D2L Season 4 LAN Finals Preview January 7th, 2014 16:40 GMT Text by TheEmulator Graphics by TheEmulator







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Finals Preview

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D2L Season 4 Finals Preview



It's been around 3 months since the start of Season 4 in the D2L, and after a short break during the holidays the LAN finals at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas are finally upon us. D2L is one of the biggest LAN events held in North America, and this time around the competition will be a perfect blend of East vs West as we will see two Eastern powerhouses, Vici Gaming and LGD, go against Alliance and Fnatic.EU from the West.



Not only will this be a battle of East vs West, but this will be the first major LAN of 2014 in North America. With the NA scene constantly growing, we hope to see many more events held here. MLG did great last year, and if D2L is as big of a success we can expect nothing but good things to come in the future.



Now, let us talk a bit about the teams participating in the D2L Finals. There has been a lot of drama leading up to this event, but as of now everything has been resolved. This East vs West battle is about to begin, so get ready for what we expect to be some of the best Dota D2L has to offer.



The games begin in -







Finals Team Previews By TheEmulator



The D2L Season 4 LAN Finals will be held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, which will be one of the nicest venues to ever hold a LAN finals to date. Not only is the venue nice, but the teams are being treated extremely well, as they will all be receiving $40,000 for flight and hotel, along with competing for the $50,000 prize pool. The Champions will walk away with $65,000 including the main prize and extras.







The actual event will consist of a fairly standard 4 team playoff format, with a loser's bracket for double elimination. All the games will be bo3 including the finals as well, which will be nice for those who stayed up for the brutally long WPC bo7 grand finals.







For those attending the event, it will be held in the Emperor's room at Caesar's Palace, and admission is totally free. Also the first 150 attendees in the building will receive a cool gift bag with HyperX shirts, accessories, etc.





Alliance





Alliance were once the clear favourites going into any event they went to after their convincing performance at TI3. However, recently their results have been going back and forth. With poor performances at both MLG and the DreamLeague Finals, Alliance seemed to have fallen off a bit. Now with that being said they're still one of the best teams out there, just not as dominant as we once saw. In December they redeemed themselves a bit with a third place finish at the EMS One Finals, and then a first place finish at the Fragbite Masters over Fnatic. We will have to see how the holiday break treated them, and if they will come back into this 2014 season with the same power they had post TI3.



This weekend it's tough to say how they will end up. Their past performance against Fnatic show us that they probably have an edge over them, although Fnatic did beat them at the EMS One Finals. However with roster issues Fnatic won't be the same this weekend. And with LGD.cn and VG being so hot right now it's a pretty big toss-up on who will emerge the Champions. Alliance will have an advantage playing in the US though, as they have extensive experience playing there already, and will most likely have the audience on their side.





Fnatic





Oh my, Fnatic have had one heck of a time the past few days trying to get a team together for the D2L Finals. Due to health issues, Era won't be able to make it to the finals. They did manage to snag DemoN to stand-in, which should be a decent fit with Fnatic. And just earlier today we were also alerted that H4nn1 was unable to attend due to some flight problems, which was extremely unfortunate given their circumstances already with Era. They were able to secure Aui_2000 as a stand-in for H4nn1, which is great, but nothing is like your true lineup and nothing will have the same synergy. Things will be tough for Fnatic as a result. Now with that being said, Fnatic have been shaping into a true contender team the past few months. They were always a top tier team, but lately they have stepped up their game and are easily one of the best teams in Western Dota. Their recent performances at DreamLeague, EMS, and Fragbite can all attest to that statement.



With their roster issues I predict Fnatic to not do very well this time around. Their stand-ins are great, but without proper time and planning things won't be the same.





Vici Gaming





Vici Gaming were performing like absolute powerhouses towards the end of 2013. Not only did they have one of the best 6.79 winrates, they were victorious in the Sina Supernova Open 2 and EMS One Fall Finals, and took 3rd at the WPC Ace league Finals over LGD.cn. With one of the strongest support pairings of Fenrir/fy in the game right now, and some of the scariest push lineups featuring Bristleback, Vici Gaming are probably the favourites coming into D2L unless Alliance perform like they did a few months ago. Still, the competition will be close between all 4 teams, but no one seems as consistent as Vici Gaming right now. If they come up with a win here at D2L, they will be considered one of the top 3 teams of the Eastern scene in my mind.





LGD.cn





LGD has been very solid lately, especially in the Eastern Division Qualifiers of D2L, where they went 7-0 advancing straight to the LAN Finals in Las Vegas. And most recently they have competed in the WPC Ace League Finals, and G-League, both of which they secured the 4th place position. So with that they are definitely one of the top teams still in the scene, and without the likes of DK or iG present at D2L they have a decent shot at winning, although VG and Alliance will give them a run for their money.



Just like Fnatic they had some issues before the finals that almost ended their participation at the event this week. Due to some poor communication D2L thought LGD had no way of getting their Visa's, so they invited Team Liquid to replace LGD. Although, earlier this week LGD's management came forth and said that it was just a miscommunication, and that they were getting their Visa's later than expected.











The D2L Season 4 LAN Finals will be held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, which will be one of the nicest venues to ever hold a LAN finals to date. Not only is the venue nice, but the teams are being treated extremely well, as they will all be receiving $40,000 for flight and hotel, along with competing for the $50,000 prize pool. The Champions will walk away with $65,000 including the main prize and extras.The actual event will consist of a fairly standard 4 team playoff format, with a loser's bracket for double elimination. All the games will be bo3 including the finals as well, which will be nice for those who stayed up for the brutally long WPC bo7 grand finals.For those attending the event, it will be held in the Emperor's room at Caesar's Palace, and admission is totally free. Also the first 150 attendees in the building will receive a cool gift bag with HyperX shirts, accessories, etc.Alliance were once the clear favourites going into any event they went to after their convincing performance at TI3. However, recently their results have been going back and forth. With poor performances at both MLG and the DreamLeague Finals, Alliance seemed to have fallen off a bit. Now with that being said they're still one of the best teams out there, just not as dominant as we once saw. In December they redeemed themselves a bit with a third place finish at the EMS One Finals, and then a first place finish at the Fragbite Masters over Fnatic. We will have to see how the holiday break treated them, and if they will come back into this 2014 season with the same power they had post TI3.This weekend it's tough to say how they will end up. Their past performance against Fnatic show us that they probably have an edge over them, although Fnatic did beat them at the EMS One Finals. However with roster issues Fnatic won't be the same this weekend. And with LGD.cn and VG being so hot right now it's a pretty big toss-up on who will emerge the Champions. Alliance will have an advantage playing in the US though, as they have extensive experience playing there already, and will most likely have the audience on their side.Oh my, Fnatic have had one heck of a time the past few days trying to get a team together for the D2L Finals. Due to health issues, Era won't be able to make it to the finals. They did manage to snag DemoN to stand-in, which should be a decent fit with Fnatic. And just earlier today we were also alerted that H4nn1 was unable to attend due to some flight problems, which was extremely unfortunate given their circumstances already with Era. They were able to secure Aui_2000 as a stand-in for H4nn1, which is great, but nothing is like your true lineup and nothing will have the same synergy. Things will be tough for Fnatic as a result. Now with that being said, Fnatic have been shaping into a true contender team the past few months. They were always a top tier team, but lately they have stepped up their game and are easily one of the best teams in Western Dota. Their recent performances at DreamLeague, EMS, and Fragbite can all attest to that statement.With their roster issues I predict Fnatic to not do very well this time around. Their stand-ins are great, but without proper time and planning things won't be the same.Vici Gaming were performing like absolute powerhouses towards the end of 2013. Not only did they have one of the best 6.79 winrates, they were victorious in the Sina Supernova Open 2 and EMS One Fall Finals, and took 3rd at the WPC Ace league Finals over LGD.cn. With one of the strongest support pairings of Fenrir/fy in the game right now, and some of the scariest push lineups featuring Bristleback, Vici Gaming are probably the favourites coming into D2L unless Alliance perform like they did a few months ago. Still, the competition will be close between all 4 teams, but no one seems as consistent as Vici Gaming right now. If they come up with a win here at D2L, they will be considered one of the top 3 teams of the Eastern scene in my mind.LGD has been very solid lately, especially in the Eastern Division Qualifiers of D2L, where they went 7-0 advancing straight to the LAN Finals in Las Vegas. And most recently they have competed in the WPC Ace League Finals, and G-League, both of which they secured the 4th place position. So with that they are definitely one of the top teams still in the scene, and without the likes of DK or iG present at D2L they have a decent shot at winning, although VG and Alliance will give them a run for their money.Just like Fnatic they had some issues before the finals that almost ended their participation at the event this week. Due to some poor communication D2L thought LGD had no way of getting their Visa's, so they invited Team Liquid to replace LGD. Although, earlier this week LGD's management came forth and said that it was just a miscommunication, and that they were getting their Visa's later than expected. It's been around 3 months since the start of Season 4 in the D2L, and after a short break during the holidays the LAN finals at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas are finally upon us. D2L is one of the biggest LAN events held in North America, and this time around the competition will be a perfect blend of East vs West as we will see two Eastern powerhouses, Vici Gaming and LGD, go against Alliance and Fnatic.EU from the West.Not only will this be a battle of East vs West, but this will be the first major LAN of 2014 in North America. With the NA scene constantly growing, we hope to see many more events held here. MLG did great last year, and if D2L is as big of a success we can expect nothing but good things to come in the future.Now, let us talk a bit about the teams participating in the D2L Finals. There has been a lot of drama leading up to this event, but as of now everything has been resolved. This East vs West battle is about to begin, so get ready for what we expect to be some of the best Dota D2L has to offer.The games begin in -





Gfx: TheEmulator

Editors: Heyoka, TheEmulator

Banner image via the Writers: TheEmulatorGfx: TheEmulatorEditors: Heyoka, TheEmulatorBanner image via the D2L Finals Website Administrator