Preview of Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 finals

The general information:

The second tournament in series Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 starts on March 27 this year. 12 best, at this moment, teams will play at Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in China, they will struggle for the title of the second season champion and the prize pool in the sum of $580,000. The prize pool is still growing with a help of purchases of in-game items, which have been developed by the organizers of the tournament. 4 participants of 12 have received direct invites and 8 more have had to prove their strength at regional qualifications.

The format of carrying:

The championship will be carried in two stages - the group stage and the playoff. All participants have already been divided into two groups, where they will play in the Round-robin format with bo2 matches. It is worth considering that according to results of the group stage all teams will get to the playoff stage, however, two teams from each of groups will get to the upper bracket and the rest will get to the lower one. The organizers have seen proper to use the double-elimination bracket instead of the beloved single-elimination bracket. First matches of the lower bracket will be carried in the bo1 format and the rest - till two victories and two best teams will have to fight till three victories in the grand final.

The entertainment program:

The organizers of the tournament have prepared for viewers non-typical, for the modern professional scene, mini-tournaments. Some players will play in the 1 vs 1 mode in the first championship, which will be carried on March 29.

The second surprise will be the all-stars match, winners of the voting on the official web-site of the event have become participants of the match. This battle will be carried on April 3.

The full list of participants:

Group A:

The team OG seems to be the obvious favorite of this group, despite the uncertain participation at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, where the team has held the 3-4 place. It is a little more difficult to speak about the second place - Wings, Team VG.J and Team Faceless will be possibly able to struggle for the second trip to the upper bracket. The rest of teams seem to be a little weaker, however, it is not worth to dismiss them, considering, that no one tumbles out of the group.

Group B:

In theory this group seems to be stronger than previous one, however, we can be mistaken. It is impossibly difficult to forecast, which of these teams will fight for the leadership in the group, so we will separate Newbee, EG and Team Liquid. According to this, Team NP, IG, IG.Vitality and someone from the previously mentioned trio of favorites will have to go to the lower bracket.

The rosters of teams:

Evil Geniuses: Arteezy, SumaiL, UNiVeRsE, zai, Cr1t-, Fear (Coach)Wings Gaming: shadow, bLink, Faith_bian, y`, iceiceOG: N0tail, ana, s4, JerAx, Fly, 7ckngMad (Coach)Newbee: uuu9, Sccc, Kpii, Faith, KakaInvictus Gaming: BurNIng, Op, Xxs, BoBoKa, QTeam VG.J: Agressif, Freeze, rOtk, fy, FenrirLGD.FY: Monet, Super, Jixing, White, lpcIG.Vitality: Paparazi灬, Sakata, InJuly, super, dogf1ghtsTeam NP: Aui_2000, EternaLEnVy, MSS, 1437, SVG, bOne7 (Coach)Team Faceless: Black^, Jabz, iceiceice, xy-, NutZ, WinteR (Coach)Team Liquid: MATUMBAMAN, Miracle-, MinD_ContRoL, GH, KuroKy, Heen (Coach)Team Empire: Chappie, fn, Ghostik, Miposhka, KingR

The list of talents: