLadder: StarSeries VIII (2013/2014) - $62,000

2nd - DotaCinema Captains Draft Inv. (2014) - $10,000

1st - Dota 2 Champions League #2 (2014) - $62,000

4th/5th - MLG T.K.O. Europe (2014) - $1,500

5th/6th - StarLadder Season 9, Kiev (2014) - $7,500

4th - The Summit, Los Angeles (2014) - $10,200

7-12th - DreamLeague, season 1, DHS14 (2014) - $8,250

2nd - D2L Western Challenge (2014) - $19,500

Common heroes:



​

​ ​



Team DK is perhaps the most popular team in the lot comprised of veterans from China, Singapore and Malaysia. After a dismal showing at TI3, Team DK accquired the services of LaNm and SEA veterans, Mushi and Iceiceice who played for Orange Esports and Zenith, respectively.

A dream team in its own real sense, DK looked real scary on paper. Living up to its name, the team started to dominate the competitive scene in China at a steady pace. They travelled to the United States to compete at MLG Columbus; their first foreign tournament. Even though they lost in the finals, DK bounced back and won WPC-ACE #1 against Invictus Gaming after being down 0-3.

Their biggest foreign victory came at StarLadderTV IX in Kiev, Ukraine against Team Empire, as they defeated the Russian team in the grand finals. DK also came into the spotlight when news started sprouting out regarding Chinese teams not willing to scrim against them.

Despite of the ups and downs, DK have placed consistently amongst top three in almost every competition they were a part of. Even though their journey in TI4 groupstage started slow, they managed to secure themselves a place in the winners bracket for the main event.

The Chinese dream team is heavily hyped to win TI4 and with solid achievements to back them up, the dream doesn't seem impossible to be achieved, especially, when LaNm and few others are heavily contemplated to retire once the competition is over. Can DK emulate the success they were really meant for?

Achievements:

2nd - Red Bull eSports Champions League (2014) ~ $3,300

1st - G-League 2013 season 3 (2013/2014) - $33,000

1st - Sina Cup, season 3 (2014) - $9,800

1st - StarLadder Season 9, Kiev (2014) - $85,000

3rd/4th - MarsTV Dota 2 League (2014) - $1,600

2nd - WPC League, season 2 (2014) - $48,000

2nd - The Summit, Los Angeles (2014) - $25,600

1st - Esports Champions League (2014) ~ $9,700

1st - Sunt CDEC New Star (2014) ~ $9,600

2nd - GEST Challenge June (2014) - $2,000

3rd/4th - WVW Nest June (2014) - $400