The grand finals of the Dota 2 Super League between TongFu and DK will begin on Saturday and the winner of the prestigious tournament will walk away with the biggest prize pool in the history of Dota, outside of The International. While everybody is counting down to the showdown, we compiled everything we know about the Dota 2 Super League into this nifty little article including an interesting interview with TongFu's newest addition KingJ.

Table of Contents

1. The showdown 2. Prize pool 3. Location and schedule 4. TongFu'strong run in the Super League 5. DK, the big favourite of the tournament 6. Interview with KingJ 7. Vote on your winner of DSL

The showdown

Prize pool

Location and schedule

Spectators will be able to enter and exit the exhibition hall freely in comparison to G-League, another tournament held by GameFy, which required you to purchase a ticket to receive entry. Judging from what we saw during our trip to China for the G-1 League, the hall should be easily packed and therefore, we suggest die-hard fans to arrive a few hours beforehand, to line-up for a good seat.

The Dota 2 Super League Grand Final will take place at Feng Yun Esports Arena, formerly known as the Art Expo Hall in Shanghai, China. The arena is 1,000 metres² and according to what GameFy told us, the place should be able to hold about 1,800 to 2,000 spectators.

TongFu's strong run in the Super League

TongFu had sufficient time to rest and analyze their next opponents in the days leading up to the playoffs. TongFu faced Neolution.Orange on the 28th of June in the semi-finals and took a convincing 3-1 win over the Malaysians. With that sealed in the history books, TongFu guaranteed themselves at least a second place finish, and chance at first.

After the addition of Yang 'KingJ' Zhou, TongFu's performance has stabilized a lot and many even deemed them the best team in China and the team did not disappoint. Despite starting out in Group A with a 1-2 loss to eventual last placer LGD.cn, TongFu quickly bounced back with a 6-0 run, finishing the groupstage strong. As a result, TongFu placed first in the group and had an automatic seed onto the playoffs.

DK silencing critics

DK was rock solid in the groupstage, dropping only one game throughout the whole series. As a reward for placing first in the group, DK received an auto-seed onto the playoffs, skipping the pre-playoffs matches, to face eventual third placer, LGD.cn. Surprisingly, DK was the underdogs for this match-up but they proved critics wrong by taking down the favourites 3-1.

Prior to the grand finals, nobody expected DK to make such a deep run in this prestigious tournament, mostly due to their outdated 4 protect 1 strategy which has not been working out well for them in the days leading up to the tournament. After their disappointing fourth place finish in G-1 League, DK went back to the drawing board and tweaked their strategy and albeit it still being 4 protect 1, the supports are now getting more involved in fights and getting their due credits.

The casters of DSL

GameFy will also be providing a Chinese stream on FengYun and we have received word from the organizers that they will not be streaming on Twitch. Starladder on the other hand, has also been casting the Dota 2 Super League through and through but we are not sure if they will also be casting the Super League due to a time clash with their Star Series event. We are currently in the process of reaching them.

BeyondTheSummit will be your official English caster of the Dota 2 Super League. The studio has been casting Super League since its beginning two months ago and has done heck of a job doing it. Coupled with Bruno who flew in to America in preparation for The International 3, the studio's hilarity is at its peak as you can observe above.

KingJ on DK and prize money

Hello KingJ, congratulations on entering the grand final of Dota 2 Super League. How are you feeling now?

I’m feeling good. It’s our first time entering an offline final of a big tournament this year, and it’s really a boost to our morale.



Prior to the grand final, which team do you prefer going up against, LGD.cn or DK? Why?

Both of these two teams have very steady performance levels, so we really have no preference. From my personal perspective, I do favor DK tho. It should feel great to meet with my former teammates in EHOME in the grand finals.



What do you think of DK as your grand final opponent? What sort of tendency do you think DK has and in which way do you think you can exploit this tendency?

DK had been bouncing back fast recently. They have a really similar drafting strategy compared to us, as we have been training a lot together. They used to be very stubborn on using the four-protect-one strat; now they are clearly not.



In the semi-finals game, we saw LGD.cn banning out 5 hard carry heroes in an attempt to slow down Burning’s farm a little. Considering that you were in a team with him before, tell us what you think about Burning as a player and what makes him truly scary?

Trying to counter Burning in draft is a very bad idea and we would definitely not try to do what LGD did. Why would anyone try to bring down their opponent from his strongest part? Burning has a very high level of performance on average. The scariest part about Burning is he always knows when and where he should show up in team fights, and he never gets ganked during farming.



Do you think TongFu has what it takes to take the Dota 2 Super League championship?

Based on our practice matches with DK, we have 70% chance of winning the final. However, DK players should be stronger when they are playing offline games, so I think we have about equal chances of taking the final. Whoever palying better than normal during the finals will be able to win.



Is TongFu currently at their best state? If not, what do you think the team needs to work on?

We are not doing very well recently. I think it’s just we are too tired. We still have a lot to improve though. Now we are just laying out the blueprints and the skeletons, fine tuning will be performed in the near future. Our weakest part for now is that we cannot always maintain our best mental and physical status. Sometimes we just trip over ourselves.



Have you prepared any special tactics for DK?

No. Special tactics are only for teams without confidence, or the game is a really important one.



OK. Let’s move on to a new topic. There were leaked photos of DK doing some entrance video for Dota 2 Super League and I’m sure TongFu has done the same as well. What do you think about these promo videos? Do you think it is troublesome to do?

I was so excited about filming these videos until I found out that we had to wear suits in extremely hot weather. I was sweating like hell.



According to a leaked audio, Xiao8 betted on your team during the semi-finals of DSL against Neolution.Orange. What do you think about the whole situation? Do you think that professionals should be allowed to bet as long as it is not on their own team?

There is no way you can get rid of betting in the professional scene. Even if you take out all the bet makers, people will still bet with their friends.However as a professional player, taking part in these bets is just creating a chance for haters to criticize you.



Now that you can publicly say something to Xiao8 regarding the matter, what would you like to say to him?

He placed his bet on us. Smart boy.



TongFu also recently lost to Na`Vi in the Alienware Cup although Hao said that they were “cai” (vegetables, meaning easy pickings). What do you think of Na`Vi now and what have you learned from their bootcamp in China?

Na'Vi has always been a strong team and no one can ignore them. Their bootcamp certainly paid off. They learned new strategies and got to know their enemies well.



Considering Alienware Cup is the only tournament the Chinese teams will have before The International 3, what will the team do in order to get prepared for The International 3 next month?

We still have ECL to play. After ECL we will have 3 weeks to prepare for TI3. During that time we will train as we usually do and carefully select our opponents in practice games Honestly, no one wants to reveal too much of their strategy and gets countered.



Okay let’s turn down on the serious talk and talk about something more fun. Dota 2 Super League first prize is a whopping 500,000 RMB in cash. Made your plan for the prize money yet?

No. I only have a plan for 200,000 RMB (amount of second prize).



Well, at least tell us whats the first thing you gonna do as soon as you get the prize money.

I’ll buy myself some clothes for summer.



Do you have a girlfriend? What will she ask you to buy for her?

Yes I do, and I never buy things for her. Nothing troubles me more than buying women a present.



Wow that is a shocking answer. One last question, fans always call Hao, “Miss Hao” or “Beauty Hao”. What is his reaction to these nicknames?

He is thrilled.



Is he really that girlish?

No not really. He just enjoys wearing as little clothes as possible in order to unveil his body.



Thanks for the interview KingJ, we in GosuGamers would like to wish you good luck for the grand final. Would you like to give a big shoutout to your fans?

I feed first blood in games, we get lucky afterwards. That’s all.