Overview of The International 2018: Secret, Mineski, VG, Newbee, VGJ.Thunder

Team Secret is the team that can win the championship. The team’s only Major win was at Dreamleague Season 8 with an impressive 3-0 victory over Team Liquid. But they were not among the contenders, partly due to their poor form at the China Supermajor: although the team performed consistently in the group stage, winning 2-0 against strong teams like Mineski – 5th in the standings. , Secret quickly left the tournament in the playoff round.

Secret was kicked out of the winning bracket by Team Liquid with a score of 0-2, only to be eliminated by Virtus.pro 2-1. Secret’s win over VP was when VP picked the last Wraith King, a troll move by Ramzes, who repeatedly pushed the team to pick the hero for him. As VP.Solo said afterward, “If Ramzes picks Wraith King, something will happen for sure.”

It’s not fair to say that Team Secret has lost ground in the final months of the season, as it has in previous years. Secret also entered the winning arm of the biggest Major of the year. but in contrast to the top teams attending TI8 – VP, Liquid, PSG.LGD – Team Secret needs to prove themselves more before joining the roundtable of the strongest Dota teams.

Mineski were the first Southeast Asian team to win a Major, the tournament where they beat PSG.LGD, after falling 1-2 in the BO series. Mushi and iceiceice used to be teammates on Team DK – the super strong Chinese team of 2013, owning legends like BurNing, LaNm, and MMY. As of TI7, iceiceice is in the group of players who have attended all TIs.

Mineski is not only home to many veteran leaders, the team is also coached by 71 who coached DK and the Dota 1 legend EHOME. Every year, Southeast Asia becomes stronger, stronger teams more in recent years. At TI 2016, 3 Southeast Asian teams reached avo2 top 8, with Fnatic ranked 4th (Mushi, 343, Ohaiyo, DJ, Midone). With this year’s TI, Mineski looks like the Southeast Asian team with the best chance of bringing home Aegis.

Without winning the Major, some teams still accumulated enough points to reach the top 8 of the DPC rankings. Vici Gaming is one of the most stable teams in China, without once placing first in the tournament. Vici’s big win this past season was a runner-up at the ESL One Katowice Major, when they were eliminated by first seed, Virtus.pro.

The team is led by Fenrir, one of the oldest members of VG. He used to play with Fy, becoming a ‘aggressive’ support duo in 2014, when the two were considered the best supports in the world. The team is highly skilled, thanks to the individual talents of each person and also to the risks the team is willing to take. Eleven and LaMn are both proactive players, with tackles that both win and lose.

At its peak, Vici Gaming was one of the strongest teams in Dota. But now, they are only strong. There’s plenty of time for the Chinese boys to settle on some of their decisions and tactics before TI8 kicks off.

Despite being ranked 7th in the DPC rankings, Newbee is still a top tier team. But they are not as strong as TI4. This time, under the guidance of Faith, who won TI 2012. In an era where rosters are always changing, even on successful teams, this year’s Newbee lineup is so unique that it’s the roster of the year. last – TI7 second place team.

With these same players, the team has another year to find stability. At least that’s what was supposed to happen. The team fell into disrepair after winning the Minor at ESL One Genting in January. Newbee quickly left DAC – losing 0-2 to EG in the first round – failing to make it through to the group stage at ESL One Birmingham. At China Supermajor, VG eliminated Newbee with a score of 2-0.

However, form may not matter to the team. Last year, the members also finished last at two Majors, but ended up coming in second at TI.

VGJ.Thunder controlled his own destiny to find a ticket to TI8 at China Supermajor. They need to get past OpTic Gaming, who are in 8th place. Things didn’t look good for the team, as OpTic took a spot in the winning bracket in the same group stage. Luckily for VGJ, OpTic was only 5-6th, got $90,000 but didn’t have any DPC points.

The team is coached by rOTK, the veteran Chinese offlane who has voiced concerns about the team’s situation at the SuperMajor. He said VGJ.Thunder continues to make old mistakes, and he feels he is limited as a coach in correcting mistakes.

Forced to go public with his frustrations, rOTK could leave the team in turmoil, but at the same time, he hopes social media will put pressure on VGJ to fix his mistakes, at least before TI8.

The International 2018 Overview: Candidates for the Aegis . Shield

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According to Dotabuff