The International 2018 Overview: Candidates for the Aegis . Shield

Obviously, tournaments always contain surprises – like the team that won the ticket, CDEC was in second place: they couldn’t create a surprise if they didn’t beat the stronger teams in the tournament. The Dota Pro Circuit system gives us a measure of the ranking of the top teams. Not only did they win the Major, but they also played consistently to reach the top of the DPC rankings.

Virtus.pro is the team at the top of the rankings. The difference between VP and the 2nd place team (Team Liquid) is even bigger than the total points that the 6th team (Vici Gaming) has. VP was the first team to qualify for TI8, and they didn’t let us down. Virtus.pro has been performing exceptionally well since before RodjER joined in February of this year. They won the Katowice Major just a few weeks after RodjER joined, he also got himself a brand new Mercedes E400 thanks to winning the MVP award. Three months later, No[o]ne also got himself a Mercedes when VP won ESL Birmingham.

^{Virtus.Pro win final against Optic at ESL Birmingham}

Virtus.Pro plays with the aggressive style famous by the CIS teams – dating back to the early days of Na`Vi – but they have succeeded while the boys in black and yellow have failed. Virtus.Pro rarely pushed too hard, only playing aggressively enough to help them win, without leaving any consequences for themselves. Part of the success comes from the cohesion of the members, but not to mention the decision-making ability of each individual in the team. No[o]ne and Ramzes, core 1 and 2 of VP, often initiate attacks but never drag teammates into failed teamfights.

In the clip above, they lured Secret into a gank and successfully reversed the situation. The vast majority of teams will continue to push here, handling the remaining members. This is a 2v3 situation and both Void and OD have ultimates. However, VP stepped back just a little, planting a Sentry in case the stealthy Slark was waiting. That moment allows pasha to come in from behind, let VP scout around to make sure he has an advantage, and finish off every remaining enemy hero.

Virtus.Pro is considered the strongest contender at TI8. Although they lost to Team Liquid in the BO5 series at ChinaSupermajor, VP still has a higher head-to-head record than Liquid.

PSG.LGD, sponsored by Paris Saint-Germain, is considered one of the strongest teams from the most competitive region. While Chinese teams have not dominated in recent years, they still hold 3 out of 7 TI titles, and last year, 3 Chinese teams were in the top 4.

With a region filled with talented players, LGD has a few legends to it. Maybe, a player of LGD since 2015, is one of the best mid players in the world. Fy was once one of the best position 4s, known for his aggressive rotations and outstanding moves while playing for VG.

Chalice and xNova are the two new names of the team and both are quite unfamiliar in the high-end arena. LGD placed 9-12 in the first LAN at ESL Katowice, but then in DAC 2018, they overcame Team Liquid and Virtus.Pro to take second place. LGD lost to Mineski in the final.

Then, at EPICENTER XL, LGD rematched Virtus.Pro and Liquid again. They beat Team Liquid twice, 2-0 in the win bracket final and 3-1 in the final.

Chinese teams make up half of the top 8 in the DPC rankings, but the other three teams – Vici Gaming, VGJ.Thunder and Newbee have all been inconsistent. PSG.LGD was assigned the task of bringing the card to bring Aegis back to China.

All eyes are on the TI7 champion. They were the first team to win a white TI final, and as the champion last year, Liquid are one of the very few teams that has continued to be strong. Wings Gaming is completely disbanded after an impressive performance at TI. Newbee gradually shifted its focus to RPG games. It’s hard to win many TIs, no matter how hard you try. Na`Vi almost won three times in a row (First place TI1, 2nd place TI2 and TI3). And Evil Geniuses, constantly changing lineups, also performed quite successfully, reaching the top 3 for 3 consecutive years, at a time when the prize pool had skyrocketed to 8 digits.

Partly invigorated from the first Dota Pro Circuit, Team Liquid can still do well in the professional scene. This success comes from the legendary and one of the most talented captains of Dota, Kuroky.

^{In a 3v5 situation, Miracle got himself an ultra kill (4 kills) against PSG.LGD at EPICENTER}

Team Liquid has only won one Major this year, but it’s the most important one: China Supermajor. On their way to the China Supermajor championship, the team swept Secret and PSG.LGD 2-0 in the winning bracket and then overcame Virtus.pro 3-2 in the final.

Team Liquid has only one goal: to successfully defend the TI title. Maybe Liquid will make history as the team that won TI twice and twice in a row in Dota 2.

According to Dotabuff