The Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers kick off on Thursday, January 7th, at 03:00 CET. The eight invited teams, along with two qualified ones, will compete over the coveted spots at the Dota Major of the winter season.
Get up to speed with the Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers schedule, participating teams, format, groups, and streams!
Ten teams – Team SatDuaTiga, First Departure, TnC, Mineski, MVP.Phoenix, Mineski-X, Execration, Fnatic, Signature.Trust and Extremist Dota 2 – will be competing to represent Southeast Asia at the Shanghai Major.
The Shanghai Major will take place between March 2-6, at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, in China. A fixed prize-pool of $3,000,000 is on the line.
OG, Team Secret, Evil Geniuses, EHOME, ViCi Gaming, CDEC, Virtus.Pro, and Alliance have already been directly invited to the event.
Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers format
- The ten teams have been divided into two Round Robin groups of five.
- Top two teams will advance to a double elimination bracket.
- First place team will start in the Upper Brackets.
- Runner-up team will start in the Lower Brackets.
- The first and second place teams from the Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers will advance to the main event in Shanghai, China.
Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers groups
Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers schedule
Thursday, January 7th
- 03:00 CET –Mineski vs. Extremist Dota 2
- 03:00 CET – TnC vs. FD
- 05:30 CET – Team123 vs. Mineski
- 05:30 CET – Extremist Dota 2 vs. TnC
- 08:00 CET – Signature.Trust vs. Fnatic
- 08:00 CET – XctN vs. Mineski-X
- 10:30 CET – TnC vs. Team123
- 10:30 CET – FD vs. Extremist Dota 2
- 13:00 CET – MVP.Phoenix vs. XtcN
- 13:00 CET – Mineski-X vs. Signature.Trust
Friday, January 8th
- 03:00 CET – Mineski vs. TnC
- 03:00 CET – Team 123 vs. FD
- 05:00 CET – Fnatic vs. Mineski-X
- 05:00 CET – Signature.Trust vs. MVP.Phoenix
- 08:00 CET – Team123 vs. Extremist Dota 2
- 08:00 CET – FD vs. Mineski
- 10:30 CET – MVP.Phoenix vs. Fnatic
- 10:30 CET – XtcN vs. Signature.Trust
- 13:00 CET – MVP.Phoenix vs. Mineski-X
- 13:00 CET – Fnatic vs. XctN
Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers streams
The Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers will be broadcast in English as part of the coverage provided by Beyond the Summit in their “insanity hub”.
- The Beyond the Summit Twitch channel will provide coverage of select group stage matches from all four regions.
The Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers series will begin at 03:00 CET, on Thursday, January 7th, and end on January 10th.
Shanghai Major SEA Qualifiers teams
Fnatic
The previous Malaysian squad, formerly a part of the EHOME organization between January – March 2015, was signed by Fnatic on June 4th.
During The International 5, Fnatic have failed to advance into the Upper Brackets of the main event, having secured only four points during the group stage. They were knocked out of contention by Virtus.Pro from the very first day of the TI5 main event, on August 3rd, in a brutal best-of-one elimination series.
The organization made significant changes following TI5. Mushi and Ohaiyo were the only remaining members. Changing directions, the team then became infused with an international flavor, with Djardel “DJ” Mampusti from the Philippines and Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier from Germany on the squad.
Missing the mark with results, the team made another roster change.
After replacing German carry player Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier with coach Ahmad Syazwan “ADTR” bin Anuar. Struggling to find their groove in LANS, the Malaysian based squad has had disappointing results lately.
Fnatic roster:
Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung
Chong “Ohaiyo” Xin Khoo
Djardel “DJ” Mampusti
Ahmad Syazwan “ADTR” bin Anuar
Wai Pern “Net” Lim
MVP.Phoenix
In the Southeast Asian region, which is typically given only one spot to represent a series of small countries, Korean team MVP.Phoenix has worked hard and strived to take their success to a global level with top placements in all local Korean tournaments, as well as in Southeast Asian regional tournaments, such as the IeSF Asian Championships and Nexon Sponsorship Leagues.
With a commendable 6th place finish at TI5, MVP.Phoenix won the hearts and respect of fans all over the world. Following the post TI shuffle, the two MVP teams merged rosters and created an all-Korean lineup.
They have since taken 5-6th at MLG World Finals 2015 and 4th at the Game Show Global eSports Cup Season 1
MVP.Phoenix roster:
Kim “Febby” Yong-min
Kim “QO” Seon-yeob
Lee “FoREV” Sang-don
Pyo “MP” No-a
Kim “Dubu” Dooyoung
TnC Gaming
TnC Gaming, a Dota 2 team from the Philippines, was founded in 2013. On February 2nd, 2015, TnC announced that their new team was participating in its first major tournament.
TnC advanced to the playoffs in the TI5 SEA Qualifiers, but were eliminated in the first round of the Lower Brackets by Rave, 2:1.
At the end of August, it was announced that John “teehee” Linuel Abanto and Jhonel “Seven” Jay Maguddayao had separated from the squad. The team added Mark Louise “xLucky” Reyes and Marc Polo “Raven” Fausto to the active roster.
They since took 3rd at SEAC 2015, 3 – 4th in BTS Southeast Asia #1 and most recently 1st in SEA Dragon Battle #3.
In October, teehee returned to the team and gnoji was moved to the substitute position.
TnC Gaming roster:
Nico “eyyou” Barcelon
Sam “sam_H” Hidalgo
John Linuel “teehee” Abanto
Mark Louise “xLucky” Reyes
Marc Polo “Raven” Fausto
Mineski
After many reshuffles, the latest roster changes to Mineski’s lineup came in March, when the SEA team added Jessie Cristy “JessieVash” Cuyco and Carlo “Kuku” Palad. In August, the team added Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa, formerly of Rave Dota.
This season, Gigabyte.Mineski have been taking the region and the world by storm. Consistently besting the SEA giants, Fnatic, for the qualifier spots in LANs, Mineski are quickly rising to the top in the region and making an international name for themselves.
The team failed to advance into the main event stage of Nanyang Championships LAN but took a commendable 10th place position at Frankfurt Major, having been eliminated by OG in the second round of the Lower Brackets. They continued on to The Summit 4, taking 7th place.
The team has been demonstrating strong individual talent and tight team cohesion. Executing their strategies well and displaying great communication in fights, Mineski have been impressive as they continue to try and rise to the top.
Mineski roster:
Ryan Jay “Bimbo” Qui
Carlo “Kuku” Palad
Jessie Cristy “JessieVash” Cuyco
Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa
Julius “Julz” De Leon
Signature.Trust
Signature.Trust Esports is a Thai gaming organization. Until January 20th, they played under the MiTH.Trust banner. The team has placed first in The Prime Major and Vietnam eSports Champions League and second in Hitbox Obutto Championship and Good Play SEA Invitational. They finished second in SEA Dragon Battle 2 and 3 and first in Corsair Gaming Arena #5.
Signature.Trust roster:
Pipat “LaKelz” Prariyachat
Kittikorn “MyPro”
Chanon “aabBAA” Chiwpreecha
Anucha “Jab-Kaneki” Jivarong
Anurat “boombell” Praianun
Team SatuDuaTiga
Team SatuDuaTiga is a Malaysian Dota 2 team formed in mid-June mostly from ex-G Guard Esports members. KaNG and Minerva joined the team in August.
Since their formation, the team has placed 5th-6th in HuomaoTV Mid-summer League Season, 1st in SEA Dragon Battle 2, 2nd in the Asia Arena Cup and 3rd-4th in the BTS Southeast Asia #1.
Team SatuDuaTiga roster:
Chua “Ice” Chee Cai
Ng “YamateH” Wei Poong
Lee “papaxionga” Vei Siang
Adam Erwann Shah “343” bin Akhtar Hussein
Rene “Minerva” Michael Halim
Mineski-X
Mineski-X was the first team to grab a spot in the Shanghai Major SEA Regional Qualifiers.
The squad is a mix of familiar faces, including Chan “WinteR” Litt Binn, Joel Chan “XtiNcT” Zhan, Fadil “Kecik Imba” Bin Mohd Raziff, and Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross.
Adrian “Ysaera” Wui will now become the fifth player due to a last minute order from Valve to change their fifth player in order to retain their spot.
According to Mineski.Net, VALVE had sent organizers in SEA region a “list of players banned from participating in the majors due to them being implicated in similar scandals.”
Included players caught up in the list from valve was Mark Anthony “Jacko” Soriano currently on Mineski-X
Mineski-X roster:
Fadil “Kecik Imba” Bin Mohd Raziff
Adrian “Ysaera” Wui
Chan “WinteR” Litt Binn
Joel Chan “XtiNcT” Zhan Leong
Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross
Execration
Execration, abbreviated XctN, is a Filipino Dota 2 team.
Execration have undergone some roster issues that made them unstable and unable to attain higher level achievements. They have a strong presence in the local scene and continue to try various compositions for success.
As with Mineski-X, one of their players Mark Adrian “BYB” Gavin was involved in matchfixing in 2014. Valve has required that he be replaced in order to the team to retain their regional qualifier spot and compete for the Shanghai Major.
Execration roster:
Fernando “Nando” Mendoza
Mark “Shanks” Redira
Kimuel “Kim0” Rodis
Ralph Richard “RR” Peñano
TBD
First Departure
First Departure is a Singaporean Dota 2 squad. In June, First Departure was completely reformed, keeping only the captain, Chan “Lubby” Jun Jie, from the latest version of the squad.
Galvin “Meracle” Kang Jian Wen, Wilson “Poloson” Koh Chin Wei, Paul “Hana” Tan Ke Da and Joel “Chibix” Chan Jian Yong rejoined their former team. All of them have been a part of First Departure multiple times in the past.
First Departure had not had any wins in a minor or major tournament since September of 2014, when they took first place at the Summit 2 SEA Qualifiers although they were unfortunately unable to attend. They took second place at the SEA Dragon Battle. The team also placed first in the Starladder Season 10 Preseason at that time.
Recently, the team has taken 2nd place in BTS Southeast Asia #1 in September. It had been the first achievement in one year. Despite the lack of achievements, the team has been a strong presence in the local scene and continues to strive for results.
First Departure roster:
Chan “Lubby” Jun Jie
Galvin “Meracle” Kang Jian Wen
Joel “Chibix” Chan Jian Yong
Paul “Hana” Tan Ke Da
Wilson “Poloson” Koh Chin Wei
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