Dota 2's Shanghai Major kicks off this week with Group Stage play. It's the second of Valve's three new yearly Major competitions designed to balance out the Dota 2 season, in an effort to strengthen everything outside of its signature tournament, The International. OG won the Frankfurt Major in November, and Wednesday marks the start of an 11-day affair, with 16 teams from around the world battling for a share of a $3 million dollar prize pool.

The teams have been placed into four groups, and seeding in the Main Event bracket will be determined by Group Stage play. Each group plays on its own day, beginning with Group A on Wednesday night and followed by Group B on Thursday, Group C on Friday and Group D on Saturday.

Group A preview

Team Secret

(EternaLEnVy, w33, MISERY, Puppey, pieliedie)

Since placing second overall in the Frankfurt Major back in November of last year, Secret's results have not been up to the team's standards. They've won only 13 of 29 games in patch 6.86, while placing no better than 5th/6th across three LAN events. EternaLEnVy took over lead drafting responsibilities from Puppey at their most recent tournament, MarsTV Dota 2 League Winter (MDL) just under a month ago, but their results were no better. This lineup is undoubtedly talented from top to bottom, but Secret has yet to display any sort of dominance this patch.

Secret did have a promising split of a two-game series against this group's favorite, EHOME, in the MDL group stages. Secret took game one against the eventual tournament winners, as EternaLEnVy led the way with 12 kills on Spectre while MISERY racked up a game-high 575 gold per minute (GPM) with his off-lane Lone Druid. w33 showed off his playmaking abilities with little farm playing the off-meta Earth Spirit in the mid-lane.

Secret would, however, drop the second game of that series, and went on to lose four of their final five games including a 2-0 loss to OG before being eliminated by Newbee 2-1 in the Losers' bracket.

Secret hasn't played either CDEC or MVP Phoenix this patch, but they were 4-0 against Phoenix in 6.85 with a combined 145-46 kill score in those games. Watch for teams to ban w33's Earth Spirit against Secret, as the team has played well with him in the midlane (5-1 this patch). Furthermore, Secret is 4-0 when pairing the Earth Spirit with MISERY's Lone Druid. Look for EternaLEnVy to potentially favor Spectre at Shanghai (4-1 this patch) over his most-played hero in 6.86, the Ember Spirit (2-5).

EHOME

(CTY, old chicken, old eLeVeN, LaNm, kaka)

Alliance may have won the most premier tournaments this patch, but EHOME has also made its case as the hottest team in Dota 2, coming off a convincing 3-0 sweep of Evil Geniuses in the MDL finals in January.

They've been at their best when playing at full strength with their carry, CTY, who's missed a couple of games due to ilIness. In 29 offline games played with CTY this patch, EHOME has gone 21-8, giving CTY the highest individual winning percentage (.724) among players with at least 15 offline games.

CTY has been the carry to beat in 6.86, leading all players with in both GPM (616) and experience points per minute (608 XPM). He's played a diverse hero pool led by six games (4-2) on the Morphling followed by four games (3-1) on Anti Mage in which he's produced an insane 828 GPM. He's also 3-0 on Ursa this patch with 23 kills and just two deaths.

EHOME's mid-laner old chicken has held his own, and he's resumed playing an old favorite hero -- the Viper -- going 4-1 with it at MDL. Overall, EHOME is leading the pack in the Chinese Dota 2 scene, and he represents the country's best shot at a home-team victory.

CDEC Gaming

(Agressif, ShiKi, Xz, Q, Garder)

In their short history as a top-tier Dota 2 team, CDEC has had a knack for placing well in high-stakes LAN events, taking 2nd at The International 5 and 5th at the Frankfurt Major in 2015. But this Chinese squad has struggled in patch 6.86, going 14-12 overall while playing only a handful of matches against top competition.

The team enters Shanghai on a bitter note, having been eliminated in MDL's China qualifiers by Newbee Young, Newbee's youth team. CDEC hasn't faced any of the other 15 teams competing at Shanghai, since they were eliminated by Alliance in the quarterfinals at World Cyber Arena (WCA) in mid-December.

Q's Visage is a hero to watch for; CDEC has gone 7-1 in Visage games in 6.86.

MVP Phoenix

(MP, QO, FoReV, Febby, DuBu)

MVP Phoenix is a tough team to put a put a finger on, simply because, like CDEC, they haven't taken on a lot of top tier teams in 6.86. They've gone 18-14 overall in the patch, but just 1-7 against fellow Shanghai competitors Alliance, Liquid and Fnatic. In terms of their Group A opponents, MVP Phoenix has won just one game out of 12 against Secret, CDEC and EHOME since patch 6.83.

The South Koreans play a highly aggressive style with their carry and mid players, MP and QO, each averaging over 8.5 kills per 35 minutes; the pair ranks first and second in kills per 35 minutes among Shanghai participants. QO has proven capable with the revamped Death Prophet, going 6-1 in the mid-lane with her this patch.

Group B preview

Alliance

(Loda, s4, AdmiralBulldog, EGM, Akke)

Alliance has set the pace in 6.86, with first-place finishes in both of the top-tier LANs they've attended -- WCA and Star Ladder Star Series Season 13. They have an overall 19-9 record this patch outside of Captain's Draft 3.0 play, which did not use the traditional tournament drafting mode.

The Swedes have seen success drafting old favorite heroes such as AdmiralBulldog's Nature's Prophet and Lone Druid (9-2 combined), and Akke's Chen (6-1) -- using these strong pushers to focus down towers early in the game.

Alliance's farm distribution differs from the rest of the teams at Shanghai, in the way they prioritize for the team's off-laner, AdmiralBulldog -- allowing him to accelerate into the mid-game. s4 has shown off his playmaking abilities using mid-lane heroes who can fight early without the need for too much gold, such as Batrider and Puck -- even pulling out a mid-lane Nightstalker against Evil Geniuses in the Starladder finals.

Alliance may have set the bar in the first half of patch 6.86, but teams have had months to study their style of play and will make every effort to counter it on Thursday night.

Vici Gaming

(BurNIng, Super, iceiceice, fy, Fenrir)

Vici Gaming is the second-most likely team favored to reach the winner's bracket out of Group B. The veteran Chinese squad is led by their longtime support duo, fy and Fenrir, who had a good showing in their only international LAN even this patch. They finished the MDL group stages as the top seed, before being eliminated after consecutive losses to the eventual tournament finalists, Evil Geniuses and EHOME.

Vici has gone 13-9 this patch while playing most of its games against good competition. That includes a 2-0 record against OG, 3-2 against Evil Geniuses and 2-0 against LGD Gaming. They also beat fellow Group B competitors Team Spirit in their only meeting.

Off-laner iceiceice is critical to Vici's game plan. They've been at their most successful this patch with him on a signature-initiating hero such as Faceless Void, Phoenix or Clockwerk (8-1 combined record), but Vici has split 6 games with iceiceice playing a more push-oriented role on Lone Druid and Nature's Prophet.

Team Spirit

(RAMZES666, Iceberg, AfterLife, Goblak, ALWAYSWANNAFLY)

Team Spirit showed excellent potential early on in 6.86. They punched their ticket to Shanghai by winning a spot through the European qualifiers, having won 18 of 26 games heading into Star Ladder. Things have changed of late for Spirit, which has gone an even 15-15 since then -- including just 2-10 in offline events.

Spirit's 16-year-old safe-laner, RAMZES666, has played well in online competition, but he's managed just 3.5 kills per game in LANs -- the lowest average this patch among all position 1 players competing at the Shanghai Major.

Mid-laner Iceberg actually leads Team Spirit in GPM this patch, doing the majority of his damage on two popular picks in 6.86 -- the Invoker and Outworld Devourer.

Fnatic

(MuShi, Midone, Ohaiyo, DJ, Net)

It's going to be a tough task for Fnatic to find its way into the top half of Group B. Despite a convincing 10-2 run in the Shanghai SEA Qualifiers, Fnatic has gone 4-7 in LAN events -- WCA and Star Ladder. They've only won games against two other teams at Shanghai - 1-0 against Group B opponent Team Spirit, and 3-1 against fellow SEA qualifiers MVP Phoenix.