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Western Qualifier Team Previews

By Kipsate



Bamboe Speaks

By TheEmulator





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TI3 Western Qualifiers Preview

Bracket and full schedule can be found on Liquipedia!

Western Qualifier Team Previews By Kipsate

Evil Geniuses

Ahh EG, one of the most hated, debated, and loved teams out there. For a while they disappeared off the radar, only to return with a stand-in for the G-1 league qualifiers, making a reasonably good run. With Maelk shifting to a coaching position they retain his experience and expertise while adding a fresh new face in Bamboe. After a fairly revealing interview by Fear it seems that the rest of the EG roster has found new motivation. With EG currently boot-camping in Arizona at the famous EG Lair, and with the power of many hashtags they are the favourite to win the qualifier.

mousesports

mousesports is another strong contender to win the qualifier, or at least take the wildcard match. With the addition of SyndereN they have gained some valuable expertise in the Captain role. while SyndereN still seems to have a bit of a problem adjusting his drafting experience to the players of mouseports, it is improving at a fairly quick rate. When Fata and qojqva are on their game mousesports is a scary team to behold. If in the end all fails, we can always trust in Black^.

RoX

Rox.KIS is a bit unstable right now. They had an impressive run at the Raidcall EMS one Spring, and have proved they can take games off A tier teams, but seem to lack consistency in their play. Nevertheless, they are one of the teams who have improved a ton under the leadership of Dread. This team can pull quite an upset in the TI3 Western Qualifiers.

Absolute Legends

Abslolute Legends, the team that is always in the middle. They are not a bad team by any means, but always seem to lack that next step to fight A tier teams. A positive is that unlike some teams in the qualifiers, this team has been together for more than three months.

DD.Dota

Goblak, Silent, these were the supports of the strong Empire lineup. They joined the French in their last attempt to be at the International as they were last year. We do not know yet how the team chemistry is for they haven't played too many games together. All we know is that Goblak brought Empire's Treant Protector with him to DD dota, we will surely see this hero from them in the qualifiers.

Empire

Empire how I loved thee, with Funn1k, Silent, and Goblak leaving, little remains of the once glorious team that striked fear in the hearts of every Western team. Nevertheless, Empire lives onward and with Scandal back in the mid lane, the addition of legendary player LightOfHeaven, and controversial player Twista this team is a large question mark but a potential up-setter.

Qpad Red Pandas

One of the two somewhat controversial invites to the TI3 qualifiers. While SingSing, Wagamama, and Mini are solid players, it seems that SelecT and JerAx are still behind. This combined with sometimes questionable drafting it seems unlikely that they will qualify, but they sure as hell will try.

Iccup

The other of the two most controversial invites, ICCup. For now they look the weakest out of all the qualifier teams. They qualified for Starladder season 6 through the pro series and beat Na`Vi in a Bo1 at Techlabs. Containing some veteran players in Mag, Alwayswannafly and Jackal. Iccup will have to prove that they were worthy of getting the qualifier spot.

Bamboe Speaks By TheEmulator

Alaan "SexyBamboe" Faraj of Evil Geniuses, courtesy of Liquipedia

TL: Hello Bamboe, thank you for doing this interview. Would you like to introduce yourself first?



Bamboe: Hi, im Alaan Faraj. I play Dota 2 for team Evil Geniuses, and sometimes like to snatch aegises!



TL: Recently you joined Evil Geniuses, and Maelk made the switch to team coach. What led you to stand in and eventually switch to EG, and are you happy about the change so far? What is your favourite thing about playing with EG?

Bamboe: It was all really unexpected. Jeyo asked me to stand-in for them for a Weplay match out of the blue. After we won they told me they might need me for a couple more games, which happend to be the G-1 qualifier games. They liked the way I played and synergized with the team so one thing led to another. I am happy with joining Evil Geniuses since I can now fully focus on Dota 2 without worrying about much else. My favourite thing has got to be the pictures our fans are making for the team.

TL: Anything specific you have learned from Maelk yet?

Bamboe: To control my inner throw!

TL: Congratulations on making it into the TI3 Western Qualifiers! How excited was your team when you found this out, and what are you guys doing specifically to prepare.

Bamboe: It was kind of a let down, but motivating at the same time for the team. Since every team wants to be considered one of the top 16 teams. But at the same time if you're not in it, it makes you wanna prove that you are one of the top by beating them all!

TL: How great is it to practice within the famous EG Lair? Are you guys a lot closer now that you're together, and are practice sessions a lot more productive?

Bamboe: It's pretty cool since it has been my goal to live in a team house and focus fully on Dota 2 for a while now, and for it to be the famous EG Lair is just an added bonus. You get to know your teammates way faster while you live together, since I am kinda new it has helped us get a lot more synergy going in a short amount of time.

TL: Back to the Qualifiers, are there any teams in particular that you are worried about? How good do you think EG's chances are of winning?

Bamboe: I am fairly confident. We aren't really worried about any. If we play our best and dont #EGThrow we should be able to beat any team in the qualifier

TL: Do you think the Main Event will be dominated by Chinese teams this year? Or is this the year for Western Dota to prevail at TI3?

Bamboe: This year it's hard to say since there hasn't been any mixed tournaments with both Chinese and Western teams yet. After the G-1 lan final it's gonna be easier to tell but for now I think they are going to at least have a bigger challenge this time. Compared to last year I feel like western teams have improved a lot, and they play more coordinated and actually take it alot more seriously with teamhouses and bootcamps coming up.

TL: How has your role/position changed since your time in Mouz? Is it fairly similar or does EG have you trying out a new play-style overall? How is this role working out for you?

Bamboe: It's fairly similar, I sometimes play more semi carryish heroes than I used to, like naix/juggernaut which I enjoy a lot. I like this playstyle more since we play more coordinated, and less randomish than back in the days, and can surprise teams a lot by having such a wide hero pool range!

TL: Any specific heroes you have been practicing that we might see soon?

Bamboe: Time will tell!!!

TL: Outside of Dota, I assume you do other things. So, what do you like to do when you aren't playing Dota?

Bamboe: Not much since I am living in Arizona. Its hard to do anything in the middle of the desert!

Back at home it was pretty much Dota, hanging out with friends, and going out.

TL: Thank you so much for this interview, would you like to give any shoutouts to finish this off?





Follow me on twitter Bamboe: Shoutout to my new team Evil Geniuses and my teammates, Fears rulebook, all my fans who stuck with me while I was teamless and the new ones! And of course our sponsors RaidCall, Monster Energy, Kingston HyperX, Razer, Astro, Zam, Intel, In Win, Beyond Gaming, and Split Reason.Follow me on twitter @SexyBamboe and on twitch.tv/SexyBamboe

Writers: Kipsate, TheEmulator

Gfx: Shiroiusagi, TheEmulator

Editors: TheEmulator



The biggest Dota 2 tournament in the world looming closer everyday, and the level of hype is reaching epic proportions. Recently, Valve released the invites for The International 2013, consisting of 13 of the best teams worldwide.However, there are still three spots up for grabs at TI3, and it is these spots that will be filled in the weeks to come. Two of the three remaining places will be fought for through the Eastern Qualifier and the focus of this article, the Western Qualifier. The third, of course, will be filled via a match between the second place finishers of the two qualifiers.The Western Qualifier consists of the top eight teams not already invited to The International 2013. Thus, we have TL Staff Writer Kipsate here today with Team Previews . We also sat down this week with SexyBamboe of team Evil Geniuses for an interview . Read on to see what he thinks about the qualifiers, EG's new team house, and more.We hope you enjoy this TI3 Quals update from TL Dota 2 Coverage. Please check out the TI3 West Quals on Liquipiedia , and see you all on game day!