The International 2015 (spoilers)

BMMachine

Well its International time again
Prize pool of $17,494,441 with the winning team taking home a staggering $6,297,998.

The Wild Card Qualifiers are underway and wow! What amazing games! As Im writing its currently tied at 1-1 with MvP Phoenix and Vega for the last birth after an extremely close game. Throne races, intentional deaths (for buyback) and Korok failwhaling as Ursa

The 16 competing teams are as follows:
Team Secret
Evil Genius
Vici Gaming
LGD Gaming
iG
Newbee
Cloud 9
EHOME
Empire
Na'Vi
Virtus Pro
Fnatic
CDEC
MvP Hot6
Complexity
MvP Phoenix / Vega Squadron

Group Stages all this week with the Main Event starting at the weekend. Who are your picks?

For me, can't see beyond Secret being the hot favourites. EG seem closest to them but its the International so anything can happen I think Empire might break their curse and actually make it out of the group stages this year. I'd love to see Virtus Pro do well as I love their work ethic and teamplay. Na'Vi I expect to have a poor enough time, they are past their best but hey, 3 TI finals isn't too shabby VG will be the strongest Chinese team in the group stages but can see them struggling in the main event while LGD will be the exact opposite. Cloud 9 - who knows, but they will be exciting!

Playboy

How are a Fnatic as a team? They are far and away the best european LoL team at the moment.

Was thinking of watching some of these games even though I dont play DOTA. Do you think it is possible to pick up the rules/strategy of the game from spectating some pro games?

Tar.Aldarion

Playboy wrote: »

How are a Fnatic as a team? They are far and away the best european LoL team at the moment.

Was thinking of watching some of these games even though I dont play DOTA. Do you think it is possible to pick up the rules/strategy of the game from spectating some pro games?

There was a beginner friendly stream last year for unfamiliar people, I imagine it will be the same this year. I think there will be 3 streams so it should be one of them if it''s on.

Loads of people outside dota tune in, probably easier for you as you play LoL and would get the general gist, destroy base, heroes have spells etc

EDIT: looked it up, there are 4 streams, one of them is the newcomer one: http://www.twitch.tv/dota2ti_newcomer
They are also streamed on youtube and dota2.com at 1080p instead of 720p on twitch

Tar.Aldarion

Playboy wrote: »

How are a Fnatic as a team? They are far and away the best european LoL team at the moment.

Was thinking of watching some of these games even though I dont play DOTA. Do you think it is possible to pick up the rules/strategy of the game from spectating some pro games?

Just saw this, guide for league players, here you go:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/3erqw2/a_league_focused_guide_to_dota_2s_international/

BMMachine

Fnatic are okay - they are actually a Malaysian team in DotA atm they were a euro mix for years and years but broke up after last years TI.

Euro teams to root for - Secret and Cloud 9 mainly. CiS teams - Na'Vi, Virtus Pro, Empire.

Personally Im cheering for Virtus Pro I just like the players and the team, they won't win but w/e

deconduo

Every C9 game ...

cherryghost

deconduo wrote: »

Every C9 game ...

TWICE.

Anyways its only been 24 hours or so of TI5 and I've loved every bit of it so far. Some absolutely amazing plays all round.

Tar.Aldarion

Yeah oh man all the games have been class. HYPEEEEEEEEEEE

BMMachine

yeah its been so good so far. really impressed!

cherryghost

Gyro 13-1 so far and its just day 1. As much as teams think other teams needs prio bans on other heroes, they really have to address the gyro!

Tar.Aldarion

cm not picked at all last year...5-0 this year

cherryghost

0 Tusk Techies to 2 simultaneously right now. And both are winning.

EDIT: Aaaannnd won. Hilarious that Arteezy was all like '**** Techies' and abandoning games when enemy picks techies.

Justice

great matches so far, lots of gyro, imo the hero diversity improved yesterday, some strange picks for sure.
i watched the EG vs VG game 2 this afternoon, where universe played an offlane Enchantress (dire offlane).

hopefully the secret vs LGD will be a good match today.

BMMachine

as Bruce Buffer would say... Its TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!


LGD - Empire is about to begin.

Must say, the one thing I hate about TI - Kaci and all the fluff with the fans and crap. its awful and cringeworthy

Tar.Aldarion

that's the best thing, it's just another tournament without this stuff man

BMMachine

Im a fan of the Office (both versions) and that kinda humour but I still cant stomach that stuff

like, i dont mind the prepared videos going into the players and that kinda thing, but the live fluff with the fans is just too cringeworthy

NeoSlicerZ

BYE BYE NAVI.

Dreddybajs

BMMachine wrote: »

Im a fan of the Office (both versions) and that kinda humour but I still cant stomach that stuff

like, i dont mind the prepared videos going into the players and that kinda thing, but the live fluff with the fans is just too cringeworthy

The fans are the reason the community exists and why TI is such a phenomenon. I know you're a dota hipster and things were better back in the day and "dota players in 2015 lol" and all that, but get over yourself man. It's just some fans getting together and having fun.

Dreddybajs

NeoSlicerZ wrote: »

BYE BYE NAVI.

Was a good match for a bo1 anyway. MVP vs Newbee was excellent, stellar SF play in that game!

BMMachine

Dreddybajs wrote: »

The fans are the reason the community exists and why TI is such a phenomenon. I know you're a dota hipster and things were better back in the day and "dota players in 2015 lol" and all that, but get over yourself man. It's just some fans getting together and having fun.

I'm to get over myself because I dont like cringey fluff segments when watching TI?
2+2 = 7

I know the fans are the reason TI is so big. thats very obvious. I also know the game itself is so big because of these same fans. I think theres a lot of flaws with the game and community, and lets be fair, there is (casual racism is rampant for example) but theres also a lot of benefits, one of which is TI. But I dont like watching those segments.

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

I am not surprised that Na`Vi got booted, since their post-TI4 shuffle, they just haven't been on point. Dropping Puppey was a big mistake.

NewBee, well, their advantage going into TI4 was that they were new; essentially an element of surprise. Other teams were not fully studied on their play style. It's the same fate Alliance suffered, their only strategy was Rat Dota, which without a doubt worked very well, but now that teams know about it and how to counter it, they didn't even make it to TI5.

MvP.Phoenix are doing surprisingly well, they have absolutely no chance of winning, I suspect they'll choke the closer they get to the finals. MvP.Phoenix has strength in just grinding it out. It's hard to explain their play style, simply because they don't really have one (imo); They're a team of good brawlers that keep a level head in a team fight. It's interesting, but not TI5 Grand Finals material.

CDEC vs C9, whoever voted for C9 to win, hahahaha haha, hahaha; C9 never stood a chance, their reliance on 1 player making big plays is an achilles heel for them.

As for the upcoming matches:

Evil Geniuses vs compLexity; This should be a good match up, hard to call it, but I reckon compLexity will take it.

Team Secret vs EHOME; Fan favourites Team Secret certainly have the advantage here.

The pre Grand Finals highlight will be the match on August 5, 2015 - 19:00 PDT (August 6, 2015 - 03:00 GMT for us in Ireland); Between Team Secret and either EG or compLexity. I'm hoping for a TS vs EG match up!

NeoSlicerZ

Dreddybajs wrote: »

Was a good match for a bo1 anyway. MVP vs Newbee was excellent, stellar SF play in that game!

It was pretty decent, the fact that Navi took the rosh fight with AM BKB on cd shocked me. How's a 1.6k hp AM going to fight into Luna/SF Ults.

BMMachine

DDoS attacks plaguing the event
gotta love that gaming culture in 2015 eh Dreddybajs? :pac:

BMMachine

Well, Sumail on Ember Spirit. EG looking really good atm, I can see them in the Grand Final

Dreddybajs

BMMachine wrote: »

DDoS attacks plaguing the event
gotta love that gaming culture in 2015 eh Dreddybajs? :pac:

Yeah all that stuff is gross. It's more to do with the rampant betting sites etc. though than gaming culture. Of course people are gonna do their best to impact the tournament when they can put money on the line.

BMMachine

EHOME!!!!!

cherryghost

I'm glad I recorded a conversation last Monday before the group stages even started, telling him ehome will go far and beat Secret

cherryghost

Dear god that QO TA game. Bloody amazing!

DeSelby83

Is there any timetable out there. Iv found the bracket set up but would like to know the times too so I can plan what time I'll be able watch some games. Thanks

cherryghost

Games always start at 7pm-9pm-12am-3am, but due to various network issues little has finished on time.

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

cherryghost, I'm going to post a link; Which is a fair answer to DeSelby83

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/The_International/2015#Main_Event

Click on the ( i ) on the team match ups and it'll give you the time to the start of the match. The time is relative to your timezone; So roughly 26 minutes to the compLexity and VP match.

cherryghost

Cheers, I wasn't at my PC

DeSelby83

Thanks for the info. Appreciate it

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Hahaha, Virtus.Throw

BMMachine

No Sunglasses on Secret for this game

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Wow, well played VP. Albeit they pulled some Alliance tactics and played Rat Dota.

Any predictions closer to the Grand Finals?

I'd love to see MVP.Phoenix beat VG. MVP.Phoenix is that dark horse team we all secretly cheer

Let's hope Team Secret doesn't throw against IG. Good luck Team Secret!

mayordenis

B-god just doing b-god things.

BMMachine

Luna representing Ireland this game.
A beautiful Cavan accent on her

predictions from me..... hmm EG - LGD final.

BMMachine

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

BMMachine wrote: »

predictions from me..... hmm EG - LGD final.

For me, I'm expecting EG to choke in their match vs CDEC.

I'm going with:

1st: CDEC
2nd: Team Secret
3rd: EG

Getting tired of seeing QoP of Pain being played all the time, even in pubs.

--

Go MvP.Phoenix go!

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Nope, MvP isn't going to win the second match. Damn

BMMachine

WELL THEN!

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Well then indeed. There goes my 2nd place pick

At least the one thing we can accurately predict will happen is the post TI shuffle!

NeoSlicerZ

s4 really 4ed.

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Aaron Unsightly Photography wrote: »

For me, I'm expecting EG to choke in their match vs CDEC.

I'm going with:

1st: CDEC
2nd: Team Secret
3rd: EG

Getting tired of seeing QoP of Pain being played all the time, even in pubs.

Oh look, EG choked, what a surprise. 3rd place for you EG!

@BMMachine - Your prediction of LGD was right! It could still change, but EG likes to choke in their final / semi final matches.

CDEC have stomped their way to that $6,600,054.24 prize.

Post TI5 shuffle, EG will probably drop Fear (Clinton), the dude is becoming too old for this level of gaming. Reflexes are going downhill for him.

Tar.Aldarion

pubstomp in dublin today if anybody is interested, check out the pubstomp listings

BMMachine

CDEC have been great. really happy for them. whenever I think "oh they are done now" they go and prove me wrong. New era of pro dota guys

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

Hmmmmm, damnit EG! Adhere to my predictions. This final is going to be epic.


@BMMachine - This is it! CDEC (My Pick) vs EG (Your Pick). Good luck

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

So is SumaiL the new Dendi? Pulling epic plays as a mid hero.

Game 4 is still underway but EG is going to win it (18 - 8). Good call BMMachine

BMMachine

I was close enough with my original predictions

Feel sorry for CDEC, they achieved so much though and should be so proud. I knew if EG got to the finals they would win it, big game players and all that. Thats the DAC and TI in one year for this team, what a bunch of players

cherryghost

TI was great this year. The main difference in finals when CDEC lost was when most of their smokes failed, which was the key to their success in their run.