Battle Lines
A Rundown of The Teams

Dotafying China
Feature Translation

BuLba Says
Patch Not That Significant

More on Liquipedia

and in our
Live Report thread

Breaking the Ice

Well, G League is just a day away, and TL is proud to be here with more coverage of one of China's biggest Dota tournaments. While we still have a few hours till the games start, we thought we'd get you in the mood for high level Dota by running you through the teams that will be taking part. From iG to newcomers VG, TL writer kupon3ss has previewed them all for you.

Our features section too is bristling today, firstly with a great feature translation by TanGeng on what G League hopes to achieve in China, and then with our regular column BuLba Says. This time, Sam talks about the new patch and what he expects from G League in terms of picks and strategies.

The Dota season is back, sports fans, and we're going to be with you all the way through. Jump in our Live Report thread as you watch the games of course, and then join us later for more coverage.

We'd also like to take this moment to wish all our readers a blessed Christmas and a fun filled Eultide! The Dota 2 writers here at TL are going to take a break during this holiday week, but rest assured that we'll be back soon, with recaps and more.

Happy Dota to all, and to all, good night!

--riptide

Battle Lines

by kupon3ss

The very best of Chinese Dota, head to head in round robin play. It really doesn't get much better than this. Read on to find out what to expect from each team!

LGD.cn

The Prince

Following their victory in the G-1 League and their recent foreign conquests, and finishing their most recent final against MUFC in a total of 50 minutes, LGD is back to make war against iG. They are in line for kingship, and they know it. Having already dealt a devastating strike to them during the G-1 League and even enlisting a band of foreign assassins to aid in the coup, it might seem as though everything is in place for the would be usurpers of the throne.

LGD.cn is a team that really shines when it is prepared and everything goes according to Xiao8’s script, as evidenced by the sheer dominance they exhibited during the International group stages and during their G-1 victories. Of course, a hectic schedule might affect LGD.cn more than other teams of this caliber as their recent southern excursion has likely revealed some of their strategies for all to see and left their players somewhat tired and underpracticed. We remember, for example, the first day of the GEST Revenge, where a LGD.cn had trouble getting up after celebrating Sylar’s birthday, and thereafter had its worst showing in recent memory.

While the switch of Xiao8 to mid on tempo heroes like Beastmaster and Yao's shift to the offlane has yielded fantastic results, the squad is still slightly inferior to iG in terms of experience and adaptability. LGD.cn will need every ounce of noodle power to craft a new secret weapon to use against the current kings. If there's any team that can bring down the titans though, it's these guys.

LGD.int

Riders on the Storm

After their victory in the GEST Revenge, nobody can doubt the strength of the newest force on the scene. Having easily trounced an Orange who were off their game and defeated LGD.cn in a hard-fought series, the newest foreign expedition to China looks as though it’s already reached a level far above and beyond that of any western team save Na’Vi. Tempering the styles of the west with the consistency and team-oriented play of east, LGD.int comes together around the best carry outside of China in Pajkatt. And it's working for them.

Relying on both their extensive experience and their more recent scrims against the best teams in the world, LGD.int will now challenge the pride of China in their own backyard. In the entire history of Chinese DotA, only once has a Western team has obtained a championship on Chinese soil. Will LGD.int be the second?

One thing is for sure - Pajkatt, Misery, and company have no intention of repeating their last tour of China. This time around, LGD.int is here to go all the way.

Team DK

Half a league, half a league

DK as a team has struggled since of late, taking the second place in nearly every major Chinese Tournament. They come into this tournament fresh off a pair of 2-0 defeats at the hands on LGD and iG, and will no doubt be looking to make amends.

BurNIng’s nearly flawless play has earned him the reputation of being the premiere carry player in the world, a fact only reinforced by IceFrog’s addition of BurNIng as one of the possible hero names for Antimage in 6.77. Yet, his recent form in both G-1 and WCG led to some major team-related mishaps. Mistakes like forgetting a TP during the game-deciding engagement in G-1 have cast a shadow on the blaze, and made people question the unchanging dynamic of the most focused 4-1 in the world.

Worse yet are the issues of team unity and morale that perhaps stem from 5 back-to-back defeats at the hands of iG. In recent times, DK seems to be always coming up short, and this no doubt will take its toll on them. Also, it's not just BurNIng who is eyeing retirement, as 357 and MMY’s last days appear to be approaching as well. Beset with trouble on all sides, and also troubled from within, the current DK team has simply not looked in form, with rumors that it’s even dropped 4-0 in a series of Scrims against N9.

Will the veterans of Chinese DotA muster a last stand or will it be the final charge of the light brigade? Only time will tell.

ForLove

Love Lorn

Rounding up the Group A teams is For.Love, a team that’s been among the top second class teams for a while now. While every other team seems to have untapped potential and prospects for glory, For.Love will have to work hard to even avoid being eliminated in the group stages. Arrayed against DK and the two LGDs, the future is nothing but a death sentence for this second tier team.

Their recent performances have been rather disappointing. A team new to Dota 2, their carry left them recently, and they looked uninspired and out of place as they crashed and burned in events like Alienware mini-tournaments and G-1 Qualifiers. While they did display better play on their road through the G-League qualifiers, it was also by no means in the league of the Chinese greats. The club’s current state, is one of uncertainty, and even the addition of the venerable support player banana has failed to anchor the team in the shifting waters of the Eastern Dota seas.

Invictus Gaming

An Uneasy Emperor

Despite their rather awful performance in the G-1 League, with the conclusion of WCG and after another win over DK, iG are still arguably the the top team in the China and the world. The dismantling of their “facerush” lineup and their defeat to a foreign team has broken the complacency of the team after The International 2012, and this new found motivation might very well lead to another reign by a motivated iG.

iG’s only broadcasted games since G-1 were at WCG, where every game save the finals were little more than lazy routines played out against vastly outmatched opponents. However, the finals showcased the team’s revitalized condition as they defeated DK in the only 2-0 in a tournament of close 2-1 games between the teams. Even without Chuan, iG proved that they are as sharp as ever and that the G-1 debacle was an anomaly that should be quickly forgotten.

Having declined their SMM spot in favour of focusing primarily on G-League, there’s absolutely no reason for iG not to feel confident going into the tournament. The 6.77 nerf of the Batrider, Undying, and Magnus, the heroes that had caused them so much grief during G-1, should make them quite happy as well. If anything, the fact that the metagame is shifting into all-around heroes and versatile lineups might favor iG and their superlative individual skill as long as they pick heroes and lineups that aren’t hugely out-thought and outclassed.

TongFu

Recipe for Destruction

TongFu’s current state is much like a half-prepared soup. All the ingredients for greatness seem to be present, but the mixing process has yet to metabolize into results.

Hao’s traditionally fiery and explosive playstyle seems quite a nice fit for the current metagame that is based on aggression and carry participation. On that note, Mu is also one of the best individually skilled and consistent mid players in China. The new additions of Chan, a player who rivaled Sylar in terms of importance back on WE and is just now beginning to grow into his new offlane role in Dota2, and LongDD, one of the ancient pillars of the scene, seem to point to a vat brimming with possibilities and a lineup that seems no less individually skilled than any other top team.

Indeed, when all these ingredients also come together under the guidance of a very stable sponsor, these excellent conditions definitely seem like a recipe for success. Nobody is sure then, of where, when, or how, that spark that brings everything together into a grand masterpiece will arrive. Yet, if their win in DotA1 WCG over LGD.cn was any indication, their day of reckoning might not be too far away.

MUFC

Waning Tide or Raging Tsunami?

Fresh off The Asia with a win over Orange in the qualifiers, MUFC looks to be the biggest SEA vessels to crash on to the Chinese shore this season. After the disappointment of missing TI2 and failing to make it to the G-1 LAN finals, this will certainly be their chance to shine.

However, to become a true contender against the top teams that have gathered will require a degree of flexibility and consistency that they always seem to lack past the midgame. While they took a quick win against LGD.cn in the group stages of The Asia with a cheesy push lineup, the two more standard games they played in the finals showcased the huge disparity between the teams once the games dragged on.

Sharky and friends will have to resort to some fairly special tactics to compensate for the lack of hyhy and their inability to play the Chinese straight up. However, their recent experiences at SMM and The Asia may have taught them a few tricks that could prove useful against unsuspecting opponents.

VG

Proving Ground

If any team is the Dark Horse in this tournament, it would be VG. This is the first major tournament for this club that was formed out of ladder players just two months ago. It will give them valuable LAN experience and also give them a chance to make a name for themselves. Their goal here then is probably to make a splash, and not really go all the way. However, it is also worth noting that players like Hao, Xiao8, and Yao all made convincing debuts as unknowns springing out of the grass to take on the top players in the world, and it's certainly possible for a selection of top ladder players to do the same.

Teams formed from top “pubstars” often do fine in the laning phase but collapse as soon as midgame hits and team chemistry becomes more and more important. VG has often shown such tendencies in scrims and will likely need more time and experience to develop the innate coordination that marks the top Chinese teams.

With a focused organization and coach, a rigorous training regimen, and player recently crowned the best DotA1 mid 1v1 player in China behind the reigns as carry, the club certainly looks full of potential. Whether this potential will manifest and create a new face among giants or whether the team will just become another second-rate band will depend largely on momentum and unity. A strong start could certainly allow the players to gain the confidence and consistency needed to dispatch a world-class team. A string of disheartening defeats, of course, could spell the death of this budding team.

Dotafying China

by TanGeng

The G-League is an esports event operated by Gamefy's parent company and is one of the three Dota major tournaments in China. The two others, ACE Dota League and G-1 Champions League, are Dota dedicated, while the G-League hosts competition in multiple games. For this season, G-League 2012 Season 2, Gamefy announced the addition of League of Legends and the switch from Dota to Dota2 for team games, while keeping Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2 for its individual games. Altogether, the G-League boasts a prize pool of 720,000 RMBs (approx $115,000), the largest among all domestic competitive events in China. While the League of Legends addition and Dota2 switch was heavily debated by Chinese netizens, the most surprising announcement was a short message informally announcing Mercedes-Benz Arena as site of the finals. The huge arena situated in the Pudong area, across the river from from downtown Shanghai, means that esports will be experienced on a scale that we have never seen before in China.

The shape of things to come.

From a Dota perspective, the G-League is the second most prestigious of the three leagues in China. ACE Dota League is the premier event. It just edges out the G-League in Dota prize pool, 290,000 RMB to 270,000 RMB, but also holds a large advantage in terms of production value. In the ACE Dota League, all league matches and post-season series are played in front of live audiences, and this gives them a cheering crowd for every game. In contrast, the G-League reserves such an atmosphere for its finals, a multiday event featuring all of G-League's games. Preliminary qualifiers are played online, and all intermediate rounds are played at the G-League studios. The G-1 Champions League on the other hand has historically leaned towards an invitational with a much smaller prize pool. But that was long ago.

With the impending arrival of Dota2 in China, tournament organizers are making the leap to the new game, indulging their ambitions, and pushing the limits of what is possible. The first to make the leap was G-1 Champions League and it more than tripled its Season 3 prize pool by awarding 330,000 RMBs in Season 4. G-League Season 2 is the second competition to make the switch over to Dota2 and what a switch it has been! A Dota 2 tournament with a live finals at Shanghai's state of the art Mercedes Benz Arena. To put this choice in perspective, the Mercedes-Benz Arena main hall has maximum seating capacity of 18,000, while the prior incarnation of the G-League finals seated fewer than 1600. The arena is centrally situated and is an attractive location for holding all kinds of events. To gain some insight into how G-League was organised, sgamer.com interviewed the event organizer and former Counterstrike professional, Shen WeiRong about this and other aspects of the G-League competition.

During the interview, Shen Weirong named The International 2 and the LoL Season 2 World Finals as his inspirations and said that these events provided the benchmarks for esports tournaments in China. Weirong said that he planned to apply some of the ideas he garnered from observing these two events in the operation of the G-League finals. The former progamer praised The International 2 for its exceptional production and execution, and noted that the LoL Season 2 was held on a grand scale and yet also was immensely creative in terms of how it was produced. When asked about the use of Mercedes-Benz Arena, Weirong stated that he was serious about the venue but that Gamefy was still in the midst of negotiations, and was indeed still considering alternative locations. Though the date and location of the G-League finals is yet to be determined, he stressed that Gaemfy was committed to drastically scaling up the size and production value of these finals. He said that Gamefy organization was alll but betting their existence on the growth of esports and their ability to successfully execute these new ideas.

Gamefy is banking on progaming going mainstream.

Shen Weirong also intimated that the long term goal of the organisation was producing the biggest and best esports competition in the world and pushing the esports industry into the public conscience and in China. He offered these ideas in response to interviewer pointing out that there a feeling that esports was stagnating in China, perhaps partly due to proper government support for the scene. Of course, these recent developments could be the light at the end of the tunnel for competitive Dota and may suggest that that Gamefy's big bet is very reasonable is indeed. From WCG 2012 seeing national news, to team iG acquiring a Lenovo sponsorship, competitive gaming has indeed gained some traction in China since of late. So, as esports fans, I think we should wish them the best of luck and hope that they can pull off the event that they have in mind. Look forward to to seeing what their hard work will produce at the G League grand finals. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the group stages and semifinals, as they are sure to produce some of the world's best Dota 2.

Translated from this interview by sina.com.cn

BuLBa Says: Patch Not That Significant

by Liquid`BuLba

How do you think the teams competing in G-League will adapt to the recent patch changes? Can we expect any surprises in terms of strategy or hero picks?

The recent patch changes are not that significant. It will be the same heroes banned and picked. Nyx assassin will see a higher pick-ban priority than mag or bat in some cases.

There may be a surprise or a unique strategy, but it may only seem so since we don't watch their scrims. Most of the teams participating probably know each other's playstyle through and through. G-League is really important and there is a lot of pride on the line. Teams like LGD.cn are going to go with what they know best. I can't wait to see LGD.int's games however. They have a lot of ideas prepared and hopefully they can execute them well.

G League - Breaking the Ice

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