TI4 Americas: The New World May 11th, 2014 18:37 GMT Text by Heyoka TI4 Americas

The New World

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Turn off Focus Mode [x] AM Quals Preview TI4 Americas:

The New World

by GrandGrant

The Americas have a storied Dota scene. From IGS in 2004-2005, when Fear and Remstar/JohnnyUtah teamed up, to the beginning of Cal League in 2006, in the early days every regional scene was secluded and North America itself was split in half. Historically, the East always had the best players and teams (JMC/coL/emg/Pandemic). The East was also home to Merlini, who during this period introduced the world to jungling and changed Dota forever. It wasn’t until Check-6 Gaming took 3rd place during a MYM Prime Defending event that people really got to see the power that was the West coast. Led by captain iSH, and legendary American players Hitomi and Demon, they were able to to run through the gauntlet of European teams to show that there was more to America than Complexity and Pandemic. The proudest moment in any American Dota fan’s heart was when Team USA won the last iteration of the MYM Pride Nations tournament against what was everyone’s favorite, a XBOCT and Dendi led Ukranian team. However, after that, America all but fell off the face of the map. With the departure of eMg (Korok’s crew) and AzN (Bulba’s team), the scene went into a deep sleep, and it is from this slumber that it is now emerging.



While







USA! USA! USA!

USA! USA! USA!

Though



A year on, it is this new world that we now inhabit. If in the last season, the Americas had Liquid, then their hope for 2013 - 2014 is



A long awaited shot in the arm for the burgeoning Dota communities of NA and SA, it’s nice that the twin continents will finally have a tell-all tournament that decides who gets to make our annual pilgrimage to Seattle. The people of the Americas getting their own qualifier means they finally get a chance to play on the world’s stage, unlike last year where EG was the only American representative in the



With ppd’s band of brothers far and away the best that the Americas has to offer, the TI4 AM Quals are now a race for second place. So, who the hell is the 2nd best American team?



First, let’s go south.





South of the Border, West of the SEA

While the average Dota viewer’s perception of South American Dota is perhaps tainted by the constant flood of racist forum posts by pubs, any true connoisseur of American Dota knows that the region has one of the most vibrant Dota scenes in the world.



Dota 2 fans, if I told you that in DotA 1 a Brazilian team was considered a dark horse that would upset teams at an international LAN, you would probably just laugh at me. However, at ESWC 2010 in France, many pro teams admitted to being scared of the then unknown CNB. Unfortunately, CNB ended up not living up to their potential, and went 0-3 in the group stages to LOST-gaming (Ducky/Misery/Pajkatt/Loda and twisted), Reborn (an unknown Iranian team), and Online Kingdom.





South America was relevant in 2010. Can they make it back to the top? South America was relevant in 2010. Can they make it back to the top?

Since then we haven't seen any South American team on LAN, and the TI4 quals will be the closest the region has come to LAN in many years. South America boasts of four quality amateur teams:



I’ll be the first to say that nearly everyone in North America respected





Benjaz (far left) will play for Revenge in these quals. Benjaz (far left) will play for Revenge in these quals.

Before all of this happened, the hype surrounding Smash and Revenge was extremely high, with many saying they’d be able to place Top 2. Since the whole fiasco, they've gone 0-3 in The Summit qualifier (including one forfeit loss). Can this last minute reformation pay off for them, and can they look like the team that was about to give Liquid and the other front runners a run for their money, or will they succumb to the drama machine? I hope not! It’s certainly time South America emerged as a power in Dota once again.



Having said that, it’s not just Revenge we should be looking out for. The other three SA teams have recently shown signs of life as well, and Union Gaming in particular has a chance to make Top 4 in Group B of the American Dota League. But the question is this: will they be ready for the four day stress test that is these qualifiers? This is not just a random Americas tournament. This is a chance to go to TI4.





Swing, swing, swing from the tangles of...

The



NAR is so massively stacked in terms of individual skill that they make EG look semi-newbie to an average Dota fan.





Korok rubbed shoulders with the greats very early on. Korok rubbed shoulders with the greats very early on.

Though he was only a stand-in for



Alongside him on NAR are Ex-



on the other hand was given the boot by



When the North American Rejects came together recently, everyone complained that it was just a stunt to lock a spot in the TI qualifiers. However, since then they have been competing in every tournament they can and scrimming as well, showing they may be in it for the long haul. Does that mean they deserve an invite over a team like “ti5” who has continuously played SECS (Sunday Evening Cup Series) and TECS (Thursday Evening Cup Series) and has shown signs of brilliance after winning the finals of TECS? Who can say, all I know is it’s a treat to see these guys playing serious Dota again.





A New World, A New Order

With so many old schooler NAers coming back to compete in these qualifiers, are there any teams or players that can actually contest them? Everyone in the Dota world knows who







SNA: sneakier than your average Nyx. SNA: sneakier than your average Nyx.



I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that apart from Korok, Nyx’USH is the most talented and skilled player in these qualifiers. Chris “USH” Usher has been playing in American inhouse leagues for a long time and was always one of those players you could count on in a startgame. Eventually, he moved to stacking with SNA (the player), and was often seen on the front page of the spectating tab. Playing carry for SNA (the team) has given people around the world a chance to see him in tournaments such as ADL / CEVO, and The Summit qualifiers.



Many might not have heard the name Whitebeard, but he was at one point a part of the doomed Fnatic.NA. Many people fear he’s the weak link of the team, but he has shown signs of brilliance, with aggressive rotations and good positioning.



Many people know SNA (the player) from watching Merlini’s stream where he was featured regularly and showed amazing skills even while using an anime avatar. His mid play, especially as Invoker, is extremely good and I look forward to seeing him match up with some of the best American mids they have to offer.



Our next team,



Another new player to look out for is Naerok, who plays the offlane for SP. From Chicago, he has competed at several local LANs down at Ignite and from what I’ve heard, he can’t wait to show the world that they deserved to be invited to the qualifiers directly and not just after Osiris and Revenge got booted.



Rounding out the new kids on the block is a North American Chinese team known as





Water, water everywhere

(but not a drop to drink)



All of these guys are in the qualifiers, albeit on different teams. All of these guys are in the qualifiers, albeit on different teams.

If you haven’t yet noticed, every player who has ever played for Liquid is on a team in the qualifiers. With Korok on NAR and ixmike and Fluff on



When they played together, Korok and Fluff clashed both in terms of playstyle and personality. What will happen when they meet in these quals? Will Fluff be able to make SNA the team he always wanted and go all the way? Will Liquid show that trading Waytoo for Korok was a good idea, or will a rampage cut them short?



As I mentioned earlier, Liquid’s run at TI3 is one of the cornerstones of the NA Dota scene in Dota 2. Leading up to that match was their extremely dominant performance over





Free Hugs



jigglebilly and co. are now playing with the big boys. jigglebilly and co. are now playing with the big boys.

What's the future for



eHug was trying to fix that, and more power to them. They picked up team





No Earth Spirit Arteezy

Can Gudii silence Arteezy? During a



Another up and coming mid player is Relic. He is known mostly for beating Arteezy in the IXDL 1v1 Tournament where he absolutely dominated and took home the gold in a tournament stacked with players such as Bulba, Sneyking, Arteezy, MSS, and ryuuboruz. Together with the amazing rotations his supports have shown, NES will hopefully be able to prove themselves.



Predictions

In order to provide you all with some idea of how North America sees these quals, I went around and asked some of our best pro players and casters to call the tournament. Here's what each of them predicted!



Personality 1st 2nd EG.Fear Liquid NAR EG.Arteezy Liquid NAR EG.Zai Liquid NAR EG.ppd Liquid NAR Dog.MSS Liquid NAR Maut Liquid SNA Draskyl NAR Liquid EG.Universe NAR Liquid LD NAR Liquid Zephyr.Blitz NAR SNA



Community Poll

Poll: Who will finish #1 in the TI4 AM Quals?



North American Rejects (352)

30%



Liquid (314)

27%



CNB e-Sports Club (110)

9%



SNA (109)

9%



Revenge (65)

6%



Team eHug (53)

5%



Union Gaming (38)

3%



Isurus Gaming (36)

3%



Shadows of the Past (34)

3%



No Earthspirit (32)

3%



Top5 (32)

3%



1175 total votes (352)30%(314)27%(110)9%(109)9%(65)6%(53)5%(38)3%(36)3%(34)3%(32)3%(32)3%1175 total votes Your vote: Who will finish #1 in the TI4 AM Quals? (Vote): Liquid

(Vote): Team eHug

(Vote): Union Gaming

(Vote): Isurus Gaming

(Vote): SNA

(Vote): No Earthspirit

(Vote): Shadows of the Past

(Vote): CNB e-Sports Club

(Vote): North American Rejects

(Vote): Top5

(Vote): Revenge







CREDITS

Contributors: GrandGrant

Gfx: heyoka, miwi^

Editors: riptide, heyoka, Firebolt145

Images via: Contributors: GrandGrantGfx: heyoka, miwi^Editors: riptide, heyoka, Firebolt145Images via: Liquipedia Gosugamers and Anna Prosser



The Americas have a storied Dota scene. From IGS in 2004-2005, when Fear and Remstar/JohnnyUtah teamed up, to the beginning of Cal League in 2006, in the early days every regional scene was secluded and North America itself was split in half. Historically, the East always had the best players and teams (JMC/coL/emg/Pandemic). The East was also home to Merlini, who during this period introduced the world to jungling and changed Dota forever. It wasn’t until Check-6 Gaming took 3rd place during a MYM Prime Defending event that people really got to see the power that was the West coast. Led by captain iSH, and legendary American players Hitomi and Demon, they were able to to run through the gauntlet of European teams to show that there was more to America than Complexity and Pandemic. The proudest moment in any American Dota fan’s heart was when Team USA won the last iteration of the MYM Pride Nations tournament against what was everyone’s favorite, a XBOCT and Dendi led Ukranian team. However, after that, America all but fell off the face of the map. With the departure of eMg (Korok’s crew) and AzN (Bulba’s team), the scene went into a deep sleep, and it is from this slumber that it is now emerging.While TI2 saw Complexity Gaming and EG represent the Americas, it was at TI3 that the scene truly made its mark in the new world. In a Loser’s Bracket match that sent tremors up and down the continent, NA hometown heroes Liquid defeated the Chinese juggernaut LGD in a thrilling encounter that reflected everything I love about North American Dota: the passion shown after a win, and players not being afraid to destroy expensive electronics. But all kidding aside, watching Bulba do something like that, with ixmike’s grin right next to him, brought a smile to everyone’s face many a time as they watched it again and again. As someone who refused to use his real name or use a picture for the first 7 years of his Dota career, to become one of the faces of North American Dota has been quite a journey for someone like BuLba.Though Liquid may have ended up dropping their next series to iG , with their win over LGD and their 7th/8th place finish at the event, they took America into the New World, a world where American Dota teams were once again relevant, a world where people from the twin continents could hope to root for their own on the world’s stage.A year on, it is this new world that we now inhabit. If in the last season, the Americas had Liquid, then their hope for 2013 - 2014 is EG . There is not a Dota fan in North or South America who doesn’t want to see EG go all the way. But this year, we’ve been spoiled; Volvo has given us more than one team.A long awaited shot in the arm for the burgeoning Dota communities of NA and SA, it’s nice that the twin continents will finally have a tell-all tournament that decides who gets to make our annual pilgrimage to Seattle. The people of the Americas getting their own qualifier means they finally get a chance to play on the world’s stage, unlike last year where EG was the only American representative in the TI3 West Qualifier With ppd’s band of brothers far and away the best that the Americas has to offer, the TI4 AM Quals are now a race for second place. So, who the hell is the 2nd best American team?First, let’s go south.While the average Dota viewer’s perception of South American Dota is perhaps tainted by the constant flood of racist forum posts by pubs, any true connoisseur of American Dota knows that the region has one of the most vibrant Dota scenes in the world.Dota 2 fans, if I told you that in DotA 1 a Brazilian team was considered a dark horse that would upset teams at an international LAN, you would probably just laugh at me. However, at ESWC 2010 in France, many pro teams admitted to being scared of the then unknown CNB. Unfortunately, CNB ended up not living up to their potential, and went 0-3 in the group stages to LOST-gaming (Ducky/Misery/Pajkatt/Loda and twisted), Reborn (an unknown Iranian team), and Online Kingdom.Since then we haven't seen any South American team on LAN, and the TI4 quals will be the closest the region has come to LAN in many years. South America boasts of four quality amateur teams: Isurus Gaming (Argentina), Union Gaming (Peru), Revenge eSports (Peru), and CNB (Brazil).I’ll be the first to say that nearly everyone in North America respected Smash as a player, and we are all happy to see him in these quals. After several days of controversy surrounding team Revenge for changing rosters barely a week before these qualifiers, they were kicked by Valve on May 5th and were re-added on May 8th after agreeing with Valve/Icefrog that they would use their original line-up that consisted of Benjaz instead of Iwo.Before all of this happened, the hype surrounding Smash and Revenge was extremely high, with many saying they’d be able to place Top 2. Since the whole fiasco, they've gone 0-3 in The Summit qualifier (including one forfeit loss). Can this last minute reformation pay off for them, and can they look like the team that was about to give Liquid and the other front runners a run for their money, or will they succumb to the drama machine? I hope not! It’s certainly time South America emerged as a power in Dota once again.Having said that, it’s not just Revenge we should be looking out for. The other three SA teams have recently shown signs of life as well, and Union Gaming in particular has a chance to make Top 4 in Group B of the American Dota League. But the question is this: will they be ready for the four day stress test that is these qualifiers? This is not just a random Americas tournament. This is a chance to go to TI4.The North American Rejects are made up of players who were all crushed by a former love, AKA Dota. A hodgepodge of players who were teamless after the end of last season, NAR brought together some of North American Dota’s biggest names.NAR is so massively stacked in terms of individual skill that they make EG look semi-newbie to an average Dota fan. Korok (aka the Rampage God) has been around the scene since he was 12, playing with players such as Miraclechipmunk[p] at LANs as early as 2008. A lot of people forget that he’s still one of the highest placing Americans at a major LAN alongside Demon and Fear. The trio placed 3rd with their team Nirvana.int at the aforementioned ESWC 2010, featuring Puppey, Azen, Korok, Demon, and Fear.Though he was only a stand-in for Merlini at the event, and even with less than a week of practice, they managed to get 3rd place behind Na`Vi and Ehome . He also played in what was arguably the match of the year 2009 , finally showcasing to the world how powerful a TA can be and cementing himself as one of the top players in North America.Alongside him on NAR are Ex- LGD.int members Brax and 1437 , who for the most part have been silent since departing from China. Brax tried breaking into the LoL pro scene but was unsuccessful and has now come back to his roots in Dota, while 1437 took a little break to catch up with life while commentating occasionally with Tobiwan or the BTS crew. Sneyking on the other hand was given the boot by Dignitas and joined up with ComeWithMe to make Super Strong Dinosaurs (SSD) before disbanding soon after due to a few losses (typical CWM team, aye?). He also tried his hand at casting, helping out Tobiwan and Capitalist often. Their last player is Fogged , a player who couldn’t make it work on either Dignitas or EG. He took up casting as well (this almost seems like a caster team now - look out BTS) and played as a ringer for several teams before settling down with NAR.When the North American Rejects came together recently, everyone complained that it was just a stunt to lock a spot in the TI qualifiers. However, since then they have been competing in every tournament they can and scrimming as well, showing they may be in it for the long haul. Does that mean they deserve an invite over a team like “ti5” who has continuously played SECS (Sunday Evening Cup Series) and TECS (Thursday Evening Cup Series) and has shown signs of brilliance after winning the finals of TECS? Who can say, all I know is it’s a treat to see these guys playing serious Dota again.With so many old schooler NAers coming back to compete in these qualifiers, are there any teams or players that can actually contest them? Everyone in the Dota world knows who Fluff (aka B L O G B O Y S) and Ixmike (aka ixstache) is, but what about the other three on SNA?I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that apart from Korok, Nyx’USH is the most talented and skilled player in these qualifiers. Chris “USH” Usher has been playing in American inhouse leagues for a long time and was always one of those players you could count on in a startgame. Eventually, he moved to stacking with SNA (the player), and was often seen on the front page of the spectating tab. Playing carry for SNA (the team) has given people around the world a chance to see him in tournaments such as ADL / CEVO, and The Summit qualifiers.Many might not have heard the name Whitebeard, but he was at one point a part of the doomed Fnatic.NA. Many people fear he’s the weak link of the team, but he has shown signs of brilliance, with aggressive rotations and good positioning.Many people know SNA (the player) from watching Merlini’s stream where he was featured regularly and showed amazing skills even while using an anime avatar. His mid play, especially as Invoker, is extremely good and I look forward to seeing him match up with some of the best American mids they have to offer.Our next team, Shadows of the Past , wasn’t even invited to the qualifiers until Osiris and Revenge were kicked out. They are a mixture of Nadota.com and pub players, with four reasonably new players and one veteran in Lasthitmagic aka Sorcery. The more charitable among you might remember him from his Dreamhack Summer 2012 run with Quantic gaming alongside Korok, Solara, Paintitgold, and Matrim.Another new player to look out for is Naerok, who plays the offlane for SP. From Chicago, he has competed at several local LANs down at Ignite and from what I’ve heard, he can’t wait to show the world that they deserved to be invited to the qualifiers directly and not just after Osiris and Revenge got booted.Rounding out the new kids on the block is a North American Chinese team known as Top5 . Not much is known about them, apart from the fact that Patsoul recently left Osiris Gaming to play with them, but that alone is enough to make me watch them closely. You might remember Patsoul from his amazing farm and carry play against top tier teams such as Dog, Liquid, and even EG. He just somehow always finds a way to find farm and make plays. Not much is known about the rest of the team, but personally I’m ready for a pleasant surprise.If you haven’t yet noticed, every player who has ever played for Liquid is on a team in the qualifiers. With Korok on NAR and ixmike and Fluff on Sneaky Nyx Assassins , it’s tempting to look at these quals as an opportunity for another age-old NA Dota storyline to unfold: revenge. While this trope is invoked every time Demon plays EG, the ex-Liquid vs Liquid angle is perhaps more exciting because of the multiple changes the team has seen since TI3.When they played together, Korok and Fluff clashed both in terms of playstyle and personality. What will happen when they meet in these quals? Will Fluff be able to make SNA the team he always wanted and go all the way? Will Liquid show that trading Waytoo for Korok was a good idea, or will a rampage cut them short?As I mentioned earlier, Liquid’s run at TI3 is one of the cornerstones of the NA Dota scene in Dota 2. Leading up to that match was their extremely dominant performance over MUFC , but no one knew what to make of that based on their disastrous 0-16 in the group stages. Before their match against LGD, Korok and I went to Chipotle to just chill out and I only asked him one Dota question: “Scared of LGD?”, to which he replied “I’m more scared of ourselves than them”. He was calm and collected and about 2 hours later went on to beat LGD, making American fans go insane, with USA chants going on into the early morning in Seattle. Even now, a year later, I doubt people have forgotten Bulba’s Hooks into his Headset smashing combo. Their run in these quals, however, is uncertain. Their new lineup is certainly strong on paper, and while they have brought it together in the past few weeks, making it past teams like NAR and even SNA is not something they can take for granted.What's the future for eHug ? A teamhouse, salaries, and a chance to give yourself a big name, is what team eHug offered up and coming North American players. It seems like just yesterday when they posted on reddit, and people said “why not just sponsor an already amazing team that doesn’t have a sponsor”? Everyone knows that North American Dota has almost always been a step behind European/Chinese dota and there never seemed to be a space between the Tier 1 and Tier 3 teams in America.eHug was trying to fix that, and more power to them. They picked up team Pretty Boy Swag , which consisted of Sleisel, Ryuuboruz, Imasheepsux (ISS) , Pandaego, and jubei. There’s been controversy about how the team was set up, with some players still being unable to move into the team house. They go into these quals looking shaky, but will the recent pickup of 272/Justin and the awesome plays of JiggleBilly be enough to carry eHug through? If not, what happens to the team? They have had more then enough time to practice and attempt to break into the top tier, and a dismal showing at these quals could very well signal their end.Can Gudii silence Arteezy? During a recent Q and A with Arteezy on his stream, he showed a certain disrespect for No Earthspirit player Gudii. Calling him by the name Goodie, he said Goodie has the worst item builds ever both in official matches and pubs, and to never look up to him. Will No Earth Spirit be able to help Gudii in proving Arteezy wrong or will their run in the qualifiers end quickly?Another up and coming mid player is Relic. He is known mostly for beating Arteezy in the IXDL 1v1 Tournament where he absolutely dominated and took home the gold in a tournament stacked with players such as Bulba, Sneyking, Arteezy, MSS, and ryuuboruz. Together with the amazing rotations his supports have shown, NES will hopefully be able to prove themselves.In order to provide you all with some idea of how North America sees these quals, I went around and asked some of our best pro players and casters to call the tournament. Here's what each of them predicted! @RealHeyoka | DreamHack StarCrafty Man