After suffering from unexpected delays and mishaps, the Western Qualifiers for the G-1 League have finally concluded. The strongest teams from North America and Europe have brought us exciting matches with great surprises here and there, but in the end, only two would prevail. After winning against Fnatic.EU, the North American powerhouse Team Liquid joins the Swedish team The Alliance to represent the Western scene. These two teams will fly to China to participate in the G-1 League LAN Finals along with other Chinese powerhouse teams.
What’s more exciting is that this could be a mini-TI3! In this amazing clash where East meets West, who among the teams on this list are you rooting for?
Invictus Gaming
Now if you are following the DOTA 2 scene and have no idea who iG are or what they’ve done, how are you even doing that? Team Invictus Gaming or simply iG, is the team who emerged champion in The International 2012. They were able to bring down strong opponents from both east and west and have been constantly improving since. Combining strategy with flawless execution and the ability to adapt and improvise even when in-game, iG has made such a reputation that strikes fear in the minds of most of their opponents. Without any signs of slowing down or getting soft as of late, will iG take the G-1 League LAN as they did in the group stage of the Asian qualifiers and playoffs, or will this be a different story?
Current Roster:
Zeng ‘Faith’ Hongda
Chen ‘Zhou’ Yao
Luo ‘Ferrari_430’ Feichi
Jiang ‘YYF’ Cen
Wong Hock ‘Chuan’ Chua
Orange eSports
There were many who doubted Team Orange during the beginning of the G-1 League Asian Qualifiers, as their performance was indeed quite “shakyâ€. With the departure of two of their core players, it was still unclear whether or not Orange has at least stabilized as a team. However, all doubts were silenced, as Orange charged through the playoffs and topped their group, immediately securing themselves a spot at the LAN. Some may wonder how their new six-man roster will fare under pressure in a big LAN event such as the G-1 League. This would be a good way for us to find out.
Current Roster:
Joel “XtiNcT†Chan
Yee Fung “Mushi†Chai
Kang Yang “ky.xy†Lee
Wai Pern “Net†Lim
Chong Xin “Ohaiyo†Khoo
Fadil “Kecik Imba†Bin Mohd Raziff
Team DK
When talking about carries, you must always count DK’s BurNing in the list of the awesome ones. After a long silence and inactivity, DK returned to the scene when they entered the G-1 League. While most expected it to be a glorious comeback with one win after the other, it was actually quite the opposite. And when everyone thought that this high-tier Chinese team would fall out of the competition, Team DK bounced back stronger and was able to take a spot at the LAN finals. Though the big question is even with the changing META game, will DK still push through with their usual “4 protect 1†strategy or do they have something up their sleeves?
Current Roster:
Zhilei “BurNing†Xu
Fan “rOtk†Bai
Zeng “Dai†Rong
Yao “QQQ†Yi
Junhao “Super†Xie
LGD.cn
LGD.cn is well-known for their undefeated streak in the group stages of The International 2012. However, it had been tough on LGD.cn here in the G-1 League. At first, the team looked unstable and quite unconfident with their plays. Some may attribute this to the recent roster change where Xie “SC†Bin was replaced with Xiang “LongDD†Huang. Their convincing and well-deserved win tells us that they are not out of the game at all. We can trust that Team LGD.cn has not been wasting time as we wait for the LAN finals. After the long time since the Asian qualifiers, what’s new for LGD.cn? The possibility that we are looking at a stronger new roster makes their participation all the more exciting.
Current Roster:
Zhang “xiao8†Ning
Leong “DDC†Fatmeng
Lio “Sylar†Jiajun
Yao “Yao†Zhengzheng
Xiang “LongDD†Huang
The Alliance
Once known as the team “No Tidehunterâ€, The Alliance has proven that they are indeed one of the top tier teams in Europe and North America after winning the Upper Bracket of the G-1 League Western Qualifiers. They were able to beat powerhouse teams such as Fnatic and Natus Vincere among others. We could say that Loda and Akke are perhaps the most experienced player in the team when it comes to facing the Chinese, as Loda was a legendary carry particularly loved by the Chinese for his amazing farming skills since his WC3 DotA days. This team has fared against Western teams in LAN and has done significantly well. Now it’s time for us to see them against the Asian teams.
Current Roster:
Gustav “s4†Magnusson
Jonathan “Loda†Berg
Joakim “Akke†Akterhall
Henrik “AdmiralBulldog†Ahnberg
Jerry “EGM†Lundkvist
Team Liquid
Team Liquid is the last team to make it to the list, but it’s not because they are the least in any way. This team has powered through the Lower Bracket of the Western Qualifiers, beating significant and strong teams along the way. Their final match against Fnatic.EU was also not a simple walk in the park. With their coordinated and well-executed team plays, they were able to secure themselves a spot at the LAN finals in China by winning the series 2-0. It must be noted, however, that this roster of Team Liquid has not yet participated in a LAN tournament. How well can they handle and perform under pressure?
Current Roster:
Brian “FLUFFNSTUFF†Lee
Tyler “TC†Cook
Michael “ixmike88†Ghannam
Sam “BuLba†Sosale
Steven “Korok†Ashworth