In which a number of professional teams attempt to win LAN tournaments, theoretically proving their worth to Valve and earning direct invites to the International 7.

Setting:

Professional Dota 2, May-early June 2017

Cast of Characters:

27 teams are scheduled to appear in the Spring Season, 19 of which appear in Episode 1, with at least an additional 8 to appear in Episode 2.

Prologue:

The Kiev Major, in Kiev, Ukraine — OG has just beaten Virtus.Pro in a 3:2 final, the first time a grand finals has gone five games at a Valve event since the International 3 in 2013.

The entire scene looks to August’s the International 7 now. The open and regional qualifiers, held in late June, are a daunting prospect. Everyone is trying to position themselves to best effect, trying to win Valve’s notice and a direct invite.

Narrated at times by host Alan “Nahaz” Bester

May 19, 2017: the stage is set in Shanghai, China for StarLadder i-League Invitational 2. Eight teams compete. The group stage features two groups facing off GSL-style, with the top two teams from each group seeded into a single-elimination bracket for the playoffs.

Team Liquid and TNC Pro Team dominate their groups. TNC has an opportunity to make good after their disappointing turn in Kiev; there, they’d had a great group stage, but were knocked out in the first round of playoffs by regional rival, Team Faceless. Meanwhile, Team Liquid is able to beat Invictus Gaming in the semi-finals, the team who had knocked them out of the Kiev Major.

Team Liquid and TNC meet in the grand finals. The series is close, the teams trade games back and forth. Ultimately, Team Liquid wins the day, and first place, in a 3:2 finish.

Note for Prop Department: Have Team Liquid-themed Tusk, Earthshaker, and Lone Druid handy for the grand finals scene.

Narrated at times by host Austin “Capitalist” Walsh

Fast forward four days. The scene has shifted to Manila, in the Philippines, for the Masters Manila 2017. Eight teams are seeded into the top bracket of double-elimination bracket. Three of the top four teams from the Kiev Major are present — notably absent are second place team Virtus.Pro.

Newbee makes the trek through the upper bracket, knocking down Team NP, OG, and Evil Geniuses.

From the first round of the lower bracket, Team NP and Team Faceless battle it out on separate sides of the bracket. Team NP takes out Invictus Gaming, Team Faceless beats OG; both of these are impressive accomplishments. They meet in the next round, and NP wins with a pair of Bristlebacks. Bristleback will let Team NP down when they face Evil Geniuses in the lower bracket finals.

Evil Geniuses, after losing the upper bracket final to Newbee 0:2, beat Team NP 2:1. They look to Newbee for a rematch in the grand finals.

This time, Evil Geniuses is better prepared. They’re victorious over Newbee, 3:1.

Narrated at times by host Jack “KBBQ” Chen

This act opens with a ZOTAC Cup sign over the stage. Propped up on stage are big boards depicting the logos for teams that are competing in Taipei, Taiwan, with the names of players mounted on magnets and stuck to the boards.

After a moment, a man walks on stage, swaps the Team Stan board for one with isGG on it. He moves all of the player names to the new board. But before he can finish, a woman comes on stage with a Team Freedom board. He removes his board, and then helps her move the player names across. A second man comes on stage carrying a Digital Chaos board, shaking his head. A sign flashes above the stage, “Visa Denied.” Team Freedom’s board is replaced with the Digital Chaos one. Meanwhile, a second woman hurries upstage, swapping Invictus Gaming’s board for IG.Vitality. She stands back and inspects the board, frowns, then grabs a magnet from her pocket--kyxy--and swaps it for the Paparazi magnet. The “Visa Denied” sign flashes again.

After all of this stage business, the teams compete in a procession of best-of-ones, split between two groups. The last series for each group is elimination, and a best-of-three.

There’s a sense of anti-climax as Newbee and NP, arguably the strongest teams going into the tournament, meet in the grand finals. There’s a sense of synergy though, as Newbee fell 1:3 to Evil Geniuses, the strongest NA team in Manila, a week ago. Now Newbee faces the strongest team in Taipei. This time they come out on top 3:1, and the crowd goes wild!

Forthcoming:

Spring Season, Episode 2 — who will win the three final tournaments of the season? Don’t miss the epic opening Act featuring Epicenter in Moscow, followed by the jam-packed Act 2, in which Galaxy Battles and The Summit take over the entire theatre! Then, in the thrilling climax, will any of the winning teams have earned Valve’s favor and receive a direct invite to the International 7? You don’t want to miss this stunning sequel!