G-League 2013 Group Stage Preview December 9th, 2013 01:58 GMT Text by TanGeng Graphics by shiroiusagi Table of Contents

Event Overview



Group A



Group B



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G-League 2013 Preview

The G-League Group Stages are finally upon us after the completion of the gruelling West/East qualifiers. The top teams in the world will be pitted against each other for the massive 270,000RMB prize pool in Shanghai, China. With patch 6.79 finally being adapted to most teams, the G-League 2013 Finals will definitely produce some very interesting games, possibly establishing the meta for months to come.



G-League is one of the biggest LANs in China, and even the world. This season will consist of the 2 finalists from last season's G-League, along with 6 qualified teams from the East, and 2 qualified teams from the brand new Western qualifiers. Although one of the teams from last years finals (LGD) will not be attending, and 1 of the Western teams (Fnatic) will also not be attending. They will fight it out for a week in their groups with round robin bo3 matches, with the top 3 in each group advancing to the playoffs. The competition is stiff, so it's hard to say who is coming in at the top or the bottom.



Soon the battles will begin. Who will emerge victorious? Tune in and see!!!



The games begin in -











Monday, Dec 09 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

LGD Gaming



Tuesday, Dec 10 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

Titan eSports



Wednesday, Dec 11 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

DT^Club



Thursday, Dec 12 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

Speed Gaming



Friday, Dec 13 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)

DT^Club vs. Invictus Gaming



Friday, Dec 13 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

Speed Gaming



Saturday, Dec 14 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)

DT^Club



Saturday, Dec 14 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

Vici Gaming



Sunday, Dec 15 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)

TongFu



Sunday, Dec 15 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

Vici Gaming



Monday, Dec 16 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)

LGD Gaming



Monday, Dec 16 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

Vici Gaming Monday, Dec 09 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Invictus Gaming vs.Tuesday, Dec 10 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Team DK vs.Wednesday, Dec 11 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) LGD Gaming vs.DT^ClubThursday, Dec 12 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Titan eSports vs.Friday, Dec 13 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)DT^Club vs.Friday, Dec 13 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Team DK vs.Saturday, Dec 14 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) TongFu vs.DT^ClubSaturday, Dec 14 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Team DK vs.Sunday, Dec 15 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) Invictus Gaming vs.Sunday, Dec 15 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Speed Gaming vs.Monday, Dec 16 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) TongFu vs.Monday, Dec 16 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Titan eSports vs.



G-League Overview

Nine months ago, the G-League Finals was held at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai. It was China's largest esports event ever and turned out to be an unprecedented spectacle featuring four competitive games. The audience in attendance numbered over ten thousand. In the Dota 2 event, iG triumphed over LGD.int in four memorable games. After the event and its huge success, it looked like gamefy and G-League were on the cusp of conquering the Chinese esports landscape. Today, gamefy returns with yet another edition of its G-League in Dota 2.





G-League Finals last year, photo courtesy of cNfrag



Despite attempts to enlarge its scope, this edition of G-League is turning out exactly like the previous one in size and scope. Gamefy had attempted to inject more competition from Western teams and ran a Western Qualifier for their event. However, the participation of both Fnatic and LGD.int were scuttled by problems with visa applications. In the end, G-League has the same 270000 RMB prize pool and the same number of teams in the group stages. The group stage once again pits one Western representative and one SEA representative against Chinese stalwarts, and a couple of Chinese dark horses. In an industry where standing still is the same as failing behind, the competition has lost some of its luster in light of MLG's 130k USD inaugural Dota2 event, and Starladder's burgeoning prize pool.



The upside of this edition of G-League is that a winner will crowned within a month. Viewers and players will be spared the three month wait and the rust of a two month break for Chinese New Year's. In a short ten days, the final two teams will emerge out of the field of quality competitors. So with no further delay, let's take a peek at the groups and their respective teams.



Group A Preview



Titan





After an impressive third place finish at Ti3 and the departure of star player Mushi for China, former Orange members reorganized under their current esports brand, Titan. Titan added ice as their fifth member but the team has not followed up with strong performances in SEA competitions. In preparation for their visit to China, Titan have dropped ice from their squad and picked up former Rising Star carry Meracle. Coincidentally, the first opponent they face in G-League will be DK, featuring a familiar face to them, Mushi.



Not much can be expected out of Titan in G-League. Their group is loaded with formidable teams and opponents in their top form. In contrast, Titan is only just finding its feet with Meracle at the farming position. It will be a surprise if Titan advances out of group stages, and a miracle if they secure a finalist spot.





Speed Gaming International





Hot on the heels of winning top honours at MLG, and then securing a finalist spot in D2CL, Speed Gaming.Int is making its debut in China. The highly motivated and dedicated team will be testing its strength against all of the Chinese powerhouses.



Like Na`Vi and Alliance, Speed is merely a visitor in China and plans on returning to the Western scene after some time in China. But unlike their counterparts, Speed Int will have the support of a local organization to help them practice and play in China. While Speed Int will no doubt contest for a finalist spot, what they pick up in China will make them even more formidable in future Western competitions.





Team DK





Team DK played at MLG and put up an admirable performance as the runner up. Their performance in China, however, has been lacking. Most pointedly, it looks like the team is somewhat behind their peers on 6.79 strategies and drafts. For G-League, DK returned home and recharged, and now looks to turn around their weak run.



Just within their group, DK has numerous storylines to follow. Against Titan, it’s a match of Mushi against his former teammates. Against Speed, it is a rematch of the MLG finals, and DK will want to exact some revenge for the 2-1 defeat they received. Against VG, DK will be testing themselves against the hottest team in China who just won the EMS One LAN Finals.





Vici Gaming





Of all of the teams in China, the dominant strategy of 6.79 is best fit for the play of VG. The early active support play really highlights the skill of VG’s Fenrir/Fy pairing. Likewise, the greater emphasis on towers and team fights fits the middle game strategy of RotK and Super. Sylar is a solid carry that epitomizes the farming carry of four-protect-one and its various variations.



Recently Vici Gaming has been running pushing compositions built around Bristleback, which has been quite the success. Given a death-ball push, any small advantage in the early game is lethal, as Vici Gaming will simply methodically roll over any and all opposition. Whether or not opponents will discover appropriate counters for this Vici Gaming strategy will be interesting to see.



Group B Preview



Invictus Gaming





The new Invictus Gaming has been playing solid but unspectacular. On an individual level, the team looks as talented as it has always been. Hao and Banana are excellent additions to the team, but overall the team has a good chance against any of the other teams in the top four. iG are currently 2nd in WPC after the group stages, as well as 2nd in the D2L East Division League play. They have also been adapting to 6.79 quite well.





LGD Gaming







In the lead up to Ti3, LGD Gaming stubbornly stayed faithful to five-man team fight compositions, even as other teams explored stronger laning heroes, and employed split-push and efficient jungle strategies. It looks like their faithfulness has finally paid off, and IceFrog granted LGD patch 6.79. Today, the LGD five-man is the play style whose time has come, and the xiao8-led steamroller has become one of the terrors of Chinese Dota.





Dream Time





Rising Stars may have disbanded, but several founding members are still making an appearance in G-League. Former members Air, super, and Injuly are joined by Xiao2Lei and DreamyU in Dream Time. While the team is expected to be a tier below their group peers, Dream Time defeated Rattlesnake and has defeated WPC ACE Dota League members, Tongfu.Wangzhou, and Heart Get Together in the DLA and other Chinese competitions.



Against their group of tier 1 teams, Dream Time is definitively a dark horse. However, regardless of their performance, the team is a peek into the active Chinese pub and semi-pro scene. Dream Time’s G-League performance will be a good gauge for what can be expected out of teams such as For.Love, and New Element Gaming.





Tongfu





Before the WPC season, the flurry of transfers saw the combination of two legendary carries, Zhou and ZSMJ, on Tongfu. With Zhou on carry, Tongfu did not have the greatest success, but now ZSMJ is shifting into the carry role. The team tested out the new roles in D2L and Sina Supernova Cup, and showed no sharp drop in play. Now that the players have more practice in the new positions, it will be exciting to see just how hard ZSMJ can carry.







CREDITS

Writers: TanGeng

Gfx: Shiroiusagi

Editors: TheEmulator

The G-League Group Stages are finally upon us after the completion of the gruelling West/East qualifiers. The top teams in the world will be pitted against each other for the massive 270,000RMB prize pool in Shanghai, China. With patch 6.79 finally being adapted to most teams, the G-League 2013 Finals will definitely produce some very interesting games, possibly establishing the meta for months to come.G-League is one of the biggest LANs in China, and even the world. This season will consist of the 2 finalists from last season's G-League, along with 6 qualified teams from the East, and 2 qualified teams from the brand new Western qualifiers. Although one of the teams from last years finals (LGD) will not be attending, and 1 of the Western teams (Fnatic) will also not be attending. They will fight it out for a week in their groups with round robin bo3 matches, with the top 3 in each group advancing to the playoffs. The competition is stiff, so it's hard to say who is coming in at the top or the bottom.Soon the battles will begin. Who will emerge victorious? Tune in and see!!!The games begin in -Nine months ago, the G-League Finals was held at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai. It was China's largest esports event ever and turned out to be an unprecedented spectacle featuring four competitive games. The audience in attendance numbered over ten thousand. In the Dota 2 event, iG triumphed over LGD.int in four memorable games. After the event and its huge success, it looked like gamefy and G-League were on the cusp of conquering the Chinese esports landscape. Today, gamefy returns with yet another edition of its G-League in Dota 2.Despite attempts to enlarge its scope, this edition of G-League is turning out exactly like the previous one in size and scope. Gamefy had attempted to inject more competition from Western teams and ran a Western Qualifier for their event. However, the participation of both Fnatic and LGD.int were scuttled by problems with visa applications. In the end, G-League has the same 270000 RMB prize pool and the same number of teams in the group stages. The group stage once again pits one Western representative and one SEA representative against Chinese stalwarts, and a couple of Chinese dark horses. In an industry where standing still is the same as failing behind, the competition has lost some of its luster in light of MLG's 130k USD inaugural Dota2 event, and Starladder's burgeoning prize pool.The upside of this edition of G-League is that a winner will crowned within a month. Viewers and players will be spared the three month wait and the rust of a two month break for Chinese New Year's. In a short ten days, the final two teams will emerge out of the field of quality competitors. So with no further delay, let's take a peek at the groups and their respective teams.After an impressive third place finish at Ti3 and the departure of star player Mushi for China, former Orange members reorganized under their current esports brand, Titan. Titan added ice as their fifth member but the team has not followed up with strong performances in SEA competitions. In preparation for their visit to China, Titan have dropped ice from their squad and picked up former Rising Star carry Meracle. Coincidentally, the first opponent they face in G-League will be DK, featuring a familiar face to them, Mushi.Not much can be expected out of Titan in G-League. Their group is loaded with formidable teams and opponents in their top form. In contrast, Titan is only just finding its feet with Meracle at the farming position. It will be a surprise if Titan advances out of group stages, and a miracle if they secure a finalist spot.Hot on the heels of winning top honours at MLG, and then securing a finalist spot in D2CL, Speed Gaming.Int is making its debut in China. The highly motivated and dedicated team will be testing its strength against all of the Chinese powerhouses.Like Na`Vi and Alliance, Speed is merely a visitor in China and plans on returning to the Western scene after some time in China. But unlike their counterparts, Speed Int will have the support of a local organization to help them practice and play in China. While Speed Int will no doubt contest for a finalist spot, what they pick up in China will make them even more formidable in future Western competitions.Team DK played at MLG and put up an admirable performance as the runner up. Their performance in China, however, has been lacking. Most pointedly, it looks like the team is somewhat behind their peers on 6.79 strategies and drafts. For G-League, DK returned home and recharged, and now looks to turn around their weak run.Just within their group, DK has numerous storylines to follow. Against Titan, it’s a match of Mushi against his former teammates. Against Speed, it is a rematch of the MLG finals, and DK will want to exact some revenge for the 2-1 defeat they received. Against VG, DK will be testing themselves against the hottest team in China who just won the EMS One LAN Finals.Of all of the teams in China, the dominant strategy of 6.79 is best fit for the play of VG. The early active support play really highlights the skill of VG’s Fenrir/Fy pairing. Likewise, the greater emphasis on towers and team fights fits the middle game strategy of RotK and Super. Sylar is a solid carry that epitomizes the farming carry of four-protect-one and its various variations.Recently Vici Gaming has been running pushing compositions built around Bristleback, which has been quite the success. Given a death-ball push, any small advantage in the early game is lethal, as Vici Gaming will simply methodically roll over any and all opposition. Whether or not opponents will discover appropriate counters for this Vici Gaming strategy will be interesting to see.The new Invictus Gaming has been playing solid but unspectacular. On an individual level, the team looks as talented as it has always been. Hao and Banana are excellent additions to the team, but overall the team has a good chance against any of the other teams in the top four. iG are currently 2nd in WPC after the group stages, as well as 2nd in the D2L East Division League play. They have also been adapting to 6.79 quite well.In the lead up to Ti3, LGD Gaming stubbornly stayed faithful to five-man team fight compositions, even as other teams explored stronger laning heroes, and employed split-push and efficient jungle strategies. It looks like their faithfulness has finally paid off, and IceFrog granted LGD patch 6.79. Today, the LGD five-man is the play style whose time has come, and the xiao8-led steamroller has become one of the terrors of Chinese Dota.Rising Stars may have disbanded, but several founding members are still making an appearance in G-League. Former members Air, super, and Injuly are joined by Xiao2Lei and DreamyU in Dream Time. While the team is expected to be a tier below their group peers, Dream Time defeated Rattlesnake and has defeated WPC ACE Dota League members, Tongfu.Wangzhou, and Heart Get Together in the DLA and other Chinese competitions.Against their group of tier 1 teams, Dream Time is definitively a dark horse. However, regardless of their performance, the team is a peek into the active Chinese pub and semi-pro scene. Dream Time’s G-League performance will be a good gauge for what can be expected out of teams such as For.Love, and New Element Gaming.Before the WPC season, the flurry of transfers saw the combination of two legendary carries, Zhou and ZSMJ, on Tongfu. With Zhou on carry, Tongfu did not have the greatest success, but now ZSMJ is shifting into the carry role. The team tested out the new roles in D2L and Sina Supernova Cup, and showed no sharp drop in play. Now that the players have more practice in the new positions, it will be exciting to see just how hard ZSMJ can carry. Moderator 我们是个踏实的赞助商模式俱乐部