The Kiev Major has ended and with it, the hopes and dreams of 15 other teams that fought tooth and nail to claim the Mystic Staff, but in the end, only one team can emerge victorious and that team made us dream green all over again. In fact, we’ve been dreaming green for 4 (!!!) Major tournaments already, an unprecedented accomplishment only done by the finest team in Dota 2 at this time, Team OG!
OG BARELY outlasted Virtus Pro, who was admittedly playing with homecourt advantage on their side, but in the end OG bounced back when it mattered and ended up winning game 5 in what is one of the most memorable comebacks in Dota 2 history! Game 5 was totally off the charts, with VP leading for majority of the match, even mounting a 22-5 lead at some point in the game. OG, being the champions that they were, took the early game beating in stride, did what they had to do, and slowly but surely mounted a comeback one step at a time. They took key pickoffs one at a time and possibly leaving VP rattled a bit, OG smelled blood and went in for the kill which would then lead them to their 4th Major title.
As OG moves on as the only team to have ever won 4 Major titles as well as claiming the Mystic Staff, the Reaver, and the Eaglesong, only one more thing eludes the champions and that is the Aegis. Teams from all over the world would kill for a shot but only the best of the best will compete at The International 2017 and OG will be looking to assert their continued dominance as take this momentum to finally win the biggest prize in Dota 2 and e-sports history. Can they do it? All directions point north for OG and this lineup can definitely take them all the way but before we hit TI7, let’s look at some of the things we can look forward to in the coming months before we reach the biggest stage of them all!
- ROSTER SHUFFLE! – There is almost always going to be drama everywhere and the Dota 2 competitive scene is no exception. Some teams break up and replace members after a major tournament to better their odds at the next one but some teams keep things tight and together to further the bond and camaraderie. Wings Gaming, or most recently known as Team Random, was the first hit of the “shuffle”, with 4 out of their 5 members supposedly retiring from Dota 2 altogether. Expect a few more shuffles in between so the next few weeks are going to be VERY EXCITING for the players and spectators alike!
- Manila Masters! – OF COURSE! This has to be the next best thing in Manila after the Manila Major and ESL One from last year. The Manila Masters is looking to be a good one, especially with the line up of teams attending the event. We have 4 time Major champions OG, TI5 Winner EG, TI4 Winner Newbee, iG, NP, Team Secret, and Team Faceless. There is one more team to be named and after a grueling qualifiers for the PH, we will find out the team that will represent the PH in the event. The Talent pool has also been revealed recently and with famous celebrities such as Sheever, LD, Godz, Luminous, Merlini, and other beloved personalities, you can expect the hype for the event to rise up even more! Notable omissions are TobiWan, Redeye, and Capitalist as a lot of fans are wondering why they aren’t coming along. Were they invited at all? Did they decline? Maybe the organizers couldn’t afford them? Whatever the case may be, we’ll get to see a lot of celebrities and personalities when the Manila Masters go live on May 26-28!
- Official TI and Compendium announcements! – Ahh, it’s that time of the year once again where we throw more money at Lord Gaben so that he can give us more gifts and surprises in the form of colored pixels. We can mostly expect the same compendium mechanics but also look forward to new gimmicks to entice you more to purchase compendium levels to get that oh so elusive prize tier that you’ve been looking at! What will the new map look like? Are there any more arcana reveals before TI7? Will there be another aegis replica? All these questions and more will be answered as we move closer and closer to the biggest Dota 2 and e-sports tournament in the world, The International 2017!