Seven of the eight Open Qualifiers (two per region) just ended yesterday night, leaving only the Americas #2 under way at the moment. The TI6 Main Qualifiers are starting today and the competition is going to be fierce. The stakes are really high: the first two teams in each region are going to qualify for The International 6, while the teams that place third are going to take part in a wildcard pre-tournament in which two of the four are going to be eliminated. But lets go through each region.
Americas
The Open Qualifier #1 ended without upsets. Evil Geniuses, the last year The International champions won the ten-rounds tournament without hiccups and are considered the absolute favourites even in their region Main Qualifiers. The Open Qualifier #2 is still underway: the South American teams Not Today and Infamous and the North American Void Boys and EG Bulba are still battling it out to secure a spot. The teams directly invited to the Main Qualifiers are Digital Chaos, Complexity, FDL, Vultur and Drinking Boys. Digital Chaos and Complexity are considered, together with EG, the most likely teams to make in into the top three because of their more proven talent and experience in competing in big tournaments, and there should not be any upsets.
Europe
The European Main Qualifier is considered the toughest of the four regions. The skill gap between the top teams and the bottom teams has been closed in the last few years and most of the games can really go either way. Team Secret and Fantastic Five (a selection of talented Eastern-European pro players that came together to have a shot at The International) secured their spots through the Open Qualifiers, while Alliance, Power Rangers, Vega Squadron, Ad Finem, Virtus Pro, Team Empire, Escape Gaming (ex No Diggity) and Flipsid3 Tactics have been directly invited. The level of these teams is very high and very similar, so making a prediction is very difficult and upsets are to be expected. If you ask me, I’d put my money on Team Secret, Vega Squadron and Alliance to make it in the top 3, but again everything could happen.
China
The Chinese region is, similarly to Europe, very levelled in terms of skills. Vici Gaming and Newbee Young made it through the Open Qualifiers, while Vici Gaming Reborn, TongFu, CDEC Gaming, Wings Gaming, Invictus Gaming, CDEC Youth, EHOME and iG Vitality got the direct invite. Again, although it is not easy to make predictions, I consider Vici Gaming, Vici Gaming Reborn and EHOME to be the better teams and I expect them to make it in the top 3.
South-East Asia
The SEA region has been growing steadily in the last few years, producing a number of very competitive teams. But it still remains the least developed region at the moment, and the skill gap between the top and the bottom teams is pretty notable. The two teams coming from the Open Qualifiers are White Fries Gaming and TnC Gaming. Direct invites went to Fnatic, Rave, Mineski, Signature.Trust, WarriorsGaming.Unity, Execration, Orange.Taring and The Mongolz. I personally believe that Fnatic, Rave and Mineski are going to make it through without much of a struggle.
Stay tuned for updates on the results of the various qualifiers.
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