WePlay LAN: Teams, format, schedule, streams, talent, prize-pool

The WePlay LAN will be in the spotlight this weekend, as Na’Vi, Team Spirit, EG, MVP.Phoenix, Team Empire, Ad Finem, EWolves, and Vega Squadron compete for the $200,000 base prize pool. The tournament is scheduled to take place at the International Exhibition Hall in Kiev, Ukraine, between April 28th and May 1st.

With three teams that have been directly invited to the Manila Major, four teams that have been invited to compete in the Manila Major regional qualifiers, and the first LAN on the new patch 6.87, WePlay is getting ready to rock and roll the Ukraine, this weekend.

Rolling out the new patch in the WePlay LAN tournament, all eight teams will be on equal grounds testing out new items, nerfed heroes and new strategies. Evil Geniuses will be making their new roster’s debut. Na’Vi, Team Empire and MVP.Phoenix are expected to rock out the arena based on their recent performances. Team Spirit, Ad Finem, Ewovles and Vega will be looking to prove they are solid opponents.

At the start of the event, the eight participating teams will be split into two groups. The first day of the event will serve as the group stage to determine the seeding for the playoff brackets.

The group stage will be played in a best-of-one format. The playoffs will be best-of-three double elimination brackets, with the grand finals being best-of-five with no winner’s advantage.

The entire tournament will be broadcast by Beyond the Summit in English and RUHub in Russian.

The first day of the WePlay LAN will kick off with the Group A encounters: E.Wolves vs. Na’Vi, at 09:00 CEST, followed by Team Empire vs. Team Spirit, at 10:15 CEST, and the rest of the best-of-one series in the first group. Vega Squadron vs. MVP.Phoenix will open Group B, at 16:30 CEST, followed by EG vs. Ad Finem, at 17:45 CEST, and the remainder of the best-of-one series in Group B.

WePlay LAN groups

Na’Vi

Na’Vi at the SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs, courtesy of StarLadder Flickr

After trying out and then finalizing their roster in February, with Viktor “GeneRaL” Nigrini, Na’Vi began to surge forward with positive results.

In the DotaPit Season 4 LAN, Na’Vi secured an impressive 3rd-4th placement after a long stint of struggles. Na’Vi ended their run at the DotaPit LAN finals having bested the Shanghai Major champions, Team Secret, and pushing the TI5 Championship team, Evil Geniuses, to a deciding third match.

At the SL iLeague Dota Invitational LAN, the Ukrainian team was on fire in front of their hometown audience. Spectacular performances led the squad to the grand finals against ViCi Gaming Reborn where it took four incredibly intense, hair-raising matches for VG.Reborn to clinch the championship title.

A nod to their thrilling performances and renewed vigor, Na’Vi have received a direct invite to the WePlay LAN, as well as a direct invite to the Manila Major – the team’s first direct invite to a Dota 2 Major.

Na’Vi roster:

Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev
Dmitry “Ditya Ra” Minenkov
Ivan “Artstyle” Antonov
Viktor “GeneRaL” Nigrini

Team Empire

Team Empire arrive in Philippines for ESL One Manila

Team Empire’s new roster is a complete overhaul with five new players. Only hours after being dissolved in the aftermath of the spring Major reshuffle, Team Empire was rebuilt.

Since the change of roster, the team has taken third place in ProDota Cup EU #5 and 3rd-4th place at ESL One Manila. The CIS squad has been hedging on their new found structure to build them new heights and has not disappointed yet. Empire has already given fans spectacular games when they bested Team Secret twice in Manila.

WePlay’s decision to call upon Team Empire for a last minute replacement for Team Liquid and Empire’s Manila Major regional qualifier invite are no surprises considering their recent performances.

Team Empire roster:

Roman “Ramzes” Kushnarev
Roman “Scandal” Sadotenkov
Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin
Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov
Rinat “KingR” Abdullin

Team Spirit

When the team qualified for the Shanghai Major and started appearing in premier tournaments, they started to gain traction and acknowledgement of their potential. Their results were less than expected and internal issues ended up leading to roster changes.

Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov joined Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev in Team Spirit, rounding out their new roster. Illidan was originally announced to be trying out for the team on March 9th.

Under the guidance of Goblak and filled with many CIS stars, the team was directly invited to participate in the WePlay LAN. They have also received an invite for the Manila Major regional qualifiers.

Team Spirit roster:

Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev
Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko
Andrey “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko
Artur “Goblak” Kostenko
Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov

Elite Wolves

Elite Wolves, courtesy of MasGamers

Elite Wolves have maintained their stable roster ever since December 2015. The Peruvian team has had a strong presence in the regional events, usually placing first-fourth in their online tournament competitions. In January, they claimed the championship title in the ProDota Cup Americas #2.

Having a setback last month, the team was informed that several of their players were deemed ineligible to participate in any Valve sponsored event for at least the time being – due to matchfixing incidents. Being unable to participate in the qualifiers for the upcoming Major has not hindered the squad from competing at all.

The Peruvians secured their spot for the WePlay LAN when they topped the Americas division, outranking Digital Chaos and Team Archon for the regional spot.

Elite Wolves roster:

Iwo “iwo” Bejar Kalinowski
Bryan Freddy “SmAsH” Machaca Siña
Juan Carlos “VanN” Tito Carrizales
Mair Alex “Masoku” Dávila Matallana
Ricardo Roman “mstco” Sandoval

Vega Squadron

Vega Squadron, courtesy of SL iLeague Invitational LAN

Vega Squadron surprised many when they surged forward, showing strong performances in the TI5 European qualifiers and grabbing the Wild Card Series slot for the biggest tournament of the year. Later, they managed to upset TI5 champions Evil Geniuses in a clean 2:0 sweep and cruised to the ESL One New York grand finals to claim the championship title.

At the end of March, the CIS team made their first roster changes since before TI5. Pavel “9Pasha” Hvastunov was replaced by Rostislav “fn” Lozovoi in the carry role.

The team has been flying under the radar in the last few months and has had limited participation in events, but managed to qualify for the WePlay LAN and received an invite to the regional qualifiers for the Manila Major.

Vega Squadron roster:

Semen “Cema” Krivulya
Rostislav “fn” Lozovoi
Vladimir “no[o]ne” Minenko
Andrey “Mag” Chipenko
Aleksey “Solo” Berezin

Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses at ESL One Frankfurt 2015

In August 2015, Evil Geniuses managed to turn the odds to their favor and claim the coveted TI5 Aegis of Champions and $6.6 million in prize money, thus becoming the first American team to win The International.

Despite the team’s success, they have been marked with two sets of surprising roster changes within the year. Tee first was when Kurtis “Aui” Ling was let go and replaced by Artour “Arteezy” Babaev, not long after EG became The International 5 champions. The second was the unanticipated departure of both Arteezy and Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora to Team Secret towards the last days of this season’s team registration period.

Evil Geniuses officially welcomed back both Aui_2000 and Sam “BuLba” Sosale to the organization, on March 26th. Aui had previously been a member when the team seized the Aegis of Champions, while BuLba – who played for the organization during The International 2 – coached the TI5 winning squad to success.

While the star-packed roster has been directly invited to participate in the Manila Major, the WePlay LAN will be the new roster’s debut, as they have been playing with their current lineup for one month.

Evil Geniuses roster:

Clinton “Fear” Loomis
Syed Sumail “Suma1L” Hassan
Sam “BuLba” Sosale
Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling
Peter “ppd” Dager

MVP.Phoenix

MVP.Phoenix at StarLadder iLeague Dota Invitational courtesy of SL flickr

After two roster changes for the Korean organization, the team stared out by taking 5th-6th at the MLG World Finals 2015, 4th at the Game Show Global eSports Cup Season 1 and a disappointing 9th-12th place at WCA 2015.

They then qualified for the Shanghai Major and placed 4th in the main event, showing an incredible improvement in synergy and mechanics. Shortly after, the Korean team then went on to win the Dota Pit championship title.

Taking a surprising 7th-8th place StarLadder i-League Invitational, the team still received recognition for their hard-work and talent when they were invited to the WePlay LAN and received a direct invite to the Manila Major.

MVP.Phoenix roster:

Kim “Febby” Yong-min
Kim “QO” Seon-yeob
Lee “FoREV” Sang-don
Pyo “MP” No-a
Kim “Dubu” Dooyoung

Ad Finem

Ad Finem at the WePlay LAN

Ad Finem have been an imposing force since their inception, when Giorgos “SsaSpartan” Giannakopoulos had once again formed an all-Greek squad on December 4th, in time for the Shanghai Major roster lock.

On January 31st, the team seized their first championship title under the Ad Finem banner, in the ProDota Cup Season 2.

Taking several second and third place finishes, the Greeks have been a formidable opponent to all teams that have crossed their path. It is no surprise that the team was invited to attend WePlay LAN to replace Fnatic, when the SEA team withdrew due to visa issues. Ad Finem were also invited by Valve to participate in the regional qualifiers for the Manila Major.

Ad Finem roster:

Giorgos “SsaSpartan” Giannakopoulos
Omar “Madara” Dabasas
Xaris “SkyLark” Zafiriou
Dimitris “ThuG” Plivouris
Verros “Maybe Next Time” Apostolos

WePlay Dota 2 LAN

In January, WePlay League announced their return for season three.

Season 2 was held in 2013, with Na’Vi being crowned champions after besting Alliance, 3:2. The CIS team walked away with the $25,000 first place prize.

WePlay LAN format

WePlay LAN finals

Evil Geniuses was the first confirmed invite on the organization’s website.

The LAN finals will be held in Kiev, Ukraine, at the International Exhibition Hall, between April 28th-May 1st.

• 4 qualified and 4 directly invited teams will compete
• Teams split into two groups for the group stage
• Best-of-one series in the group stage
• Double elimination playoff brackets
• Best-of-three playoff format
• Grand Finals best-of-five series

WePlay LAN prize pool distribution:

The prize pool can be increased by cosmetic set and ticket sales. The share is 10% of total sales; the share of ticket sales is 20% of total.

• 1st place: $100,000 + 30% of Dota 2 store sales share
• 2nd place: $40,000 + 20% of sales share
• 3rd place: $22,000 + 15% of sales share
• 4th place: $12,000 + 10% of sales share
• 5/6th place: $8,000 + 7.5% of sales share
• 7/8th place: $5,000 + 5% of sales share

***Teams, including manager, will also receive:

• paid flights and other travel expenses
• accommodation at a hotel ranked at least 4 stars
• three meals/day
• a practice area with 5 PCs per team
• a private players’ lounge

WePlay LAN talent:

WePlay Dota 2 LAN broadcast:

• English stream on Twitch
• Russian stream on Twitch