The Boston Major invites, both direct and regional, have been revealed by Valve, in partnership with PGL. Sixteen teams – eight directly invited and eight qualified ones – will travel to Boston to compete for a $3 million prize-pool in this fall’s Dota Major.
The Boston Major will take place at the Wang Theater in Boston, between December 7-11, and will be organized by Valve and PGL. Sixteen teams will compete over six days in a single elimination tournament.
According to Valve, the Boston Major will feature eight directly invited teams and eight teams coming from the Regional Qualifiers. A total of 40 teams will be competing in the Regional Qualifiers next week, with eight slots reserved to the winners of the Open Qualifiers that are set to start on Sunday, October 23rd.
True to intention, the Dota 2 Majors are creating a sense of consistency among the Valve-sponsored event. From the direct and regional invites announcement timing and format, through the regional and open qualifier process, until the main event structure and production, the events provide a sense of structure and stability.
It also appears that the Dota 2 Majors are indeed putting emphasis on the LAN tournament results during the season leading to the next Major.
TI6 championship team Wings Gaming were the first among the invites. No surprise as the team are the reigning Aegis holders and seized the championship title of Nanyang Cruise Cup. The team has been together since August 2015 with no roster changes, quintessential of stability and success.
Digital Chaos received a nod as well as the TI6 runner up team and changing out only one player in the post TI shuffle.
Evil Geniuses have always been at the forefront of world class tournaments and prestige. Their championship title at MDL 2016 put them at the top of the list for Valve’s invitations.
Newbee continued to show strength, poise and success as they entered into the new season with two second place finishes at LANs already – MDL 2016 and Nanyang Cruise Cup.
OG are the only invites for the European region – a nod to their history of being a two time Valve major championship team. The squad changed three players in the new season and took third place at MDL 2016.
Execration were the Philippine wild card team for TI6 that won the hearts of many fans. The team didn’t proceed to the main event and made a change of three players for the new season. They then seized first place at MPGL last month.
MVP took second at MPGL after losing two players to Team Secret in the post TI6 shuffle.
EHOME most recently landed a place at the Summit 6 scheduled to take place in November.
The eight teams that have received direct invites to the Boston Dota Major:
- 1.Wings
- 2.Digital Chaos
- 3.Evil Geniuses
- 4.Newbee
- 5.EHOME
- 6.Execration
- 7.OG
- 8.MVP
Forty teams will participate in the Regional Qualifiers – 32 invited and 8 slots reserved for the winners of the Open Qualifiers:
Each of the four regional qualifiers (Americas, China, Europe, Southeast Asia) will feature eight invited teams. In addition, Open Qualifiers will be held for all regions. The winners from the four Open Qualifiers will earn the 9th and 10th spots of each of the four Regional Qualifiers. Registration is now open.
Each region consists of two round robin groups of five teams. The top two teams from each group will advance to a double elimination bracket.
The winner and runner-up of each region will receive Boston Major invites.
The Boston Major invites for the European Qualifiers (October 27-30):
- Ad Finem
- Alliance
- Team Secret
- Escape Gaming
- Team Liquid
- Na’Vi
- Vega Squadron
- Virtus.Pro
The Boston Major invites for the Americas Qualifiers (October 27-30):
- compLexity
- FDL
- Infamous
- Team NP
- paiN Gaming
- Wild Witch Doctors
The Boston Major invites for the Chinese Qualifiers (October 27-30):
- CDEC
- FTD.A
- Invictus Gaming
- Invictus Gaming.Vitality
- LGD Gaming
- LGD.Forever Young
- ViCi Gaming
- VG.J
The Boston Major invites for the SEA Qualifiers (October 27-30):
- Team Faceless
- Fnatic
- Mineski
- RRQ
- Signature.Trust
- The Mongolz
- TnC Gaming
Boston Major invites: Direct invites
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Wings Gaming (Boston Major Invites – China)
Wings Gaming did not make any changes heading into the Fall Major 2016 season. The TI6 championship team had decided to keep their roster intact.
From unknowns to infamous in the course of one year, the Chinese stars soared above the rest to bring a tale of comradery, innovation and passion to the stage.
Formed in August 2015, the Chinese then team made a clean sweep over Team Liquid, 3:0, in the Grand Finals of ESL One Manila. They walked with their first championship title as a team and the $100,000 first place prize.
The team was directly invited to the Manila Major where they had a disappointing finish taking 13-16th place. Their next premier LAN event – Nanyang Dota 2 Championships Season 2 brought back to the forefront the infamous drafting and strategies that Wings became known for and an astounding second place finish.
They then amazed fans around the world once again when they outplayed OG 3:1 in the grand finals of The Summit 5 for the trophy and title.
Their greatest accomplishment being TI6.
By upsetting the TI5 champions – Evil Geniuses and sending them to the lower brackets, Wings Gaming had become the first team to advance to the Grand Finals and secure themselves a top two finish overall. They overpowered Digital Chaos 3:1 for a spectacular finish and crowning achievement.
Wings Gaming roster:
Zhou “bLink” Yang
Zhang “bian” Ruida
Chu “Shadow” Zeyu
Zhang “Innocence” Yiping
Li “iceice” Peng
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Digital Chaos (Boston Major Invites – NA)
w33 at TI6
Only hours after David “Moo” Hull revealed he had been kicked from the second place TI6 team – Digital Chaos, the organization announced his replacement as none other than David “MoonMeander” Tan – who had been released from OG only two days prior.
The changes in roster composition came to a surprise to many as the team had a dramatic run through the TI6 lower brackets to upset Evil Geniuses and assume second place.
New Digital Chaos roster:
Aliwi “w33” Omar
Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok
David “Moon” Tan
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen
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Evil Genuises (Boston Major Invites – NA)
Arteezy and Zai
The long time captain Peter “PPD” Dager transitioned out of the team into a business management position with the brand.
Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen stepped into the rather large shoes left open with PPD’s departure. Hailing from one of the most successful teams of the 2015 -2016 year, OG – Cr1t- was part of history as the only team to claim two Valve sponsored championship titles – Frankfurt Major and Manila Major.
For the third time, Artour “Arteezy” Babaev dons the blue jersey for the organization. The famed Canadian player has had an on and off again relationship between Team Secret and Evil Geniuses since 2014.
Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora, Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan and Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg have remained with the team.
Evil Geniuses were close to getting their names written on the Aegis of Champions for the second time. Not close enough, though: they fell to Digital Chaos in the Lower Bracket Finals and placed third overall.
They have since taken first place at MDL 2016 – a strong start to the new season.
New Evil Geniuses roster:
Artour “Arteezy” Babaev
Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen
Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora
Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg
Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan
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Newbee (Boston Major Invites – China)
Faith
Big changes for Newbee were made for the Fall Major 2016 season as the team replaced three of its members – Zhang “Mu” Pan, Chen “Hao” Zhihao and Wong “ChuaN” Hock Chuan.
Mu retired less than a month after Newbee’s captain and carry Hao announced his break from competitive gaming for the upcoming Fall Major 2016 season or longer. ChuaN is also on a break, having not registered for any team for the season.
Veteran player Zeng “Faith” Hongda, along with Song “Sccc” Chun and Xu “uuu9” Han will be the official replacements for the Fall Major 2016 season.
Faith participated in the first five Internationals with various teams – taking the championship title at TI2 as part of the Invictus Gaming lineup. Playing professional Dota 2 since 2011, he is both highly decorated and experienced, bringing forth a great wealth of skill and talent. He started his career in 2011 on a team known as TyLoo – one of the teams invited to the first International based off of their reputation for being one of the best Chinese teams in DotA 1 in 2011.
uuu9 was teammates with Faith in TongFu, an organization that he had played with since starting his professional career in 2013 and Sccc transferred from the organization’s youth squad – a team which he joined and has been with since competing in April 2015.
Newbee took 9-12th place at TI6 after being eliminated by Team Liquid 2:1 in the second round of the lower brackets.
The Chinese team has had an equally strong showing already, barely a hint of struggle with the new additions in the roster. Newbee has already been quite busy, claiming two second place finishes at LANs – MDL 2016 and Nanyang Cruise Cup
Newbee roster
Zeng “Faith” Hongda
Song “Sccc” Chun
Damien “kphoenii” Chok
Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi
Xu “uuu9” Han
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EHOME (Boston Major Invites – China)
Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng © Steffie Wunderl/ ESL
EHOME seized 5-6th place at TI6 after being wiped out 2:0 by Digital Chaos in the fourth round of the lower brackets.
The Chinese giants have made two changes to their lineup for the Fall Major 2016 season. Liu “Sylar” Jiajun and Liu “Garder” Xinzhou have replaced Daryl “iceiceice” Koh Pei Xiang and Lu “Fenrir” Chao.
Earlier in September Sylar joined the EHOME roster alongside returning members Wang “old chicken” Zhiyong and Ren “old eLeVeN” Yangwei.
Sylar assumed the carry role left vacant as Daryl “iceiceice” Koh Pei Xiang left to SEA to create his new team – Team Faceless with Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier, Wong “NutZ” Jeng Yih, Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong and Toh “Xy-” Wai Hong.
EHOME secured their spot at Summit 6 LAN.
EHOME roster
Liu “Sylar” Jiajun
Wang “old chicken” Zhiyong
Ren “eLeVeN” Yangwei
Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng
Liu “Garder” Xinzhou
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Execration (Boston Major Invites – SEA)
Execration at Dota 2 MPGL SEA Championship 8
Execration’s victory in the SEA Regional Qualifiers secured them at least a trip to Seattle for the TI6 Wild Card series – becoming part of Filipino and TI history as one of two teams from the Philippines to attend The International.
In the post TI6 shuffle Djardel “DJ” Mampusti left Fnatic only hours after the first phase of the new Fall Major team registration began.
Within the same 24 hours it was surprising for many to see Fernando “Nando” Mendoza and Ralph Richard “RR” Peñano were let go from Execration.
With DJ playing in ProDota Cup series against RRQ and one report, that the team recruited Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte Santos from Acion Arena – the team seems to be shaping up to be a new threat in the region.
For the new season they have taken first place at MPGL.
Execration unconfirmed roster
Abed “Abed” Yusop
Rafael “Rapy” Sicat Palo
Kimuel “Kim0” Rodis
Djardel “DJ” Mampusti
Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte
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OG (Boston Major Invites – EU)
Following TI6, it was announced on OG’s facebook that the European organization bid farewell to Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen, David “MoonMeander” Tan and Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi.
To help them accomplish their goals, OG recruited Gustav “s4” Magnusson – recently departed from Alliance and Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka who had just parted ways with Team Liquid earlier in the same day.
The most surprising addition to the team is Anathan “Ana” Pham, a relatively unknown face for Western fans. Ana is an Australian who has been spending time in China as part of Invitcus Gaming roster as substitute while Luo “Ferrari_430” Feichi was absent.
The player centered organization is the first team to win two Valve championship titles but slid into a disappointing 9-12th place finish at TI6.
This season the team has taken took third place at MDL 2016.
OG roster
Johan “BigDaddy” Sundstein
Tal “Fly” Aizik
Gustav “s4” Magnusson
Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka
Anathan “Ana” Pham
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MVP (Boston Major Invites – SEA)
The MVP Phoenix roster retains three of its longstanding, core members – Kim “QO” Seon-yeop, Kim “Febby” Yong-min and Kim “DuBu” Doo-young, as the organization heads into the Fall Major 2016 season.
Joining the three Koreans will be two known members of the organization – Kim “Velo” Tae-sung and Lee “Reisen” Jun-yeong from MVP.Hot6ix – taking the place of Lee “FoREV” Sang-don and Pyo “MP” No-a who both joined Team Secret for the new season.
Reisen is a Korean player who began his career in 2013 with a team called Eyes of Tiger Hammer. He joined the MVP organization in November 2013. Velo is an Australian player who started out with Spac_Creators following TI5. Only staying with the team for about one month, he was then picked up by MVP.Hot6ix, in December 2015.
MVP.Phoenix rounded out their successful year with a commendable 5th-6th place at TI6.
Most recently the Koreans landed second place MPGL and 7-8th at MDL 2016.
MVP Phoenix roster Fall Major 2016
Kim “Febby” Yong-min
Kim “QO” Seon-yeob
Lee “Reisen” Jun-yeong
Kim “Dubu” Dooyoung
Kim “Velo” Tae-sung
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