Alienware Cup Playoff Preview June 30th, 2013 02:22 GMT Text by rabidch Graphics by shiroiusagi

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Group B Recap: A Marauding Mushi

By k-poptosis



Playoff Preview

By rabidch



Playoff Polls





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Playoff Preview

The Alienware Cup playoffs are here, and unless you've been living under a rock, you know exactly what to expect from them: awesome Asian Dota. For the last few weeks we've been treated to China Dota on a daily basis, both in the form of the Dota 2 Super League and this tournament, the Alienware Cup. As we've previously expounded here in our own coverage of the event, the AC is an important milestone for Dota 2. It's the first Chinese online tournament of its size, and with a $60,000 prize pool, it's a good precedent indeed.



Moreover, it is doubly important to us as Dota fans, as it is one of the last major tournaments before TI3, and as such is the only indication we will get of how the teams are doing before we see them in Seattle in August. Will iG continue their rise? Will Orange manage to tame Mushi? Will Na`vi pull it together and reverse their fortunes? Will BurNing continue to burn? Well, let us answer that last question for you. He will.



Either way, the playoffs are upon, and they will certainly bring us the answers to these questions and more. Here's how the cards have fallen.





Full bracket

As you can see, there's a lot of prize money to be won along the way, and you can rest assured that the competition en route is going to be anything but friendly. Dollars aside though, there is a lot of pride at stake here, and along with the DSL, the Alienware Cup will decide who will claim the vacant Chinese Dota throne.



Will Invictus Gaming reclaim their rightful place, or will DK blaze their way to the mantle? The AC playoffs will answer all. Stay tuned!





Group B Recap: A Marauding Mushi By k-poptosis

Group B was filled with interesting story-lines, from Na’Vi’s first matches against exclusively Eastern competition, to iG’s recent struggles. The games themselves were no less exciting either, as we saw everything from early game skirmishes to late game battles between over-farmed carries. All in all, the group gave us fantastic Dota and the opportunity to see Eastern and Western Dota mix yet again. Needless to say, it was an absolute joy to watch.





Na’Vi Struggles



As you can see, Na`vi certainly has the individual talent to go toe-to-toe with Eastern teams. But can they bring it together in the playoffs? We'll have to see. (Picture via As you can see, Na`vi certainly has the individual talent to go toe-to-toe with Eastern teams. But can they bring it together in the playoffs? We'll have to see. (Picture via Na`vi

Natus Vincere made the long trip to Shanghai in order to bootcamp in preparation for The International 3. As a part of the preparation, and to the excitement of many, Na’Vi also accepted an invitation to take part in the Alienware Cup as the only Western team in attendance. Expectations were high as they were riding a 33-4 record in their last 37 matches prior to traveling. However, The TI1 champions struggled a lot in Group B, winning only one match to go 1-7 and finish in 5th place in their group. Interestingly, in their last games in the group Na’Vi swapped their roles around a bit, placing XBOCT on support and Kuroky on carry. Thankfully, the group stages only determined seeding in the playoffs so Na’Vi gets another shot at showing us that their poor performance can be attributed to simply being jet-lagged. Let's hope they take it!





iG Returns to Form (But They Still Want More)



Though iG did well in the groups, Chuan is still unsatisfied. He wants more. (Picture via Though iG did well in the groups, Chuan is still unsatisfied. He wants more. (Picture via iG

iG’s recent struggles have been on the lips of every eastern Dota fan for the past few months. After a disastrous showing in the G-1 finals where they went 1-5 with a total kill differential of -64, many wondered if they could ever return to being the absolute behemoth of a team they had been for most of this year and last. In an interesting twist, Captain ChuaN took a new nickname on as a form of motivation for his team to improve, adopting “iG.Sixth” as his new moniker. He stated that he would not play as ChuaN again until he won another championship. Whether because of, or in spite of the name-change, iG definitely took a step in the right direction in their group matches, winning 6 out of 8 matches and placing first in their group.



For many teams, role shuffles or radically fresh strategies are the norm when trying to shake off the dust and get back to winning matches. iG however played it close to the chest throughout the group stages, maintaining their signature three core . Despite this largely successful run through the round robins, captain ChuaN was not content, posting on twitter that “...we can do better, throw 2 games against Orange & TongFu [sic]”. We’ll see if this heavily invested style of captaining continues to pay off for iG in the playoffs, where they have earned a highly advantageous bye.





Mushi Gonna Mushi



Mushi has half-transitioned into his #1 role. He can certainly farm. But can he carry?

(Picture via Mushi has half-transitioned into his #1 role. He can certainly farm. But can he carry?(Picture via Orange Esports

Mushi's appetite for creeps was insatiable in Orange's Group B matches last week. Five of the top farming performances of the entire Alienware Cup now belong to him, and he only finished with a GPM lower than 590 on one occasion. Orange’s strategy for the group seemed to be to draft hard, late-game focused carries for Mushi and spend the majority of the early and mid game finding him space to farm at breakneck speeds. This, of course, stands in stark contrast to the more currently popular strategy of 3 core lineups. The 4-protect-1 showed good results, however, as Orange finished 2nd in the group and will now test their mettle in the playoffs against the last-place group A finisher, LGD.cn.





Net Burrowstrikes His Way Into Our Hearts



This man can gank! (Picture via This man can gank! (Picture via Liquipedia

In a carry and solo mid dominated Dota landscape, it's very rarely that we get to hear of the heroic play of a support. It's even rarer that we talk of anyone on Orange outside of Mushi and kYxY. This Group B recap, however, would not be complete without a mention of







Playoff Preview By rabidch



As the top teams of the Group Stages, DK and iG are seeded into the upper brackets of the playoffs and are set to play the teams that make it out of the first and second upper bracket rounds. Although they gained a lot from being the top teams in their groups, they only narrowly managed to bag first place, and let's just say there was also some luck involved. In Group A, LGD.int’s forfeiture of their two matches against DK and RS benefitted DK a lot and really helped their final placement, as LGD.int didn't lose a single game that they actually played. Likewise, in Group B, iG squeezed through Orange and Tongfu in highly contested sets to place first in the group. Thus, despite leading their respective groups, neither of the teams actually showed total dominance during the group stages. Still, DK and iG have both been gaining strength and momentum in the past month after their disappointing results at G-1, with DK being the most successful, having reached DSL finals this week.









LGD.int vs Zenith

What is the most notable thing about this matchup? It's the fact that both these teams have never played against each other in an official match before! Until now, these teams have missed each other in every Asian competition. However, this is not to say that they are equally matched. In the group stages, one team did well, while the other's performance was somewhat lackluster. LGD.int swept through LGD.cn and MUFC while Zenith struggled in their group, showing their weakest performance in any Chinese tournament group stage thus far. It is hard to predict what will happen in these games, but judging from LGD.int’s recent matches, they may pull out some previously unseen strategies. Being familiar with unusual strategies themselves, Zenith will not be caught totally unawares, but whatever LGD.int decides to do, this matchup in the end depends on Zenith’s execution, which, to say the least, has been pretty weak since of late. LGD.int, on the other hand, looks stronger than ever, and they go into this series as favourites.









LGD.cn vs Orange

LGD.cn and Orange met in a DSL elimination match prior to this Alienware one that demonstrated what to expect from these two teams: extremely aggressive early games versus extremely farmed carries epitomized by the Asian Antimage. The difference in these teams will be the way they carry their mid game tempo and execute their late game decision making. Mushi's team will not find it easy to fight LGD, a team that has one of the most solid late game rhythms of any outfit at there at the moment. Indeed, Orange will have to find ways to disrupt and disorient LGD’s gameplan enough to pull ahead, and thereby stretch out LGD’s teamplay and giving them a moment to strike. If not, LGD just might arrow Orange’s Achilles heel: their lategame strategy, or as some pundits might say, their lack thereof.











RattleSnake vs Na`Vi

Everybody should be expecting stylistic oddities in this odd matchup. In fact, this series can be called the most unusual in the entire Alienware Cup just because it features China’s most audacious team against the only Western team in the tournament, and one that isn’t afraid to pull out crazy strats at that. However, Na`Vi hit a rock bottom in the group stages, losing all their sets and only pulling out a single draw against the other bottom feeder in their group, Zenith. In comparison, RattleSnake finished a modest second in their group, with many their sets being decided by default. They bagged one win from a default walkover, two draws, and one default loss to MUFC due to a power outage. If the draws are any indication, Na`Vi has a chance to crack open RattleSnake by exploiting their mistakes in execution. If they do so, they may just take control of the tempo, though of course they first have to master their own execution and teamwork, and not feed as much as they did in the group stage.











MUFC vs TongFu

This is going to be a difficult series for MUFC, whose performance in the group stage paralleled their neighboring team, Zenith. Playing against a resurgent TongFu is a tall order. TongFu’s strong results against Orange don't bode very well for MUFC, especially since Mushi's team play a similar style of Dota, albeit with better execution and more consistent play that has been refined from participating in DSL. MUFC, on the other hand, appears to be confounded by the 6.78 patch. WinteR's team will be extremely wary of TongFu’s use of Treant and will thus probably concentrate on crippling TongFu early with lane and gank aggression to ensure that they are never ahead early, making them easier to control in the late game. If left unchecked, however, Tongfu will easily leave them in the dust, just like they did in their DSL series against Orange.





Playoff Polls























Writers: k-poptosis, rabidch

Gfx: Hawaiianpig, Shiroiusagi

Editors: riptide

The Alienware Cup playoffs are here, and unless you've been living under a rock, you know exactly what to expect from them: awesome Asian Dota. For the last few weeks we've been treated to China Dota on a daily basis, both in the form of the Dota 2 Super League and this tournament, the Alienware Cup. As we've previously expounded here in our own coverage of the event, the AC is an important milestone for Dota 2. It's the first Chinese online tournament of its size, and with a $60,000 prize pool, it's a good precedent indeed.Moreover, it is doubly important to us as Dota fans, as it is one of the last major tournaments before TI3, and as such is the only indication we will get of how the teams are doing before we see them in Seattle in August. Will iG continue their rise? Will Orange manage to tame Mushi? Will Na`vi pull it together and reverse their fortunes? Will BurNing continue to burn? Well, let us answer that last question for you. He will.Either way, the playoffs are upon, and they will certainly bring us the answers to these questions and more. Here's how the cards have fallen.As you can see, there's a lot of prize money to be won along the way, and you can rest assured that the competition en route is going to be anything but friendly. Dollars aside though, there is a lot of pride at stake here, and along with the DSL, the Alienware Cup will decide who will claim the vacant Chinese Dota throne.Will Invictus Gaming reclaim their rightful place, or will DK blaze their way to the mantle? The AC playoffs will answer all. Stay tuned!Group B was filled with interesting story-lines, from Na’Vi’s first matches against exclusively Eastern competition, to iG’s recent struggles. The games themselves were no less exciting either, as we saw everything from early game skirmishes to late game battles between over-farmed carries. All in all, the group gave us fantastic Dota and the opportunity to see Eastern and Western Dota mix yet again. Needless to say, it was an absolute joy to watch.Natus Vincere made the long trip to Shanghai in order to bootcamp in preparation for The International 3. As a part of the preparation, and to the excitement of many, Na’Vi also accepted an invitation to take part in the Alienware Cup as the only Western team in attendance. Expectations were high as they were riding a 33-4 record in their last 37 matches prior to traveling. However, The TI1 champions struggled a lot in Group B, winning only one match to go 1-7 and finish in 5th place in their group. Interestingly, in their last games in the group Na’Vi swapped their roles around a bit, placing XBOCT on support and Kuroky on carry. Thankfully, the group stages only determined seeding in the playoffs so Na’Vi gets another shot at showing us that their poor performance can be attributed to simply being jet-lagged. Let's hope they take it!iG’s recent struggles have been on the lips of every eastern Dota fan for the past few months. After a disastrous showing in the G-1 finals where they went 1-5 with a total kill differential of -64, many wondered if they could ever return to being the absolute behemoth of a team they had been for most of this year and last. In an interesting twist, Captain ChuaN took a new nickname on as a form of motivation for his team to improve, adopting “iG.Sixth” as his new moniker. He stated that he would not play as ChuaN again until he won another championship. Whether because of, or in spite of the name-change, iG definitely took a step in the right direction in their group matches, winning 6 out of 8 matches and placing first in their group.For many teams, role shuffles or radically fresh strategies are the norm when trying to shake off the dust and get back to winning matches. iG however played it close to the chest throughout the group stages, maintaining their signature three core . Despite this largely successful run through the round robins, captain ChuaN was not content, posting on twitter that “...we can do better, throw 2 games against Orange & TongFu [sic]”. We’ll see if this heavily invested style of captaining continues to pay off for iG in the playoffs, where they have earned a highly advantageous bye.Mushi's appetite for creeps was insatiable in Orange's Group B matches last week. Five of the top farming performances of the entire Alienware Cup now belong to him, and he only finished with a GPM lower than 590 on one occasion. Orange’s strategy for the group seemed to be to draft hard, late-game focused carries for Mushi and spend the majority of the early and mid game finding him space to farm at breakneck speeds. This, of course, stands in stark contrast to the more currently popular strategy of 3 core lineups. The 4-protect-1 showed good results, however, as Orange finished 2nd in the group and will now test their mettle in the playoffs against the last-place group A finisher, LGD.cn.In a carry and solo mid dominated Dota landscape, it's very rarely that we get to hear of the heroic play of a support. It's even rarer that we talk of anyone on Orange outside of Mushi and kYxY. This Group B recap, however, would not be complete without a mention of Wai "Net" Pern Lim , who displayed some fantastic support play during the group stage on heroes like Sand King and Rubick. With impeccable ganking sense and fearless initiations, Net locked the opposition down, giving Mushi the chance to jump in and take his kills. He is without a doubt an up and coming support in Eastern Dota, and we look forward to seeing more of him in the playoffs.As the top teams of the Group Stages, DK and iG are seeded into the upper brackets of the playoffs and are set to play the teams that make it out of the first and second upper bracket rounds. Although they gained a lot from being the top teams in their groups, they only narrowly managed to bag first place, and let's just say there was also some luck involved. In Group A, LGD.int’s forfeiture of their two matches against DK and RS benefitted DK a lot and really helped their final placement, as LGD.int didn't lose a single game that they actually played. Likewise, in Group B, iG squeezed through Orange and Tongfu in highly contested sets to place first in the group. Thus, despite leading their respective groups, neither of the teams actually showed total dominance during the group stages. Still, DK and iG have both been gaining strength and momentum in the past month after their disappointing results at G-1, with DK being the most successful, having reached DSL finals this week. Staff Only a true king can play the King.