LGD.Int

Team Liquid

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CLG

Absolute Legends

mousesports

Quantic Gaming

LGD.Cn

The two LGD teams together with their manager.

Picture by LGD Gaming.

Invictus Gaming

Orange NeoES

XPY

Achievements

The Players

Pajkatt

Xeo Divine

Blight

NWO

Na`Vi

OK.Nirvana.Int

Evil Geniuses

eXperience

Zenith

1437

VT Gaming

OK.Nirvana.Int

It's GoSu

MUFC

World Elite

MiSeRy

Met

Fnatic

DDT

Lost.EU

Meet Your Makers

G

The Retry

DTS.Chatrix

Moscow 5

Darer

Brax

Strategy

Predictions

Previous Team Presentations

How far do you think LGD.Int will go at this years International?

Following the second International there was a sense in the West that the Chinese were as far ahead as they had ever been, and that the only way to compete with them was to go to China and practice with them fully. It was for this purpose thatPer Anders '' Olsson Lille, Captain ofat the time, began talking to the Chinese teams, looking for an organization that would be willing to take a chance on bringing over a Western team. That organization would be LGD Gaming , who took a chance on the group of players Pajkatt had managed to convince to leave their lives in Europe and North America behind them in order to move to China for what at the time was supposed to be at least 10 months. He brought in his teammateRasmus '' Filipsen, the Russian solo mid starSergey '' Bragin who at the time had barely had time to join, formerCaptainTheeban '' Siva and finally the solo mid player fromBraxton' Paulson.While the talent of these players was widely recognized, the mix did still raise a few eyebrows, in particular the still very new to the scene Brax as well as the quirky 1437 were points of concern for many fans. However concerns were soon smoothed over as the team got off to a strong start by defeating their sister teamin their very first competition, followed by a strong showing during the groupstages and playoffs However, over the course of the Chinese New Year, the team lost a lot of ground and seemed to come back slightly more weakened than their Chinese counter-parts from the month long break. As they faced off within the finals , they did not yet know that this would be their last showing of true strength before the International 2013. Coming in second, cracks had begun to appear in LGD's play, which would only progressively get worse over the Spring season.With LGD categorized by the(ACE) as one of the major teams of the scene and putting restrictions on their play, LGD.Int were not seen much during the next few months. They were only able to scrim and when they finally did show themselves, their performances were lackluster, being somewhat consistent in beating the weaker Chinese teams while consistently losing to all the major names of the Chinese Dota 2 scene, as well as the best of the South-East Asian teams,With their final chance to redeem themselves before this years International, LGD.Int failed to make it out of their group in the, going 1-4 and ending second last in their group, only able to beat out amateur team1st Place -- $1,5002nd Place -@Shanghai, China - $7,9002nd Place -- $500Signature heroes: :d2_lycan: Pajkatt started out in Wc3 DotA in 2009 with, before going through a number of teams over the course of 2009-2011, including names such asandwho were later picked up by GGnet. AsClement '' Ivanov left GGnet in order to joinbefore the International 2011, Pajkatt moved on to, with whom he played at first International, ending 7th-8th.After the International Pajkatt joined up within late 2011, leaving them shortly after the teams two month bootcamp in China in order to join all Swedish squadtogether withJonathan '' Berg andJoakim '' Akterhall as well as others.Pajkatt eventually became the captain of the team, who by then had been picked up by CLG, after the departure of Loda, who moved to Singapore in order to be with his girlfriend and later ended up joining. After adding Misery andDominik '' Stipic, the team went on a hiatus, coming back shortly before TI2 where they failed to reach the top eight teams.After the International Pajkatt together with LGD gathered what would become LGD.Int, where he once more took up the carry role, which he has largely stuck to with only a short stint as a offlaner in between, having given up his former tendency to occasionally play solo mid with heroes such Invoker.Pajkatt is now mostly well known for his solid farming and his love of pushing carries, such as Lycan and Anti-Mage. In LGD.Int he has also come to play a lot of Luna, which was a cornerstone of both theirs and LGD.Cn's strategies for a long time. He plays a fairly varied mix of carry heroes, and the recent lack of direction from LGD.Int has also been visible in his hero pool, going from heroes such as Sand King to Weaver to Nature's Prophet, Ursa and Alchemist and Luna, with very little discernible pattern.Signature heroes: :d2_sd: 1437 first came into the competitive scene back in 2010 as Captain of a team called, however his big break came a year later when he joined, with whom he attended the first International, ending a respectable 7th-8th place. After the International the team soon fell apart, at which point he has a short-lived detour with, before joining mouz in May of 2012 as a replacement forGeorg '' Krug.After the departure ofVisar '' Zymberi the Captainship of mouz well to 1437, who lead the team to a third place finish in the Western Qualifiers for the 2012 International. However, they were still invited as the Western back-up team, and withbeing delayed on their way to the event, 1437 got his second chance to play at the International after defeatingfor the spot. The results however were not inspired and the team began to fall apart soon after the event.At this point 1437 joined Quantic Gaming for a month in the fall of 2012, only to join the newly formed LGD.Int in October as their hard support player. Amidst their darkest hour some three months ago 1437 also took over drafting and the Captains role for the team, although any number of different combinations have been tried out in order to try and find a direction for the team.1437 has often been criticized for his limited heropool, as he is mostly known for playing Shadow Demon and Dark Seer. However with LGD.Int he has slowly expanded his hero pool, with in particular Rubick and Venomancer having been popular heroes for him. He generally has been given heroes which can not only babysit the lane but can also roam and gank. As LGD.Int has started experimenting with Io it has been 1437's responsibility to play the highly complex global ganker.Signature heroes: :d2_chen: Misery started playing Wc3 DotA competitive back in 2008 with, who later got sponsored byin 2009. In 2009 he ended up joining, before making his way through teams such asandinto, with whom he attended the first International, ending in 4th place.After the dissolution of MyM Misery ended up joining Evil Geniuses along with Pajkatt in October of 2011, going to China for two months to bootcamp. But whereas Pajkatt had left after returning home, Misery played on with EG until May of 2012, when he left to join CLG, and has since played together with Pajkatt, through their disappointing run at TI2 and joining LGD.Int together.Misery has in the past mostly been known as a carry/semi-carry player, famous for his Mirana and Shadow Fiend in particular, but with LGD.Int he has moved on to play a supporting role, having mostly played on junglers and roaming gankers for the team. His Chen and Enchantress were a core part of the early success of the team, and he has also played a lot of Leshrac, synergizing well with the Shadow Demon of 1437.(a.k.a. God, GodKillThemAll)Signature heroes: :d2_lanaya: God started playing Wc3 DotA back in 2008, attending local lan tournaments in St. Petersburg. However it wasn't until two years later that he joined his first major team, the famous stackCaptained by none other thanVladimir '' Anosov. This gave him the jumping board to joinafter the departure ofDanil '' Ishutin, where he stayed until March of 2011, when he joinedGod attended the first International together with M5, ending in shared 5th palce at the tournament. he stuck with the team through their rough pathces in late 2011 and until February of 2012, whenIvan '' Antonov lured God as well as the rest of the core of M5 to come join him in. This team however suffered heavile from internal conflicts, falling apart entirely during the Spring and being re-built from the ground up, with God choosing to stick by Artstyle in favour of his former M5 teammates. This lead to him competing at the second International under the banner of Darer and the leadership ofArtur '' Kostenko. However the team did not do well and fell apart shortly after the competition.In September God was all set to join Absolute Legends, however the ink on his contract had barely had time to dry when he was whisked away once more to play the solo mid for LGD.Int, being the only player who has in no way changed position during his stay with the team.God's solo mid has been at times the highpoint of LGD.Int and at times their downfall. He is a highly talented and aggressive player who is instrumental in his team's successes, which has meant that any time his level of play slips the whole team seems unable to quite make things happen in the mid game, even more so than his position would usually imply.God has largely traded in his former favourites such as the Storm Spirit in favour of more Queen of Pain, Templar Assassin and Nyx Assassin, with the last one being particularly important during LGD.Int's short run of strong results. Due to his nature as a mobile ganker, LGD.Int have not quite followed the trends of Chinese Dota in terms of their solo mid heroes, instead opting to try out Mirana as a recent addition to their cast, which has shown a lot of potential for them.Signature heroes: :d2_ds: Brax started playing Wc3 DotA for fun, eventually getting good at the game to the point where he broke through as one of the new talents that Dota 2 brought to us from the North American scene, with his first major team being Quantic Gaming whom he joined in May of 2012, eventually becoming the teams fallback as their solo mid wheneverSteven '' Ashworth had an off game. After the second International 1437 joined him at Quantic for a while, before they both headed off to LGD.Int in mid October.As a mid player he was particularly well known for his Invoker, but having taken up the offlane position for LGD.Int he has had to expand his heropool, taking a particular liking to heroes such as Lifestealer, Dark Seer and Nature's Prophet. He has proven himself to be a consistent and stable player who can still become a very strong force on the map if he is given some space, and has largely proven naysayers wrong as they questioned whether he was ready for the massive task ahead of him.When they first came on the scene, they had a very clearly defined strategy, using early game rotations with Mistery often playing Chen along with a Shadow Demon from 1437, smoking up and ganking mid, snowballing and pushing early with Luna. This worked out well for them for a while, until they were figured out and they began losing games.This also around the time it became evident that LGD.Int were not comfortable playing lategame, going for questionable decisions and looking absolutely desperate at times to end the game during the mid portion, causing them to lose games which they could have won if they played it normally. These two factors sent the team into a tailspin, unable to figure out who they wanted to be, as they began to play a very middle of the road Chinese style which did not work out for them at all.After seeing Alliance come to China and dominate with their highly foreign strategies, LGD.Int has begun experimenting more, looking for a style of their own. This has produced some interesting results, such as the Io and Vengeful Spirit strategy, but overall the team still lacks a clear direction. The one thing that seems clear is that they are likely to look for it through a balance of pushing and ganking strategies, as they still do not seem comfortable going late against Chinese teams.LGD.Int have yet to solve their fundamental identity problem. For a while, they found a strategy that worked for them, but when they started losing ground they lost track of how they wanted to play, of who they wanted to be and of how they expected to get there. Because of this they lost a lot of time going down paths that did not work out, dismissing others because of their derisive attitude towards the Western metagame. And yet now they are trying to rebuild, finally willing to take elements from both scenes and try to put them together.The problem is that, judging by results so far, the rebuilding process was started very late, and they've yet to quite find the right balance for themselves. The team may have grown comfortable playing in a LAN environment, but this can not make up for their doubt in their own abilities when trying to go lategame. If they managed to get their gameplan in order and manage to create something which is their own rather than taken from a mix of other teams, they may be able to reach the top 8, but it's hard to see it as anything but a long shot right now.