Lower Bracket Preview: Blood will be spilled; tears will follow.







Vici Gaming (6-8) and Na’Vi (3-11) face each other in conditions they never expected to be. Both champions and part of the elite Dota 2’s history, they now reach a point in which a single best of one will most likely overshadow part of the prestige they’ve built with hard work through the years.

Na’Vi comes from a disastrous groupstage after a disastrous road to TI5 Qualifiers. Despite ArtStyle’s rich history and clear positive changes for the team, it seems it was just too late for the groups. Na’Vi looks less flexible, more vulnerable and less sharp than their opposition and it makes sense: they didn’t practice straight nor developed strategies until two months before TI, when their rivals had been doing exactly that during the last semester. That being said it looks that they recovered themselves at a surprisingly fast phase from their previous form. The CIS squad trained hard in an attempt to reach the bar the organization lifted so much but they need more... they need their previous magic. Their trademark trait that was never managed to be replicated by any other team. They need to rise from the dead as they had us accustomed to. Now is the time because little from before will be remembered if they don't succeed this Monday.



VG had everything their opposition wanted. They were a consistent top3 team in the entire world with one of the most exciting gameplays seen in the last years. But somehow, after getting second place at DAC (the largest non-TI Dota 2 event) they decided to change their carry player. They brought one of the most prestigious carry players in the game's history but their mediocre performance with Hao shows that maybe the quoted language barriers weren’t the only problem within the team. VG changed captains, drafters and even playstyles but still they are nowhere their former level. They achieved ties against decent teams to get to a solid 6 games won but the fashion in which they did it wasn’t really convincing. This is VG’s last chance to prove all their fans that their roster change was the right move and that they can outshine their previous form. This will be the most dramatic game during the first day at Key Arena.





David and Goliath



The defending champion got selected by a first-time TI-attending korean team to play in a all-or-nothing bo1 brawl. They could choose their brother team but instead they picked the only team that lost a single series in the entire groupstage. I can’t imagine a more epic tale at the highest level.



Newbee (6-8) is weaker than what they should be as defending Champions but they’re still much stronger than what people give them credit for. It is true that after winning the biggest e-Sport event in gaming history, Newbee somehow thought it was a good idea to drown in RPGs and lose most of the respect they achieved in their short life span. But it’s also true that after getting hit hard by reality, Newbee did get their game together and is trying their absolute best. They convincingly won games against EHOME, Empire and EG, all of them in the winner’s bracket. They also did it in style by using very different strats in each game. This is the time where the author kindly remembers that this was the exact position Newbee was at TI4 last year. You've been warned.



If NB 'suffers' from underration, what's left for MVP Phoenix (5-9) then. The korean team sometimes does things that are hard on the eyes and mind. No one can deny that. But they’ve also shown signs of greatness that have not been seen from an Asian team besides Orange (or today’s Fnatic). Phoenix grinded their way from the wildcard after beating a Vega Squadron that looked a lot stronger than them, and now they chose to face a Champion instead of Hot6. It may be true that, as March stated in his interview, this team truly has 'no fear'. This bo1 has everything to be a really exciting match but most importantly it is a true battle between David and Goliath. No matter the result, Phoenix should finally get the respect they’ve fairly earned.

To Kill or to Bleed

Both Fnatic and Virtus Pro have done their best to become the glorious Dota organizations they were once credited for. For anyone that followed the dawn of competitive DotA, Virtus Pro have never managed to get to their former level until these past months of 2015. After a silent semester, Fnatic decided to bet once again in Dota 2 but this time in a SEA team, invoking their word-class Indonesian team they had back in DotA. Both teams go into sudden death with everything to gain but yet all to lose, in a match that may be the bloodiest affair of the day.

Fnatic (4-10) had a rough groupstage to say the least. They started the first day with their right foot demolishing Team Secret in their second game in barely 30 minutes and they proceed to tale a game out of iG. However their 2-2 record during that day was the best they would achieve through the phase, only collecting wins against other suffering teams such as Na’Vi and Phoenix. Something have been brewing from the inside in Fnatic since even their legendary superstar Mushi seems to be off-point. However, make no mistakes: this is the best SEA team with players that managed to get a bronze medal in TI3, where they’ve won 4 straight series in the lower bracket. They have a potential they haven’t been able to harness yet but they had time for adjustments. Now is showtime.



VP may be the most unhappy team of all the loser bracket. Their impressive 7-7 record with a victory over no other than CDEC wasn’t enough to take them into the upper bracket: they had to play a tiebreaker against Empire that they lost it 1:2. However they earned the privilege to choose their opponent and they decided to ignore Korean teams or even a weak Na’Vi to select Fnatic. This was obviously a measured decision and they must be confident it their choice but a bo1 against a SEA team is nothing but unpredictable. VP will most likely have to rely on their own gameplay to defeat the Malaysian squad but that may be part of their problem, since the 'skill department' is probably Fnatic’s stronger aspect as of now. VP managed to refresh the memory of their long-lasting fans but now they need to stick a new image in them: winning in the Key Arena is their only shot at overshadowing their legacy.





Burning too Hot



Almost inexplicable unpicked by either VP or Phoenix, Hot6 got into their bracket by default against none other than the TI 2 champion. The Ferrari+Burning duo displayed a powerful arsenal and carried their team to recover some of their formidable status from last years. All statistics points-out this match as the most one-sided of the day but...



... Hot6 won 2 matches. It’s a minimal record, but both matches were against the formidable Chinese big teams Newbee and Vici Gaming. Both victories were on their first game of the series with unorthodox picks and non-stop aggression. It’s a tiny sample but big enough to be noted that this bo1 against a Chinese team is probably as good as it gets for Hot6... according to their run in the groupstage. There lies the only lifeline this author can throw at the Korean team that in some ways, already did history by qualifying to this TI in good fashion. Everything should be considered as a bonus from that point forward.



iG (5-9) is another team that has a misleading score. They secured games out of compLexity and LGD (something few achieved) but they also had underwhelming showing against the other strong teams of their group Cloud 9 and Team Secret. It looks like iG only fights one major battle: the one to control the tempo of the game. If iG manages to get the game as slow as they want, they get a huge lead and most of the time they crush their rivals. If the tempo is too fast for them, they often get decimated. It’s a way too unstable trait for such a talented team and this may be the biggest reason of their struggle. In this regard, iG’s biggest weakness is Hot6’s strongest attribute and because of this, and only this, their match could be the one in which a TI champion gets eliminated by a Korean team.



In less than 24 hours blood will be spilled at Key Arena. Fans will scream and others will cry. Welcome to TI5's main event.