The first two of four direct invites for the second season of the Nanyang Championships have gone to Team Secret and Evil Geniuses.

@EvilGeniuses is the second invite to NYC S2. Who do you expect to receive the SEA direct invite? #NanyangChampionships — NanyangChampionships (@NYChampionships) May 11, 2016

Team Secret come to Nanyang as the defending champions from Season 1, where they defeated Vici Gaming 3-2 in the Grand Final. Since winning The Shanghai Major and switching out Misery and w33 for Arteezy and Universe, Team Secret have had some difficulty with CIS teams. They lost to Na`Vi in Dota Pit League Season 4, coming in 5th-8th and Team Empire in ESL One Manila, coming in 5th-6th.

Evil Geniuses are the obvious choice for an invite from the Americas region. They won TI5 and have continued to excel ever since. Since making their own post-Major roster swap they've only played a few games — but this is largely because they receive direct invites to the tournaments they attend.

While the first season of Nanyang took place in Singapore, the second season of the Nanyang Championships (organized by KeyTV) will take place in Shanghai. It is scheduled to take place July 7-10, but will not be the final tournament before TI6, as the SL i-League Season 2 LAN is scheduled for July 21-24.

Annabelle "Abelle" Fischer is a writer for theScore esports with a love for Dota 2, birds and cheese. You can follow her on Twitter.