Manila Major Group Stage schedule, format, team previews

Manila Major Group Stage schedule has been released as final preparations begin for the Major event. The final details edge us one step closer to the Manila Major. Sixteen teams – Team Secret, Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, MVP.Phoenix, Wings Gaming, ViCi Gaming.Reborn, Fnatic, OG, compLexity Gaming, Alliance, Na’vi, LGD Gaming, Digital Chaos, Newbee, Team Empire and Mineski are getting ready to compete for a $3,000,000 prize-pool. Check out the Manila Major group stage schedule, groups, format and team previews.

While the temperatures in Manila are sizzling hot, the competition is expected to be a scorcher. On the heels of the recent success of ESL One Manila, fans, players and talent are gearing up for the second premier event to be hosted in the Philippines. Details for the Manila Major Group Stage schedule have been released, becoming the last piece of information to be revealed before the commencement of the last Major before TI6.

The Manila Majors will start with a closed group stage scheduled between June 3rd-4th. It will then progress to the open main event set to take place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines June 7-12th. Unlike ESL One Manila, the event will not be broadcast on local television anywhere.

Sixteen teams – which have already been established through direct invites, open and regional qualifiers – will compete for a $3,000,000 prize-pool.

Manila Major Group Stage

The Manila Major group stage will take place over the course of two days, between June 3rd -4th. Played in a classic GSL format, the group stage will determine the Upper and Lower Bracket seeding of the teams for the double-elimination main event. Just like in TI5’s case, no public access will be permitted during the Manila Major group stage.

Manila Major Group Stage schedule

Manila Major Group Stage Day One – Friday June 3rd

• 04:00 CEST Group A Match 1 – OG vs TEAM EMPIRE
• 04:00 CEST Group A Match 2 – NEWBEE vs COMPLEXITY
• 04:00 CEST Group B Match 1 – WINGS GAMING vs DIGITAL CHAOS
• 04:00 CEST Group B Match 2 – TEAM SECRET vs NATUS VINCERE
• 07:20 CEST Group A Winners – TBA vs TBA
• 07:20 CEST Group B Winners – TBA vs TBA
• 10:40 CEST Group A Elimination – TBA vs TBA
• 10:40 CEST Group B Elimination – TBA vs TBA
• 14:00 CEST Group A Decider – TBA vs TBA
• 14:00 CEST Group B Decider – TBA vs TBA

Manila Major Group Stage Day Two – Saturday June 4th

• 04:00 CEST Group C Match 1 – TEAM LIQUID vs ALLIANCE
• 04:00 CEST Group C Match 2 – VICI GAMING REBORN vs FNATIC
• 04:00 CEST Group D Match 1 – EVIL GENIUSES vs MINESKI
• 04:00 CEST Group D Match 2 – MVP PHOENIX vs LGD GAMING
• 07:20 CEST Group C Winners – TBA vs TBA
• 07:20 CEST Group D Winners – TBA vs TBA
• 10:40 CEST Group C Elimination – TBA vs TBA
• 10:40 CEST Group D Elimination – TBA vs TBA
• 14:00 CEST Group C Decider – TBA vs TBA
• 14:00 CEST Group D Decider – TBA vs TBA

Manila Major Groups

Manila Major Group Stage: Group A

• OG
• Team Empire
• Newbee
• compLexity Gaming

Manila Major Group Stage: Group B

• Wings Gaming
• Digital Chaos
• Team Secret
• Na’Vi

Manila Major Group Stage: Group C

• Team Liquid
• Alliance
• ViCi Gaming.Reborn
• Fnatic

Manila Major Group Stage: Group D

• Evil Geniuses
• Mineski
• MVP.Phoenix
• LGD Gaming

Manila Major Group Stage format

• The Manila Major group stage will be played in a classic GSL format.
• The 16 participating teams will be split up into four groups of four.

  In each group, the teams will play a total of five best-of-three matches, as shown below:

  Match #1: Team A vs. Team B
  Match #2: Team C vs. Team D
  Winners’ match (WM): Winner of Match #1 vs. winner of Match #2 – winner advances to the Upper Bracket
  Losers’ match (EM): Loser of Match #1 vs. loser of Match #2 – loser drops to the Lower Bracket
  Decider match: Loser of WM vs. winner of EM – winner advances to the Upper Bracket and loser drops to Lower Bracket

• The Manila Major Group Stage will determine the seeding for the Manila Major main event.
• Eight teams will be seeded into the main event Upper Brackets, while the remaining eight will start the main event in the Lower Brackets.
• No teams will be eliminated in the group stage.

Manila Major Group Stage participating teams

News of Team Secret’s Manila Major and TI6 roster had shaken the Dota 2 scene. Omar “w33” Aliwi and Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen were replaced by Artour “Arteezy” Babaev and Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora, both from Evil Geniuses, with only four days left before the rosters became locked for more than five months. In addition, Secret welcomed Theeban “1437” Siva to the team as coach.

The new roster has yet to prove itself, after failing to advance in the ESL One Manila playoffs, on April 23rd, in their seasonal debut. In EPICENTER Moscow the team had a disappointing run, assuming the last position in their group with only one point and failing to progress to the main event.

When Team Liquid seized second place at the Shanghai Major after taking down Alliance, MVP.Phoenix and Evil Geniuses, they also captured the favor and seal of approval from tournament organizers and fans around the world. Since the Shanghai Major, they were directly invited to participate in ESL One Manila, ESL One Frankfurt and assumed the place of EHOME when the Chinese team’s invite to EPICENTER Moscow was revoked due to roster changes.

On April 24th, Team Liquid went undefeated into the ESL One Manila Grand Finals, but ended up dropping three games, along with the championship title, to Wings Gaming.

EPICENTER Moscow would be their shining moment. After two consecutive second place finishes at premier events, the European mix seized their first premier championship title when they edged out Newbee 3:2 in an intense and dramatic series.

After the unanticipated departure of both Artour “Arteezy” Babaev and Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora to Team Secret towards the last days of the team registration period, the future of Evil Geniuses seemed uncertain. Evil Geniuses have officially welcomed back both Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling 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.

The new roster debuted at the WePlay LAN where they took a commendable third place after starting the playoffs in the lower brackets following a shaky start in the group phase.

EPICENTER Moscow would prove to be more difficult for them. After taking the second position in the group stage, they were quickly knocked down to the lower brackets in a 2:0 sweep by Team Liquid and then eliminated in their next series 2:0 by compLexity Gaming – leaving the North American giants with a fifth-sixth place finish.

MVP.Phoenix DotaPit LAN Champions

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. WePlay LAN then witnessed a decisive victory by MVP.Phoenix over Vega Squadron, 3:1, bestowing the Korean squad with their second championship title and trophy in less than six weeks.

Wings Gaming- direct invite

Dota 2 SL iLeague Dota 2 GrandFinals

Towards the end of March, big changes hit the ViCi Gaming Potential squad. The team added Xu “fy” Linsen and Liang “DDC” Faming to the mix, welcomed newcomer Wang “NoNo” Xin from CDEC.Avengers, while Yang “Zyf” Pu moved from the substitute role and Zhou “Yang” Haiyang retained his position. The new rebranding and roster of ViCi Gaming Potential will look to change things for the upcoming Manila Major and TI6 season.

With the addition of two star veterans and new blood, ViCi Gaming Reborn has been outshining their Chinese counterparts and living up to their namesake, merely weeks after formation. Dominating in the weekly H-Cup series, ViCi Gaming Reborn have blown away their competition on a consistent basis and haven’t looked back yet.

H-Cup Season 4 came to an end giving ViCi Gaming Reborn their fourth consecutive win in the new weekly series and the Chinese qualifier spot for the StarLadder iLeague Dota Invitational LAN.

Then in a spectacular LAN debut, ViCi Gaming Reborn overtook Natus Vincere, 3:1, in the SL iLeague Dota 2 Grand Finals. It took four incredibly intense, hair-raising matches to crown the Chinese rising stars champions.

ViCi Gaming Reborn roster:

Yang “Zyf” Pu
Wang “NoNo” Xin
Zhou “Yang” Haiyang
Liang “DDC” Faming
Xu “fy” Linsen

Fnatic – Direct Invite

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 season 2. 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 moving Adam Erwann Shah “343” bin Akhtar Hussein 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. They most recently secured their place in the SL iLeague StarSeries season 2 taking down Mineski 2:0 in the grand finals only three days ago.

Fnatic roster:

Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung
Chong “Ohaiyo” Xin Khoo
Djardel “DJ” Mampusti
Zheng “Miduan” Yeik Nai
Adam Erwann Shah “343” bin Akhtar Hussein

OG – Direct Invite

Dreamleague season 5 Grand Finals winners

The team defied the odds when they rose through the lower brackets, bested The International 5 champions, Evil Geniuses, and upset favorites Team Secret to rocket to the top and claim the championship title and the staggering 1.1 million dollars prize at the first Dota Major, in Frankfurt.

They followed up with a first place finish at DreamLeague Season 4 but slid into the 5th-8th place at the DotaPit Season 4 LAN. Stepping back up, they secured the fourth place position at StarLadder iLeague Dota Invitational after being bested by Na’Vi, 2:1, in the lower brackets.

They continued to re-climb the ladder of success and took a remarkable third place at EPICENTER Moscow and then the championship title at DreamLeague Season 5 one week later after they absolutely shellacked Na’Vi 3:0

OG roster:

Johan “BigDaddy” Sundstein
Tal “Fly” Aizik
David “MoonMeander” Tan
Andreas “Cr1t-“ Franck Nielsen
Amer “Miracle-“ Barqawi

compLexity Gaming – Direct Invite

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 victories and performances.

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

Most recently the NA based squad has been given a run for their money by Digital Chaos, who has overpowered them twice in the last weeks during the SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 American Qualifier and the The Summit 5 American Qualifiers.

compLexity Gaming roster:

Kyle “swindlemelonzz” Freedman
Zakari “Zfreek” Freedman
Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin
Linus “Limmp” Blomdin
Simon “Handsken” Haag

Alliance – Direct Invite

In December 2015, the Swedish squad welcomed former teammate and longtime friend, Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist. Barely two weeks later, the Swedish sweethearts nailed down their first championship title in one year and a half, at WCA 2015.

Less than a month later, they continued to sizzle, burning down the North American TI5 champions, EG, to take their second consecutive premier LAN championship title at the StarLadder iLeague StarSeries. Their games featured perfect execution and optimal team coordination, expected of a team that was once considered a western juggernaut.

Alliance slipped a few notches, taking 7th-8th place at the Shanghai Major, where they were eliminated in a major upset by compLexity Gaming, 2:1. They then took the 5-6th place position in Starladder iLeague Dota Invitational and again in EPICENTER Moscow.

Alliance roster:

Gustav “s4” Magnusson
Jonathan “Loda” Berg
Joakim “Akke” Akterhall
Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg
Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist

Na’Vi – Direct Invite

Na’Vi at SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational LAN 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 – where they took a 5-6th place finish at the WePlay LAN finals after topping their group phase.

Na’Vi roster:

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

LGD Gaming – Direct Invite

Courtesy of LGD Gaming

The once Chinese Dynasty ended their Shanghai Major run with a 9th-12th place finish. LGD was eliminated in the second round of the main event’s brutal best-of-one Lower Brackets by compLexity Gaming.

LGD Gaming announced their new roster for the upcoming Manila Major and TI6 season in mid-March. On the heels of the public departure of Liu “Sylar” Jiajun and Fan “rOtk” Bai, Zhang “xiao8” Ning returned from being inactive. CDEC’s famed Sun “Agressif” Zheng and CDEC.Avenger player Xue “September” Zhichuan joined at the same time, as well.

In the team’s first major LAN debut at StarLadder iLeague Dota Invitational, the team showed some spectacular performances and seized the third place finish. Most recently they were the Chinese team to qualify for the upcoming ESL One Frankfurt 2016 LAN after overpowering ViCi Gaming.Reborn 3:1 for the spot.

LGD roster:

Sun “Agressif” Zheng
Lu “Maybe” Yao
Zhang “xiao8” Ning
Lei “MMY!” Zengrong
Xue “September” Zhichuan

Digital Chaos -Americas qualifier team

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.

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 Majors after barreling through the Manila Majors 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 besting compLexity Gaming 3:2, and SL iLeague StarSeries s2 after once again taking down compLexity Gaming 2:0

This will be the team’s first Major LAN debut since formation.

Digital Chaos roster:

Aliwi “w33” Omar
Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok
David “Moo” Hull
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen

Newbee- Chinese Qualifier team

For the Spring season Meng “Xiao2lei” Lei and Zhang “le” Xuanhao moved to Newbee.Young, and Damien “kphoenii” Chok and Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi joined the team. Kaka had last played for EHOME and kphoenii is an Australian player who played for MVP.Phoenix and EHOME.King.

Newbee put an end to EHOME’s last hopes to participate in EPICENTER Moscow. The TI4 Championship team convincingly wiped out EHOME 3:0 in the EPICENTER Moscow Chinese qualifiers to secure a spot in the closed qualifiers. The Chinese stars had first swept through CDEC 2:0 then bested ViCi Gaming Reborn then LGD Gaming 2:1 before advancing to the Grand Finals.

Their incredible performance in the qualifiers was displayed most recently when they went through the entire Manila Major Chinese Qualifiers with an astounding 12:0 record, having not surrendered a single loss.

Their streak continued through the EPICENTER Moscow LAN where they continued to win and set a new record of 29 consecutive wins until OG defeated them in the upper brackets. Eventually the Chinese team went on take an impressive second place finish in the event.

Newbee roster:

Chen “Hao” Zhihao
Zhang Mu Pan
Damien “kphoenii” Chok
Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi
Wong “ChuaN” Hock Chuan

Team Empire- European Qualifier team

Team Empire at 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 was no surprise considering their recent performances and they followed it up with a remarkable fourth place finish.

Team Empire roster:

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

Mineski -SEA qualifier team

Mineski at ESL One Manila

In the winter season leading up to the Shanghai Major, Mineski was consistently besting the SEA giants, Fnatic, for the qualifier spots in LANs. They were quickly rising to the top in the region and making an international name for themselves. Unable to lock up any major achievements, the Filipino team experienced some roster changes, welcoming Benhur “Ben” Lawis and Jun “Bok” Kanehara to the mix.

In an effort to grow the local scene and showcase regional talent, a local Filipino Dota 2 team was given their own set of qualifiers for ESL One Manila to determine one team to compete alongside some of the best Dota 2 teams in the world. Mineski was able to best their regional rivals, TnC Gaming, 3:1, in the best-of-five grand finals, seizing the place in the main event for the Philippines and eventually took seventh-eighth place finish in the main event.

Mineski roster:

Ryan Jay “Bimbo” Qui
Benhur “Ben” Lawis
Jessie Cristy “JessieVash” Cuyco
Jun “Bok” Kanehara
Julius “Julz” De Leon