SL iLeague StarSeries s2 preview: Six teams to stand final test before TI6

The tournament hailed as the last big LAN before TI6 kicks off tonight in sunny Los Angeles. SL iLeague StarSeries s2 has gathered six TI6-bound teams competing for the $300,000 prize pool, less than two weeks leading into the TI6 Wild Card series. Evil Geniuses, Team Secret, Na’Vi, Fnatic, F.R.I.E.N.D.S (ex-Virtus.Pro), Digital Chaos, CDEC.Youth and compLexity Gaming will compete at the BTS house sans live audience for one last hurrah before the pinnacle of all events.

Check out the SL iLeague StarSeries s2 schedule, format and teams!

SL iLeague StarSeries s2 commences tonight with eight of some of the best teams from around the world.

Evil Geniuses, Team Secret, Na’Vi, Fnatic, F.R.I.E.N.D.S (ex Virtus.Pro), Digital Chaos, CDEC.Youth and compLexity Gaming will compete for the $300,000 prize pool.

The matches are scheduled to take place between July 21-24 in Los Angeles, California – only a hop skip and jump away for six teams heading to Seattle.

SL iLeague StarSeries s2: Participating teams

• Evil Geniuses – invited team
• Team Secret – invited team
• Natus Vincere – invited team
• F.R.I.E.N.D.S (ex-Virtus.pro) – EU qualifier team
• Fnatic – SEA qualifier team
• Digital Chaos – NA qualifier team
• CDEC Youth – Chinese qualifier team
• compLexity* – HCup qualifier team

*compLexity Gaming was invited to replace Newbee/Invictus Gaming

SL iLeague StarSeries s2: Format

Teams will play Double Elimination brackets. Matches will be Best-of-3, while the contenders for the title who will face each other in the Grand Final will play out five maps.

SL iLeague StarSeries s2: Schedule

Day 1, July 21st-22nd

• 18:30 CEST – EG vs. CDEC.Youth
• 22:00 CEST – Fnatic vs. Na’Vi
• 01:30 CEST – Team Secret vs. compLexity
• 05:00 CEST – F.R.I.E.N.D.S vs Digital Chaos

Day 2, July 22nd-23rd

• 18:30 CEST – Lower Brackets Round 1
• 21:00 CEST – Lower Brackets Round 1
• 01:30 CEST – Upper Brackets Semifinals
• 05:00 CEST – Upper Brackets Semifinals

Day 3, July 23rd-24th

• 18:30 CEST – Lower Brackets Round 2
• 21:00 CEST – Lower Brackets Round 2
• 01:30 CEST – Lower Bracket Round 3
• 05:00 CEST – Upper Bracket Finals

Day 4, July 24th-25th

• 22:00 CEST – Lower Bracket Finals
• 01:00 CEST – Grand Finals

SL iLeague StarSeries s2: Prize pool

• 1st place – $135,000
• 2nd place – $60,000
• 3rd place – $37,500
• 4th place – $22,500
• 5th-6th place – $15,000
• 7th-8th place – $7,500

SL iLeague StarSeries s2: Broadcast

All the matches will be covered in English and Russian by BTS and SLTV studios.

• English Main Stream

• Russian Main Stream

SL iLeague StarSeries s2: Teams

Evil Geniuses – invited team

Evil Geniuses at EPICENTER Moscow

After Team Secret announced Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora’s unexpected departure on June 9th, Evil Geniuses officially confirmed his return. At the same time, Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling was let go and replaced with Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg.

The fallen North American giants have had sub-par performances and disappointing results following the post-Shanghai Major roster shuffle.

The TI5 championship team forfeited their direct invite for The International following their roster changes – an unprecedented move for a TI title-holder to be taking the open qualifier road. They eventually fought their way back into the big event after taking the open qualifiers and regional qualifiers by storm.

Team Secret – invited team

Team Secret at ESL One Manila

An unexpected pre-TI shuffle was set off when Secret’s Team Director, Kemal Sadikoglu, took to Twitter to announce Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora’s departure to EG, in the middle of the Manila Major.

Team Secret sought out a replacement: former EG player Kanishka ‘Sam’ “BuLba” Sosale. In a timeless loop of exchanges, Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling has registered as Team Secret’s sub, having been let go from EG after being replaced with Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg.

Team Secret has had sub-par performances and disappointing results since they initiated a big roster shuffle after the Shanghai Major that tore apart Evil Geniuses and created Digital Chaos.

Their domination in the open and regional qualifiers for TI6 gave them a second chance at participating in The International 6 main event.

Natus Vincere – invited team

Ditya Ra of Na’Vi

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 received a direct invite to the WePlay LAN – where they took a 5th-6th place, after topping their group phase.

The Ukrainian team was the crowd favorite at the Manila Major and didn’t disappoint. With heart-stopping matches and clutch plays, they landed a commendable 7th-8th place at the third Dota Major. The revitalized team then followed up their performance with an incredible second place finish at ESL One Frankfurt 2016 and fourth at the Summit 5.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S (ex-Virtus.pro) – EU qualifier team

Virtus.Pro during the StarLadder Invitational playoffs, courtesy of StarLadder Flickr

Although Virtus.Pro came in a commendable 5th-6th place at last year’s International championship and walked away with close to 1.2 million dollars – they struggled to find even minor success moving forward.

On December 2nd, 2015, Virtus.Pro replaced Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev with Airat “Silent” Gaziev. At first, the new chemistry seemed to have worked out. Immediately following the changes, the CIS squad placed second at The Summit 4 and won the D2CL Christmas Charity Magic tournament. Starting with January, 2016, something appeared to have snapped within the team. They slipped back, claiming 7th-12th places.

After a disappointing 9th-12th place at the Shanghai Major, they tried to mend what they thought was broken. They swapped Lil and DkPhobos for NoFear and yoky-, moved Silent to the substitute position and brought in ALOHADANCE. Unfortunately, the changes in their roster didn’t put an end to their bankruptcy of achievement.

The team continued to have a lamentable track record, failing to qualify for the Manila Major. They admitted to cheating in The Summit 5 European qualifiers Grand Finals and were disqualified. Their most recent “non-success”: they failed to qualify for The International 6, after placing 6th in the Round Robin stage.

Then, at the end of June, the Virtus.Pro organization decided to bid farewell to the team’s manager, George “drAmer” Faleev, VP’s Sporting Director Sergey “Diver233” Pisotsky and the entire Dota 2 squad.

Fnatic – SEA qualifier team

Fnatic during Manila Major Groups

Showing up to the Shanghai Major in a completely different form, Fnatic started to take on a new life. In the last few months, they secured multiple LAN spots through victories in the regional qualifiers: ESL One Manila, EPICENTER Moscow, ESL One Frankfurt 2016 and SL iLeague StarSeries s2. They won BTS Series 4 SEA and followed up with a championship title at the SEA Kappa Invitational Season 1.

In May, Fnatic announced an update to their roster, including the long awaited return of Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung to competitive play. His return stimulated a domino effect of changes in the Fnatic roster – including Adam Erwann Shah “343” bin Akhtar Hussein’s move into a primary role on the team and the departure of Wai Pern “Net” Lim.

Without missing a beat, The Summit 5 SEA qualifiers became the second consecutive LAN qualifier Fnatic seized in one week, shortly followed by securing their place in the SL iLeague StarSeries s2.

The Malaysian-based team finished the Manila Major with a commendable 5th-6th place, then placed 7th-8th at ESL One Frankfurt 2016, followed by a 5th-6th place at the Summit 5, just last weekend.

Digital Chaos – NA qualifier team

Digital Chaos at Summit 5 courtesy of Beyond the Summit

Digital Chaos was dissolved by default after they lost Theeban “1437” Siva to Team Secret as a coach and then Evil Geniuses officially welcomed back both Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling and Sam “BuLba” Sosale to the organization, earlier this year.

The North American organization then picked up a squad consisting of Omar “w33” Aliwi, Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen, Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok, David “Moo” Hull and Martin “Saksa” Sazdov. The team is attending bootcamp in the United States and competing in events, representing the NA region.

They seized a spot in the Manila Major after barreling through the Manila Major NA open qualifiers and then overcoming Shazam, 3:0, in the region’s Grand Finals.

They have also proven to be a formidable enemy in the North American region, claiming the NA qualifier spots for both The Summit 5 and SL iLeague StarSeries s2.

The team’s premier LAN debut was the Manila Major, where they placed 9th-12th. They then took 5th-6th place at both the Nanyang Championships and The Summit 5.

CDEC Youth – Chinese qualifier team

CDEC.Youth at Radiant Cup

At the end of March, CDEC registered a new youth team for the Manila Major/TI6 period.

The team had an active presence in regional qualifiers and the H-Cup weekly series. They seized the first place in the SL iLeague StarSeries s2 and Nanyang Championships season 2 – ultimately landing fourth place overall in the premier Chinese event.

SL iLeague is the team’s first international LAN outside of China

compLexity* – invited replacement team

coL’s Swindlemelonzz at EPICENTER Moscow

compLexity Gaming underwent roster changes in November 2015, as they welcomed Swedish brothers Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin and Linus “Limmp” Blomdin for the new season, reviving most of the HoN StayGreen roster from 2013-2014. Simon “Handsken” Haag also joined the mix. Since then, they have had powerful and compelling performances.

The North American/European mix overpowered Shazam, 3:2, in the Americas Qualifiers for EPICENTER Moscow, eventually taking fourth place in the main event.

Most recently, the NA-based squad took 9th-12th place at the Manila Major and 5th-6th at ESL One Frankfurt 2016.

Before the Major, coL were given a run for their money when Digital Chaos overpowered them in the SL i-League StarSeries s2 American Qualifier and The Summit 5 American Qualifiers.

The team was denied their invite to TI6 and fought hard to claim their place – seizing the TI6 Wild Card series.

coL then had an active presence in the regional qualifiers and H-Cup weekly series. They seized first place for the SL iLeague StarSeries s2 after besting CDEC, 2:1.

They also had a first/second place finish in the Nanyang Dota 2 Championships Season 2: Chinese Qualifier – eventually taking fourth in the event overall.