The International 8 Participants Wrap Up; Which Teams to Watch

After a year of the Dota 2 Pro Circuit and a series of regional playoffs, the full list of The International 8 is finally complete. The participants were confirmed after the regional qualifiers event in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia wrapped up on Monday.

The Qualified Teams for The International 8

Big teams like Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, OG, and Optic Gaming secured their spots via regional qualifiers, which was not surprising at all given that they were on the leaderboard next to the directly invited teams. New teams will also be present in the TI8 event in Canada namely WinStrike, and Team Serenity. The absence of the notable Dendi and his team NaVi who failed to qualify saddened some of the fans. Nevertheless, here is the list of the qualified teams from their respective regions:

• OG (Europe)

• WinStrike (CIS)

• Team Serenity (China)

• Invictus Gaming (China)

• Fnatic (Southeast Asia)

• TnC Predator (Southeast Asia)

• VG.J Storm (North America)

• Evil Geniuses (North America)

• Optic Gaming (North America)

• Pain Gaming (South America)

The Directly Invited Teams for The International 8

Meanwhile, the directly invited teams who dominated the Pro Circuit season were just sitting tight during the regional playoffs. Their hardwork paid off and it’s been reported that some teams have been bootcamping and planning strategies while regionals quals were being played. To recap, below are the directly invited teams of TI8 in order of their rank:

• Virtus Pro

• Team Liquid

• PSG.LGD

• Team Secret

• Mineski

• Vici Gaming

• Newbee

• VG.J Thunder

Which Teams to Watch at TI8?

Virtus Pro

Russian warriors Virtus Pro dominated the Dota Pro Circuit where they won several tournaments including ESL One Birmingham and the Bucharest Major. It will be very exciting to see what they’ve got for the biggest tournament of the year. VP showed so much dominance, it would be interesting to see if they will be able to maintain their power in The International 8 main stage.

Evil Geniuses.

The Evil Geniuses has been in so many ups and downs over the past year. The most recent update they have for their lineup was hiring Fly and S4 from OG after Fear, their long-time captain, left the team to join TI8 open qualifiers with Kyle and Timado. Given their current lineup, EG is one of the teams to look forward to.

OG.

Similar to EG, OG have acquired a new roster. Topson, a Dota 2 new blood was hired after Fly and s4 left the team. Topson is a Finnish solo mid player but playing right now for the team as a carry. His Dota 2 professional history started last year where he joined SFTe-sports for a short period of time. OG, with the comeback of mid player Ana, will surely be one the teams in TI8 to get excited about.

WinStrike.

WinStrike is a newly established team composed of CIS Dota 2 veteran players who aim to show their strength in the game one more time. That makes the team interesting, especially to the European community. Their victory in the regional qualifiers costed NaVi’s qualification in the TI8 and fans are excited to see what they’ve got.

Team Serenity.

The owner of the most popular social media in China has invested in professional esports by founding Team Serenity in 2017. Most of their players are Chinese professionals who have been around the scene for quite a long time but they only managed to introduce their names this time around. Chinese players are always fun to watch since they always exceed anticipations. Team Serenity are bound to show us the best of Chinese underdogs.

Pain Gaming.

Pain Gaming is the first ever Brazilian team and players to participate in The Internationals. The team proved their worth during the regional qualifiers where they fought against South America teams including SG Esports who qualified for TI8 last year. W33ha, the only foreign player in Pain Gaming, guided the team to success during the regionals with his years of Dota 2 experience. Pain Gaming is one of the underdogs in the TI8 and that’s what makes them interesting to watch in the main event.

The International 8 kicks off on August 15 at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena in Canada. There are only two months left for participants to prepare for the biggest fight of the year.