StarLadder Season Seven LAN Finals Preview October 9th, 2013 19:07 GMT Text by TheEmulator Graphics by riptide

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Season Season LAN Finals Preview

By Kipsate



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The perennial European Dota 2 LAN, StarLadder is back again with their LAN finals in Kiev, Ukraine. While Alliance may be the favourites going into the tournament, we should not write off their competition either. Na`Vi are four time champions of StarLadder, while Alliance have won only twice. RoX.KIS and Empire will have a really hard time with the likes of Na`Vi and Alliance to go against.



Anyway, let's dive right in! We'll start this StarLadder update with an



The games are almost upon us, and we invite you to sit back, switch that stream on, and join us for some EU Dota!



Let the games begin! They start in only:





Season Seven LAN Finals Preview By Kipsate



The International 2013 was the Superbowl of esports, where the greatest teams around the world met for the greatest of fame, money, and honour. However, after all that excitement, we have now returned back to Earth. The first European LAN of the new Dota year is on the horizon. We speak, of course, of Starladder, and four teams will be travelling to Kiev to participate in the finals. They are Alliance, Na`Vi, Empire, and ROX.KiS.



Alliance



Alliance is the world champion. They are the winner of The International 2013, and with that over a million dollars. They are one of two favourites going into this tournament, having easily secured their spot in the playoffs with a record of 13-2, losing out only to Na`Vi and Power Rangers. What is important to consider is that Alliance is the current back to back champion, having won their first title as NTH and the second as Alliance. However, none of these championships involved facing Na`Vi (Alliance's first title was when Na`Vi failed to qualify, and their second title coincided with Na`Vi's trip to China). This time there are no complications, and we shall finally know who truly is the champion of Starladder.



Record since The International 3: 17-6.



Na`Vi



Na`Vi were able to secure themselves second place at The International 2013 after being beaten in the grand finals against Alliance, going 2-3. After TI3, rumours of problems within the team spread, but they have decided to stay together and continue their innovative and crazy play style. As the local favourite, Na`Vi too are Starladder champions, having won Starladder a whopping four times in a row prior to Alliance's interference. This is their chance to take revenge for what happened in Seattle. It is interesting to note that Na`Vi recently seem to be experimenting (as they always do) with very successful 2-1-2 dual lanes instead of the usual 3-1-1 or 2+1-1-1 setup.



Record since The International 3: 21-10.



Empire



The post-TI3 team shuffle was chaotic. Players everywhere left their teams, joined other teams, got kicked, or retired. Amidst the smoke a new Empire arose, with Scandal, Mag, Alwayswannafly, VANSKOR, and Silent. It has been quite a while since we have seen the antics of Scandal, but he remains a formidable mid player. Mag and Alwayswannafly are both veterans who attended TI2 with Darer. VANSKOR was the support player on ROX.KiS when they had the infamous '322' incident. Lastly, Silent played support as part of the original Empire (with Funn1k, BlowyourBrain and Goblak) but has now transitioned to playing the carry position for the new team. While they are an up-and-coming team to watch, Empire will be the underdogs among the giants of Na`Vi and Alliance.



Record since The International 3: 31-23.



RoX.KIS



With a few other teams unable to attend Starladder, RoX.KIS takes the last LAN spot with a 8-7 record in the prelims. While few would disagree about them being the weakest team in Kiev, the same was commonly said for iCCup in the last iteration, and iCCup managed to get to the finals before losing to Alliance. RoX.KIS's roster consists of several players who have taken part in previous Starladder competitions. Nexus and Sedoy were actually part of an old M5 squad who managed to destroy their way to a record of 12-3 during Starladder third season. However, the most controversial player of RoX.KIS is undoubtedly Solo, infamous for the '322' betting scandal. He now returns to Starladder, eager to prove his worth and convince the world that he belongs in Dota without damaging the integrity of Starladder again.



Record since The International 3 16-23.



Predictions







On one side we have the two best teams in the world, and on the other we have the underdogs. Unfortunately I believe that there is a bigger chance of V1lat never drinking a bottle of vodka ever again than the chance that Alliance or Na`Vi does not win this season of Starladder. Both teams have proven that they perform well on the grandest stages of competition and Starladder has been no exception for them. The only question is who between the two of them will take home the title of Starladder champion. While I would say it looks like a tossup between the two, my prediction is that that Na`Vi will fall first to Alliance only to come back and claim the title on their home turf.



Prediction:



Alliance 2-0 Rox.KIS.



Na`Vi 2-0 Empire.



Empire 2-1 Rox.KIS.



Na`Vi 1-2 Alliance.



Na`Vi 2-0 Empire.



Na`Vi 3-2 Alliance.



Your Vote













Writers: Kipsate

Gfx: shiroiusagi, riptide

Editors: TheEmulator, Firebolt145

Cover photo of the

: Kipsate: shiroiusagi, riptide: TheEmulator, Firebolt145Cover photo of the Cyber Sports Arena by Gameinside.ua The perennial European Dota 2 LAN, StarLadder is back again with their LAN finals in Kiev, Ukraine. While Alliance may be the favourites going into the tournament, we should not write off their competition either. Na`Vi are four time champions of StarLadder, while Alliance have won only twice. RoX.KIS and Empire will have a really hard time with the likes of Na`Vi and Alliance to go against.Anyway, let's dive right in! We'll start this StarLadder update with an overview of the teams that are in Kiev right now . In it, TL writer Kipsate will give some background to their performances recently. Tomorrow we will release part 2 of this update with some statistical analysis from K-poptosis as well.The games are almost upon us, and we invite you to sit back, switch that stream on, and join us for some EU Dota!The International 2013 was the Superbowl of esports, where the greatest teams around the world met for the greatest of fame, money, and honour. However, after all that excitement, we have now returned back to Earth. The first European LAN of the new Dota year is on the horizon. We speak, of course, of Starladder, and four teams will be travelling to Kiev to participate in the finals. They are Alliance, Na`Vi, Empire, and ROX.KiS.Alliance is the world champion. They are the winner of The International 2013, and with that over a million dollars. They are one of two favourites going into this tournament, having easily secured their spot in the playoffs with a record of 13-2, losing out only to Na`Vi and Power Rangers. What is important to consider is that Alliance is the current back to back champion, having won their first title as NTH and the second as Alliance. However, none of these championships involved facing Na`Vi (Alliance's first title was when Na`Vi failed to qualify, and their second title coincided with Na`Vi's trip to China). This time there are no complications, and we shall finally know who truly is the champion of Starladder.Na`Vi were able to secure themselves second place at The International 2013 after being beaten in the grand finals against Alliance, going 2-3. After TI3, rumours of problems within the team spread, but they have decided to stay together and continue their innovative and crazy play style. As the local favourite, Na`Vi too are Starladder champions, having won Starladder a whopping four times in a row prior to Alliance's interference. This is their chance to take revenge for what happened in Seattle. It is interesting to note that Na`Vi recently seem to be experimenting (as they always do) with very successful 2-1-2 dual lanes instead of the usual 3-1-1 or 2+1-1-1 setup.The post-TI3 team shuffle was chaotic. Players everywhere left their teams, joined other teams, got kicked, or retired. Amidst the smoke a new Empire arose, with Scandal, Mag, Alwayswannafly, VANSKOR, and Silent. It has been quite a while since we have seen the antics of Scandal, but he remains a formidable mid player. Mag and Alwayswannafly are both veterans who attended TI2 with Darer. VANSKOR was the support player on ROX.KiS when they had the infamous '322' incident. Lastly, Silent played support as part of the original Empire (with Funn1k, BlowyourBrain and Goblak) but has now transitioned to playing the carry position for the new team. While they are an up-and-coming team to watch, Empire will be the underdogs among the giants of Na`Vi and Alliance.With a few other teams unable to attend Starladder, RoX.KIS takes the last LAN spot with a 8-7 record in the prelims. While few would disagree about them being the weakest team in Kiev, the same was commonly said for iCCup in the last iteration, and iCCup managed to get to the finals before losing to Alliance. RoX.KIS's roster consists of several players who have taken part in previous Starladder competitions. Nexus and Sedoy were actually part of an old M5 squad who managed to destroy their way to a record of 12-3 during Starladder third season. However, the most controversial player of RoX.KIS is undoubtedly Solo, infamous for the '322' betting scandal. He now returns to Starladder, eager to prove his worth and convince the world that he belongs in Dota without damaging the integrity of Starladder again.On one side we have the two best teams in the world, and on the other we have the underdogs. Unfortunately I believe that there is a bigger chance of V1lat never drinking a bottle of vodka ever again than the chance that Alliance or Na`Vi does not win this season of Starladder. Both teams have proven that they perform well on the grandest stages of competition and Starladder has been no exception for them. The only question is who between the two of them will take home the title of Starladder champion. While I would say it looks like a tossup between the two, my prediction is that that Na`Vi will fall first to Alliance only to come back and claim the title on their home turf.Prediction:2-0 Rox.KIS.2-0 Empire.2-1 Rox.KIS.Na`Vi 1-22-0 Empire.3-2 Alliance. Administrator