G-1 Champions League Season 4 Preview October 21st, 2012 16:59 GMT Text by Heyoka Table of Contents



Qualifier Recap



Game of the Prelims



Team Power Rank



Group Schedule



Day 1 Preview





Where Stars are Made



With three successful seasons of original Dota play behind them, G-1 league will be ramping it up and hosting their first season with Dota 2 in less than a day. The last spots were filled just one week ago, and starting tomorrow the power houses of China will compete alongside the teams from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and America in the most prestigious event since The International in August.



The qualifiers showed that while the best of the best are still ahead of their European and SEA counterparts, the middle tier of Chinese competition has yet to truly gain their footing in the new engine. This healthy mix of young and old, new and long-standing, and a few team shuffles will start determining who be known as the best as 2012 comes to a close.



Soon the tides of war will be waged.



Useful Links



G-1 on Liquipedia · English Stream · Dota Academy Fantasy League





G-1 Qualifiers Recap: China's Troubles By:Kupon3ss





In the qualifiers for the G-1 League the three Chinese teams, For Love, NA, and mD, combined for an abysmal showing of 2-9. Even the sole two wins seemed rather pittances, having come from a re-gamed series as a result of the opposing team using stand-ins.



Days later the Chinese fans are still asking themselves, “What happened?”



The Chinese teams suffered from a trio of crippling weaknesses. First, none of the teams had solid carries or team organization as a result of recent roster shuffles and reorganizations.





主C是队伍最后的保障、最终兵器，一剑封喉或者折戟沉沙

The main Carry is the team’s final safeguard, the ultimate weapon.

A sword that pierces the throat or the broken lance that sinks beneath the sands.



Without stable carries, the Chinese were unable to play their consistent and meticulous Dota, throwing away advantages and having no apparent game plan in many of their games. Without solid first positions to rotate and play around, the entire Chinese style of play seemed to fall apart rather quickly. The silliness of poor carries was epitomized by For.Love vs Dreamz, in which the awful decision to go straight radiance on Phantom Lancer in combination with getting caught multiple times threw away a decisive lead.



Second, almost all Chinese teams took a break from the end of ACE league (early September) to less than a week ago, with none of the teams having played much Dota 2 before then. Coming off of a two-week long national holiday (Chinese National day and the Lunar Festival) to practice a week on a fresh game is a surefire way to get demolished.



Third, having the games played online has always been the bane of the Chinese, the fact that teams such as For.Love get 200ms ping to China servers doesn't bode well for their hopes. Who can forget China's struggles prior to the International, with teams like iG and LGD routinely losing to easily outclassed opponents.



Nevertheless, this puts a pretty big dent in the aura of invincibility that China has taken on since the International. It showcases the fact that second tier Chinese teams are still quite a bit below top international teams at the moment.



Game of the Prelims By:Kupon3ss

Most of the games suffered from poor execution and often resulted in one-sided stomps, with one particular exception in EG vs SQL. The series' first two games were fraught with the highest levels of questionable plays and the epitome of the throw. "Lag makes for terrible Dota, but terribly entertaining Dota" as one commentator put it. Of the two, EG vs SQL game two was the more captivating.



Chinese Commentator’s thoughts on EG vs SQL, while in-game:

“…”

“..”

“…”

“…”

“…”



Excerpts from a Chinese Netizen:



60分钟：绝地翻盘，EG神级团队配合拯救自己，买活就送，SQL上演四号位敌法精髓

65分钟：圣剑一波，不拆超级兵，敌法买活，蜡笔克秀操作怒抢圣剑

68分钟：光芒只需要一次，黑洞只需要一回，全场暗淡最后时刻星光闪耀，谜团 IS HERO



60 Minutes: The ultimate comeback, EG’s godlike coordination rescue themselves.

Buyback into feed, SQL showcases the essence of the 4th position Antimage.

65 Minutes: Rapier Push, no need for Mega Creeps.

AntiMage buyback, the micro of the Rapier Rubrick.

68 Minutes: Radiance only needs to shine once, Black Hole only needs to rotate once.

After the darkest hour comes the blazing starlight, Engima IS HERO.



This game is the quintessence of entertaining Dota 2, what follows an epic first game is this gem. Check your logic at the door and turn off all frontal lobe function for maximum compatibility. You won't see world class play, but you're guaranteed to enjoy.







The Teams & Power Rank By:Kupon3ss



Group A Invictus Gaming LGD Gaming MUFC Evil Geniuses Sequential Gaming Group B Team DK TongFu Orange Flash eSports Natural 9



Invictus Gaming Unrivaled Under Heaven



iG is, without question, the best team in the world. Combining superlative individual skill, unparalleled flexibility, and sublime team coordination they form a seemingly invincible juggernaut. Hot on the heels of their international victory came a swift and decisive dismantling of LGD, the only team that's looked even close in strength, in the finals of the ACE league and with it they cemented their status at the pinnacle of both Dota and Dota 2.



LGD Gaming The Eternal Second

LGD has always looked like the second best team in the world, and for good reason. Since the club's creation in 2009 under the title FTD (For the Dream), they've always been at the forefront, though rarely at the zenith, of the scene. Can their recent defeats during the International and Ace League, along with the influx of a fresh storm in the form of LGD.int, inspire their relatively young players to grasp the only rung left to climb?



Team DK Legacy of the Void



If LGD are the proven youths seeking to take the final leap toward greatness, then DK are the old men hungering to regain the glories of the past. The reunification of Burning, Dai/X, and 357 after a somewhat disappointing International performance for both Ehome and DK seems to hearken back to the pinnacle of Ehome 2010. The facts seem to point to a last ditch effort by the players to rekindle an old spark. It's hard to argue that X and 357 are significant improvements over LongDD and Zippo, but the new .75b and a refocus of the team's internal organization might allow Burning to once again 1v9.



TongFu Coming of Age



TongFu has historically been overshadowed by the premiere Chinese teams. Since the Fall of Ehome, TongFu's inconsistent but still respectable performance during the International, ACE league and other events have finally earned them a firm position among China's elite teams. The exchange of LongDD in place of Kabu adds a living fossil of the scene to anchor the squad. Being the youngest and most hot-blooded team among the elite echelon of Chinese Dota, only time will tell if they will be able to meld well with LongDD and temper the aggression with consistency, both on the battlefield and in team dynamics.



Orange Tides of Blood



Orange and Zenith both fared reasonably well at the International. With Zenith (now 1v5) in a sorry state, Orange is the strongest representative of the SEA style of map-wide ganking and prioritizing blood over rice. Having taken the win at WCG SEA without Mushi (whose participation in G-1 is still up in the air), Orange is perhaps the strongest of the non-Chinese teams, with the ability to take games but perhaps not the solidity to win series against the top tier Chinese teams.



Evil Geniuses Against All Odds



A short list of what EG has had to overcome to find itself here involves: Demon's insistence and personally contacting the organizers to fit themselves as the final slot of the qualifiers, going through the bracket with 70 minute games at 6AM, struggling through roster changes, and of course the 300+ ping of the SG servers. While the certainly have the individual talent to create upsets (they did almost take a series against iG at the International), there is perhaps not a single factor in their favor in G-1.



MUFC The Dark Horse



Due to a certain team-member losing his passport causing the team to miss The International, very little is known about MUFC's current skill level. Since The International, MUFC has reformed their roster with 2 members of AEON and defeated Orange at ESWC SEA qualifiers. Will the G-1 league will be their chance at redemption?



Flash A Bright Hope



Flash showed some fairly sharp and unconventional play on the route to demolishing a pair of mediocre Chinese Teams. A strong team in its own scene, Flash has yet to prove itself against Asia's finest. Will they be a flash in the pan or a vision of the ultimate weapon? My money's on the former.



Natural 9 The Davids



A far cry from the team once seen as "the second strongest team in the world" almost a year ago, N9's most recent splash was a middling performance in Seattle. Despite being fairly adept at playing with high latency, their currently sponser-less state pits them as underdogs against almost any team. Will they be the stone to slay a Goliath the way they first made their name defeating Na`Vi? Maybe the 2 Secret Standins will be able to realize visions of times past.



Sequential Gaming Fumoffu's Throw's Fan Club



After being dropped by their sponsor midway during the qualifiers, SQL has not shown much besides engaging in a ‘game of throws’ against EG. While they seem to enjoy playing Dota, Fumoffu's Throws' Fan Club has much to be desired in both individual skill and propensity to not throw even if it somehow attains an advantage.



Group Schedule



Schedule information taken from



First Half

Monday, Oct 22 11:00am GMT (GMT+00:00): iG vs MUFC

Monday, Oct 22 1:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): DK vs Orange

Tuesday, Oct 23 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): TongFu vs N9

Tuesday, Oct 23 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): LGD vs SQL

Wednesday, Oct 24 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): iG vs LGD

Wednesday, Oct 24 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): DK vs TongFu

Thursday, Oct 25 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): Flash vs N9

Thursday, Oct 25 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): EG vs SQL

Friday, Oct 26 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): MUFC vs EG

Friday, Oct 26 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): Orange vs Flash



Second Half

Sunday, Oct 28 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): Orange vs N9

Sunday, Oct 28 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): MUFC vs SQL

Monday, Oct 29 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): LGD vs EG

Monday, Oct 29 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): TongFu vs Flash

Tuesday, Oct 30 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): DK vs N9

Tuesday, Oct 30 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): iG vs SQL

Wednesday, Oct 31 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): LGD vs MUFC

Wednesday, Oct 31 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): TongFu vs Orange

Thursday, Nov 01 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): DK vs Flash

Thursday, Nov 01 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): iG vs EG





Day 1 Preview The Pride of China against the Waves of SEA







Invictus Gaming MUFC Monday, Oct 22 11:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)vs



The undoubtedly strongest team in the world against the International team who failed to show up. This will likely be a gauge more of the team's individual conditions rather than having any disputed results. Did iG get any weaker from playing DotA 1 and their month-long vacation? How High up the rung of International teams would MUFC have been had they been able to compete?



Prediction: 2-0 iG







Team DK Orange Monday, Oct 22 1:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)vs



DK is the only Chinese Team Orange didn't face during the International. Having done fairly well against both TongFu and Ehome during the prelims and only narrowly losing to Ehome's Tiny/Wisp in the loser's bracket, Orange is perhaps on par with DK on a good day. The match will likely be determined by intangibles outside of the game such as the state of DK's new lineup in terms of coordination and organization and whether or not Mushi shows up.



Prediction: 1 - 1





Writer: Kupon3ss

Graphics: HawaiianPig

Editor: Heyoka

With three successful seasons of original Dota play behind them, G-1 league will be ramping it up and hosting their first season with Dota 2 in less than a day. The last spots were filled just one week ago, and starting tomorrow the power houses of China will compete alongside the teams from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and America in the most prestigious event since The International in August.The qualifiers showed that while the best of the best are still ahead of their European and SEA counterparts, the middle tier of Chinese competition has yet to truly gain their footing in the new engine. This healthy mix of young and old, new and long-standing, and a few team shuffles will start determining who be known as the best as 2012 comes to a close.Soon the tides of war will be waged.In the qualifiers for the G-1 League the three Chinese teams, For Love, NA, and mD, combined for an abysmal showing of 2-9. Even the sole two wins seemed rather pittances, having come from a re-gamed series as a result of the opposing team using stand-ins.Days later the Chinese fans are still asking themselves, “What happened?”The Chinese teams suffered from a trio of crippling weaknesses. First, none of the teams had solid carries or team organization as a result of recent roster shuffles and reorganizations.Without stable carries, the Chinese were unable to play their consistent and meticulous Dota, throwing away advantages and having no apparent game plan in many of their games. Without solid first positions to rotate and play around, the entire Chinese style of play seemed to fall apart rather quickly. The silliness of poor carries was epitomized by For.Love vs Dreamz, in which the awful decision to go straight radiance on Phantom Lancer in combination with getting caught multiple times threw away a decisive lead.Second, almost all Chinese teams took a break from the end of ACE league (early September) to less than a week ago, with none of the teams having played much Dota 2 before then. Coming off of a two-week long national holiday (Chinese National day and the Lunar Festival) to practice a week on a fresh game is a surefire way to get demolished.Third, having the games played online has always been the bane of the Chinese, the fact that teams such as For.Love get 200ms ping to China servers doesn't bode well for their hopes. Who can forget China's struggles prior to the International, with teams like iG and LGD routinely losing to easily outclassed opponents.Nevertheless, this puts a pretty big dent in the aura of invincibility that China has taken on since the International. It showcases the fact that second tier Chinese teams are still quite a bit below top international teams at the moment.Most of the games suffered from poor execution and often resulted in one-sided stomps, with one particular exception in EG vs SQL. The series' first two games were fraught with the highest levels of questionable plays and the epitome of the throw. "Lag makes for terrible Dota, but terribly entertaining Dota" as one commentator put it. Of the two, EG vs SQL game two was the more captivating.Chinese Commentator’s thoughts on EG vs SQL, while in-game:“…”“..”“…”“…”“…”This game is the quintessence of entertaining Dota 2, what follows an epic first game is this gem. Check your logic at the door and turn off all frontal lobe function for maximum compatibility. You won't see world class play, but you're guaranteed to enjoy.Schedule information taken from 17173's announcement . all series best-of-2. All games will be cast by LD and GoDz in English.Monday, Oct 22 11:00am GMT (GMT+00:00): iG vs MUFCMonday, Oct 22 1:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): DK vs OrangeTuesday, Oct 23 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): TongFu vs N9Tuesday, Oct 23 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): LGD vs SQLWednesday, Oct 24 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): iG vs LGDWednesday, Oct 24 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): DK vs TongFuThursday, Oct 25 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): Flash vs N9Thursday, Oct 25 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): EG vs SQLFriday, Oct 26 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): MUFC vs EGFriday, Oct 26 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): Orange vs FlashSunday, Oct 28 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): Orange vs N9Sunday, Oct 28 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): MUFC vs SQLMonday, Oct 29 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): LGD vs EGMonday, Oct 29 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): TongFu vs FlashTuesday, Oct 30 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): DK vs N9Tuesday, Oct 30 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): iG vs SQLWednesday, Oct 31 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): LGD vs MUFCWednesday, Oct 31 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): TongFu vs OrangeThursday, Nov 01 7:30am GMT (GMT+00:00): DK vs FlashThursday, Nov 01 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00): iG vs EGThe undoubtedly strongest team in the world against the International team who failed to show up. This will likely be a gauge more of the team's individual conditions rather than having any disputed results. Did iG get any weaker from playing DotA 1 and their month-long vacation? How High up the rung of International teams would MUFC have been had they been able to compete?2-0 iGDK is the only Chinese Team Orange didn't face during the International. Having done fairly well against both TongFu and Ehome during the prelims and only narrowly losing to Ehome's Tiny/Wisp in the loser's bracket, Orange is perhaps on par with DK on a good day. The match will likely be determined by intangibles outside of the game such as the state of DK's new lineup in terms of coordination and organization and whether or not Mushi shows up.1 - 1Kupon3ssHawaiianPigHeyoka @RealHeyoka | DreamHack StarCrafty Man