MDL Fall 2016 – What you need to know!
It has been over a month since The International and the community is craving more Dota 2 action after an exciting transfer period.
The rosters are now locked and the autumn edition of the MarsTV Dota 2 League in Xiamen will be the first opportunity for fans to see the renovated rosters of four Chinese, two European, one Southeast Asian and one North American team in action.
Tournament format
The first games of the fourth edition of the MarsTV Dota 2 League will be played on 28 September and the winner will be determined after the final match on 2 October. The prize pool will be around $250,000, with $112,500 going to the winners.
The eight teams will be divided into two groups of four, played in a direct elimination format. Each match in the group stages will be played as a best-of-three encounter.
The winner of the first clash will face the winner of the second clash. The winner of this match finishes first and advances directly to the Winners’ Bracket semifinals, while the loser will face the winner from a match between the two initial losers for the second spot in the group.
In the playoffs, the winner of Group A will face the second team from Group B and vice versa in the Winners’ Bracket semifinals. Meanwhile the third team in Group A will face the fourth in Group B and vice versa in the Losers’ Bracket, with each subsequent loser from the Winners’ Bracket dropping down to face the winners here. The matches in the playoff stage will also be played in a best-of-three format apart from the Grand Finals, which is traditionally played as a best-of-five encounter.
The teams were seeded and Group A contains Newbee, Team Secret, LGD.Forever Young and MVP Phoenix, while Group B will see Vici Gaming, Evil Geniuses, iG Vitality and OG pooled together.
Group A
The first match in Group A will see Newbee face Team Secret. The Chinese team’s management had to make three changes in total with Hao, ChuaN and Mu either taking a break or retiring over the summer. The new additions include Sccc (promoted from the youngster squad), uuu9 (from TongFu) and former TI 2 winner Faith (also from TongFu). They have had some competitive practice with their new roster, facing Chinese opposition during the Shanghai Dota 2 Open over the last week. They currently have a 3-0-1 record in this competition.
Team Secret haven’t had any official games since they added the SEA players MP, Forev and MidOne to their European roster. Apart from team chemistry, Team Secret will probably have to work on communication since the new SEA additions have never played in a European team before.
The other two teams playing against one another in Group A will be MVP and the new LGD division, LGD.Forever Young. Korean outfit MVP lost MP and Forev to Team Secret, but signed two other players who are fluent in Korean as Reisen and Velo were promoted from MVP.HOT6ix. This forced Febby to switch from support to carry. These changes did not affect MVP’s playstyle as the team was as aggressive as ever on their way to 2nd place in the MPGL Southeast Asian Championship earlier this month.
LGD.Forever Young might be the second team of LGD, but the names on their roster are first class players, particularly as the team includes long-term LGD players xiao8 and Yao, as well as TI 4 finalist Super. The veterans will be complemented by new additions Monet (from CDEC Avenger) and lpc (from TongFu).
Group B
In the first game of Group B Vici Gaming will face Evil Geniuses. VG decided to promote last year’s VG.Reborn to the first team following their better overall performance throughout 2016. The roster was kept almost intact apart from Nono, who was replaced by ghost in the mid role. VG are also playing in the extant Shanghai Dota 2 Open so have started to get used to playing with each other, as highlighted by their current four-win streak.
EG’s roster announcement was one of the most hyped during the transfer period. With ppd and Fear retiring, Arteezy returned to the fold for the third time, while former OG player Cr1t- joined as new captain and drafter to replace ppd.
The second game will feature iG.Vitality and OG. The second team from the iG organization did not make any changes during the transfer period. Throughout last season, they played mostly in the Chinese scene and did not face any European teams, so this will be a new experience for them.
Consequently, OG are the favourites in this first clash. The European outfit largely had to build from scratch as three of their members left or became inactive, including last season’s discovery Miracle-, who joined Team Liquid. MoonMeander was removed, while Cr1t- left for Evil Geniuses. Their replacements lack no glamour though – JerAx (from Team Liquid) and s4 (from Alliance) – while Miracle-‘s substitute in the mid role will be another young, inexperienced but talented player, ana.
Final thoughts
MDL 2016 will be the first international tournament for the new-look teams to test their lineups. It is a good starting point for the players to build chemistry, gain some confidence and see where they stand after the transfer turbulence. With some notable exceptions (Wings Gaming, Team Liquid, Fnatic), MDL has collected some of the best teams around and promises to be a worthy opening tournament for the new Dota 2 season.