The Shanghai Major Europe Qualifiers kick off today, January 7th, at 10:00 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 Europe Qualifiers schedule, participating teams, format, groups, and streams!
Ten teams – Team Empire, MamasBoys, Team Spirit, Na’Vi, HellRaisers, Team Liquid, RoX (formerly F5), Elements, London Conspiracy and Vega – will be competing to represent Europe 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 Europe 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 Europe Qualifiers will advance to the main event in Shanghai, China.
Shanghai Major Europe Qualifiers groups
Dota 2 Shanghai Major Qualifiers Groups courtesy of Dota2RUHUB
Shanghai Major Europe Qualifiers schedule
Thursday, January 7th
- 10:00 CET – Team Empire vs. MamasBoys
- 10:00 CET – Team Spirit vs. Na’Vi
- 12:30 CET – HellRaisers vs. Empire
- 12:30 CET –MamasBoys vs. Team Spirit
- 15:00 CET – Team Liquid vs. RoX (F5)
- 15:00 CET – Elements vs. London Conspiracy
- 17:30 CET – Na’vi vs. MamasBoys
- 17:30 CET – Team Spirit vs. HellRaisers
- 20:00 CET – London Conspiracy vs. Team Liquid
- 20:00 CET – Vega Squadron vs. Elements
Friday, January 8th
- 10:00 CET – Team Empire vs. Team Spirit
- 10:00 CET – HellRaisers vs. Na’Vi
- 12:30 CET – Team Liquid vs. Vega Squadron
- 12:30 CET – Rox vs. London Conspiracy
- 15:00 CET – HellRaisers vs. MamasBoys
- 15:00 CET – Na’Vi vs. Team Empire
- 17:30 CET – Elements vs. Team Liquid
- 17:30 CET – Vega Squadron vs. RoX
- 20:00 CET – Vega Squadron vs. London Conspiracy
- 20:00 CET – RoX vs. Elements
Shanghai Major Europe Qualifiers streams
The Shanghai Major Europe 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 Europe Qualifiers series will begin at 10:00 CET, on Thursday, January 7th, and end on January 10th.
Shanghai Major Europe Qualifiers teams
Team Empire
Team Empire
After a well-deserved break following The International 5, Team Empire announced a part of their roster changes for the new season, on August 25th, when they parted ways with Maxim “yoky” Kim and Andrey “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko and welcomed former XX5 and Molodoya Komanda player, Ivan “ubah” Kapustin and former Aspera player Andrey “The_apathy” Aleshkov.
For the Frankfurt Major open qualifiers, the team welcomed back Yoky, Alexander “NoFear” Churochkin as the captain and confirmed their Open Qualifiers lineup to include nofear, Resolut1on, Silent, yoky and ALOHADANCE.
However, Empire struggled to maintain a stable roster and find an appropriate replacement, with Yoky leaving once again. The team has been struggling in the last few months.
Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov stood in for the CIS team for DreamLeague Season 4 and the team was able to grab second place.
Team Empire’s lineup was given new life for the upcoming Shanghai Majors. Former teammates and Na’Vi players, Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov and Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich joined the squad in time to compete in the Game Show Global eSports Cup playoffs in Lithuania and finals in Moscow.
The team managed to seize the championship title, their first in seven months.
Team Empire current roster:
Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov
Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok
Ilya “ALOHADANCE” Korobkin
Alexander “NoFear” Churochkin
Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich
Team Liquid
Team Liquid Defense 5 champions picture courtesy of JoinDota
When The Defense 5 finals concluded, Team Liquid had usurped OG, 3:1, to take the championship title.
Team Liquid have been on fire lately, giving stellar performances that rivaled OG.
Appearing on the horizon and demanding attention in the post-TI5 shuffle, Team Liquid is on a road for champions.
The squad had walked away with their first victory only two weeks after formation in the Alienware Summer’s End Cup Grand Finals.
Team Liquid grabbed a commendable 4th place at the Nanyang Championships LAN and fifth place at The Summit 4. They seized the title in D2CL Season 6 and in The Defense 5. They managed a third place standing at WCA, demonstrating their incredibly strong will and talent to thrive in the international scene.
Team Liquid roster:
Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi
Adrian “FATA-“ Trinks
Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka
Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen
Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Borislavov
Vega Squadron
Vega at Frankfurt Major photo courtesy of ESL
For the second time since TI5, Vega Squadron have announced that they will not be making any roster changes for the current roster unlock period. The CIS team had already made the commitment to stay together as a team following their early exit from TI5.
They then went on to claim the championship title at ESL One New York, after besting Team Secret 2:1.
Vega Squadron went on to take 12th place at the Frankfurt Major. The CIS team was seeded into the Upper Brackets, but fell short to Evil Geniuses 1:2 and were dropped to the lower brackets. They were then eliminated after losing to EHOME in the lower brackets 0:2.
The team took fifth at DreamLeague Season 4 and 3rd at Game Show Global Esports Cup.
Despite slipping from the top a bit, the team continues to remain dedicated and loyal to their lineup and style.
Vega Squadron roster:
Semen “Cema” Krivulya
Pavel “9pashaebashu” Khvastunov
Vladimir “no[o]ne” Minenko
Andrey “Mag” Chipenko
Aleksey “Solo” Berezin
Na’Vi
Na’Vi has had a difficult year in 2015, with many significant changes. On October 16, the organization announced the dissolution of their Dota 2 team after less than adequate performances as of late. The dissolution of the team signified the end of an era between the organization and Danil “Dendi” Ishutin and Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich, an unprecedented professional relationship in the Dota 2 scene, that lasted for five years.
Four days later, it was revealed that Danil “Dendi” Ishutin and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev would remain with the organization. The new Na’Vi team has been built around Dendi and Sonneiko, who recruited the other players themselves.
The team has since worked on formalizing a final lineup and has been recently demonstrating a vast improvement in their performances and play-style. The new composition appears to have brought back a good team synergy and balance of talent and skill.
Na’Vi roster:
Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev
Dmitry “Ditya Ra” Minenkov
Dmitry “Ax.Mo” Morozov
Ivan “Artstyle” Antonov
HellRaisers
HellRaisers had a disappointing performance during the TI5 European Qualifiers, where they placed last in their group, with 3 draws, one loss, and a total of only 3 points.
In mid June, HellRaisers announced that they had parted ways with Ivan “gorec” Kartankov and Artyom “Artes” Gorobey, due to “internal conflicts”.
On September 4th, they announced that their new Dota 2 team would include Daniil “MeTTpuM” Gileev and Maksim “Shachlo” Abramovsky. The team has been participating in numerous qualifiers and tournaments since, making their way back towards the top of the CIS scene.
Still the team continued to struggle to achieve much and on October 15, it was announced that Andrey “Dread” Golubev and Daniil “MeTTpuM” Gileev had parted ways with the organization
They recently took second place at D2CL Christmas Charity Magic with their new roster.
HellRaisers roster:
Dulat “goddam” Seidimomyn
Andrey “Afoninje” Afonin
Maksim “Shachlo” Abramovsky
Ivan “ubah” Kapustin
Dmitry “UnderShock” Bolshakov
Elements
This CIS squad made an appearance in Dota Pit S4 EU Qualifier, besting Kaipi in the first round 2:1. The team features Maxim “yoky” Kim, Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev and captained by Khaled “sQreen” El-Khabbash.
On December 3rd, it was announced that the team was picked up by a new eSports organization.
Elements Pro Gaming is a new Russian eSports Club. The club is being spearheaded by Russian Grand Chess Master and Dota 2 aficionado Ian “FrostNova” Nepomniachtchi.
They competed in various minor online tournaments thus far.
Elements roster:
Khaled “sQreen” El Habbash
Maxim “yoky” Kim
Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev
Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini
Rinat “KingR” Abdullin
Team Spirit
Early November, the team formerly known as CIS Rejects, announced their new roster to include Roman “Ramzes” Kushnarev, Artur “Goblak” Kostenko and Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin as the newest additions to the lineup, after trying out various members.
On December 6th, they were picked up by the organization Team Spirit.
The team took third place in the Dota 2 Champions League Christmas Charity Magic and the championship title for the ProDotA Cup Europe.
Team Spirit just recently added to their list of achievements their qualification to travel to China for the Mars Dota 2 League (MDL), at the end of January 2016.
Team Spirit roster:
Roman “Ramzes” Kushnarev
Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko
Andrey “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko
Artur “Goblak” Kostenko
Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin
RoXKis
ArsZeeqq – Photo courtesy of JoinDota
Starting out as Fantastic Five, the team was originally spotted in early September, in the registration list for the upcoming Frankfurt Major. At the time, it consisted of Stanislav “BzzIsPerfect” Glushan, Andrey “Ghostik” Kadyk, and Vladimir “yol” Basov, plus two other players.
Roman “Scandal” Sadotenkov and Rinat “KingR” Abdullin were the other two original members but were eventually replaced with current members Vadim “Sedoy” Musorin, in October, and Arsenij “ArsZeeqq” Usov in December.
The team has had a strong presence in minor online tournaments, taking the title in MSI Dragon Battle #9 and third place in the ProDotA Cup Europe. They have participated in PGL Dota 2 Pro-AM and Dota 2 Champions League Season 6.
Most recently, the team grabbed the championship title for the BTS Series EU #1.
The team was picked up only last night by the organization RoX. RoX had been without a Dota 2 division for 18 months.
RoXKis roster:
Stanislav “BzzIsPerfect” Glushan
Vadim “Sedoy” Musorin
Andrey “Ghostik” Kadyk
Arsenij “ArsZeeqq” Usov
Vladimir “yol” Basov
MamasBoys
In late March 2015, after Goblak left Na’Vi, he put together a new team with some other known teamless professional players.
However, less than one month after forming 4 Clovers & Lepricon, captain and founder Artur “Goblak” Kostenko parted ways with the team. His departure was followed by a series of roster changes prior to the TI5 Open Qualifiers.
4C&L did not advance beyond the first day of the TI5 Open Qualifiers. Days later the team went through another round of roster changes including significant ones in August, as they lost three players: Wagamama and Vanskor walked away on August 19th, while w33haa parted ways with the team, in order to join Team Secret, on August 21st.
The team had since continued to have a strong presence in the scene, playing in various tournaments. They took third place in the Alienware Summer’s End Cup and first place in Moonduck Studio’s debut tournament, Elimination Mode.
They went on to take an impressive third place at DreamLeague Season 4 and second at the Game Show Global eSports Cup Season 1. The last event was The Defense Season 5, where they took a commendable 5th place finish.
The last roster changes occurred in December when Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist left the team to rejoin Alliance. The team then added Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat and Mohammad “Hook” Al-Sheikh, former teammates and long time friends.
MamasBoys roster:
Alaan “SexyBamboe” Faraj
Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat
Per Anders “Pajkatt” Olsson
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
Mohammad “Hook” Al-Sheikh
London Conspiracy
At the end of October, the organization London Conspiracy announced a new roster featuring the Danish and Swedish mix of players put together by Jellopy. The team participated in the DreamLeague Season 4 qualifiers and the Frankfurt Major European Open Qualifiers. They most recently placed 7th in the PGL Dota 2 Pro-AM tournament.
London Conspiracy roster:
Jon “BabyKnight” Andersen
Sebastian “solen” Kjær
Linus “Kefka” Bleckert
Malthe “Biver” Winther
Richard “Jellopy” Hill
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