Pre-Kiev Dota 2 Power Rankings

Hey - had a lot of people ask me about Kiev Major predictions, so figured I'd do a 1-16 power rankings of all teams competing at the event, obviously with a single elimination tournament half the teams will finish in the bottom 8, and it's very likely that 2 teams I have in the top 8 will meet in the first round of the bracket somewhere, so don't take this as a full event placement prediction, since such isn't really possible until the bracket is visible.



1. OG - 3x Valve Major champions, runner-up at DAC (funnily enough this is the one result people will try use to disupte their #1 seed based on the recent form of iG), & the kind of consistency reminiscent of 2013 Alliance. They are the front-runners for the Kiev crown.

2. iG - iG's form has been a sudden, recent phenomenon with the Chinese scene tournaments being largely won by Newbee (2x DPL champions) & iG.V (Seem to win all the qualifiers!), but defeating the seemingly unstoppable oG at DAC saw them fly up the charts having done so in a stacked tournaments featuring EG, Newbee, Liquid, & more.

3. Newbee - Newbee's current roster still seems to be looking for their break-out international Championship, despite domestic success in the biggest Chinese league - DPL. They've come runner up at ChinaTop, MDL, & ESL One Gentin, while also finishing 3rd at the recent DAC. This team is a safe bet to put up consistent performances, but perhaps lack the necessary risk-taking mindset to truly contest the title.

4. EG - One of the few teams who has been able to consistently go head-to-head with OG. The closest thing to a rivalry at the top level for OG has come from their American counterparts, and while EG took down OG at the DotaPit finals 3-2, it was OG who bested EG when it counted most at the Boston Major. Recent form shows much more consistency from OG, while EG still appear to be a team looking for an identity with their playstyle and drafts. However, whatever shortcomings they might have, they are incredible at making up for with incredible talent in every role.

5. Liquid - Perhaps one of the more disputable teams on the rankings, Liquid found themselves in last place at DAC with a bo1 loss to Faceless. They found themselves in the bo1's because of a terrbile day 1 group stage, despite bouncing back and almost making it into the Winner Bracket. Liquid is a team with incredible skill, one of the best Dota 2 captains, and proven results at Starladder I-League Shanghai, and even recent European qualifiers such as DAC where they beat both Secret & B)ears to make it through. Don't be fooled by their DAC result and look at Liquid as one of the weaker teams in Kiev.

6. VP - While the CIS qualifiers weren't as competitive as China or Europe, VP breezed through these qualifiers (even with a slight test from Na'vi in the WB initially) and found themselves once against at a Valve Major. Outside of the Major, this team also ranks highly due to an important critieria for me: The "Have you beaten OG in a big tournament" criteria. VP managed to beat OG in a bo5 at the previous Dota Summit & have some of the top CIS players for every role in their lineup. While they may have been quiet and didn't make an appearance at DAC (due to power issues in qualifiers), look to VP to be one of the top contenders at Kiev.

7. iG.V - Quite a difficult team to evaluate with the way they've fluctuated in form. From bombing out at Starladder, to a strong DAC performance, and very consistent online Chinese qualifier tournament results, iG.V are a strong, emerging team in the region. To me, they are a team who has capitalised during periods of downtime & weak performances from their opposition, but DAC showed another side where Papparazi... really shined as one of the top players in the world. Look out for iG.V in Kiev, but also don't be surprised if they bomb out in the first round against one of the more veteran teams, even if on paper they should be better.

8. Secret - Another hard team to judge. For a team not attending a huge number of LANs, Secret doesn't play very many matches. The high ranking here, largely stems from their success in the Kiev Qualifiers themselves. Europe (alongside China) was definitely one of the most competitive & hard-to-qualify-from regions for this Dota 2 Major. And coming through over the likes of C9, Alliance, & B)ears puts Secret in a decent ranking right now.

9. Thunderbirds (ex-DC) - This team secured their Kiev Major invite from a fantastic ESL Genting victory. Not only was this important to get their invite, but it also showed to the Dota 2 community that the ex-DC teams TI6 run to the Grand Finals wasn't a fluke, and that winning titles was something they are capable of. Something only a handful of teams at Kiev can claim they've done since the previous Boston Major. However, competitive form since ESL Genting has dipped (including losses to NA-rivals, NP, who they rarely lost to before) and sees Thunderbirds coming into the Kiev Major as one of the dark horses.

10. Random (ex-Wings) - They're hot then they're cold; well they're mostly cold since TI6. Wings have found themselves going through a tumultuous time as far as their organisation goes, and have not been putting up the same kind of results that people expected from them. Even the old WIngs had some bad showings (Getting last place at Manila Major with an embarrassing loss to Complexity), but they still had their brilliant tournaments (ESL One Manila, TI6). The current Wings team has put up some great matches recently, and memorable moments (A fantastic series vs EG at DAC), but ultimately the results haven't been there.

11. VGJ - This team was thrown under the spotlight after a surprise 2nd place finish at SL I-league Shanghai, most notably because they defeated the 'best team in the world', OG, in the process of doing so. However, since that result, VGJ have not shown an ability to maintain that level of play despite the star-studded roster and return of one of the best supports duos competitive Dota has ever seen - Fenrir and FY. This team still remains a scary team to go up against in the first round of a single-elimination tournament.

12. TNC - The most impressive part of TNC's resume to me, has been their ability to perform on LAN. While WESG was not the most competitive tournament featuring only national teams, TNC didn't crack under pressure during the Grand Finals, additionally they found themselves finishing top 4 at Starladder over teams such as Secret & iG.V. This team seems to find themselves performing at a much higher level during live events, which to me secures them a spot higher in the power rankings than their fellow SEA representatives in Kiev.

13. Mousesports (ex-AF) - Boston Major runner-up Ad Finem, haven't found much success on the new patch and whether or not they have had time to adjust and find themselves in 7.0x patches will be tested at the Kiev Major. Without a lot of matches to go by, and disappointing results across their games, the ex Ad Finem boys are once again underdogs at a Valve Major.

14. Faceless - The SEA gatekeepers have recently found themselves struggling to event uphold their spot as the best SEA team. They flopped in Dota Summit qualifiers, while successfully holding onto the Manila Masters SEA slot. Faceless are a team who have excelled in bo1 environment on international LANs and have managed to capitalise on opponents mistakes and dips in forms at key times, but ultimately have yet to show the makings of a true top team contender for a major.

15. Digital Chaos (ex-Onyx) - Upsets over NP & CoL saw Onyx surprisingly take the NA slot for Kiev. While a fantastic achievement, those 2 NA teams have since shown to have lacked stability and have been or were undergoing roster changes. The ex-Onyx squad has some tremendous talent in Abed, but playing against the top International teams on a big stage will be a whole new challenge from playing against NA Dota.

16. SG eSports - Complete newcomers to the international Dota 2 scene, this team would unlikely have qualified for the tournament if not for a separate South American qualifier, while they are a team that is likely to grow and improve from the experience, don't expect upsets here.



Final words: These rankings take a mix of recent & some older results, while giving more emphasis to recent tournaments such as DAC, some emphasis was definitely put on teams who have performed well in the past at a consistently high level as well as probably some personal bias in how I see these teams doing at a big Major. Liquid getting #5, while VG.J getting #11 when both were in Starladder finals is a big differential (not to mention Liquid got last at DAC). Other factors such as how teams were eliminated (bo1 vs faceless) and where else they played (Liquid won DAC EU vs Secret/B)ears while VGJ has struggled in DPL and other Chinese tournaments) was taken into account. There's also some teams like Thunderbirds, Secret, Mousesports, who haven't played much recently and are very difficult to rank at this moment.

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