Who Will Win the Wild Cards?

This is it. The Wild Cards begin in just a few minutes, kicking off the start of The International and cementing the teams that will compete for a share in the $17 million strong prize pool.

But before the event even starts, a small bit of drama emerged. A 59-page data about every team attending TI5 was allegedly leaked to some teams by a caster, forcing Valve, the tournament’s organizer, to release it to every single squad. The file, titled “The International 5 Statistics Guide,” contains information about the teams’ background, achievements, win-loss rate, head-to-head win-loss rate, etc.

Some players have showed their disappointment over the leakage such as Artour “Arteezy” Babaev. While other professional players like Tal “Fly” Aizik said that it won’t make much of a difference as every team came prepared and almost knew everything that came in the file.

With the two final teams to join the main event will secure themselves at least $50,000 (P2.27 million) just for making it past the Wild Cards, which among the four contenders are poised to make it into the group of 16?

Drawing the cards

The four teams who will battle it out in the wild card round are: Korea’s very own MVP.Phoenix (MVP); Russian squad Vega Squadron (Vega); China-based team CDEC (CDEC) and American team Team Archon (Archon). They will compete in a double-elimination bracket with the top two teams securing the final two spots in TI5 group stage.

CDEC (China)

CDEC tends to go with an aggressive and pick-off oriented line-up usually anchored on Gyrocopter, Clockwork and Earthshaker. According to the data released by Valve, Gyrocopter is their most picked hero with a win rate of 58% (14-10 win-loss record).

MVP poses a threat to this Gyrocopter pick as the Koreans never suffered a defeat against the hero (5-0 record) this year. While Vega tends to ban CDEC’s second most picked hero (Queen of Pain) if they are not planning on picking him. More so, CDEC have never won a game against Pugna (0-4 record) which seems to be a small hole in their strategy.

The China-based team currently ranks 9th in the Dota 2 rankings.

MVP (Korea)

The Koreans are known for their clash-oriented line-up or wombo-combo heroes. This aggressive style has worked pretty well for them since they entered the Dota 2 scene as it creates the needed if the skills were executed properly and eventually creating the gap in the net worth and experience graph. A proof to which is MVP’s average winning time – 34 minutes 39 seconds – the fastest among the wild card teams.

They love to run a With Doctor support (10-1) which ironically wasn’t ban much against them this this year (3 total bans). This hero would be a contested pick when they face CDEC for it is also their top support pick with 71% win rate (16-5). Vega against MVP will be a bloodbath as Vega opts for a clash-oriented line-up too.

The Koreans currently ranks 24~25th in Dota 2.

Vega (Russia)

The Russians have a stronghold with a tank and sustainable line-up of heroes. They are the only team in the wildcards that love to pick Dragon Knight (20-5) along with Beast Master (15-6). They also have the unusual but most effective hero combo with Gyrocopter and Disruptor (9-2).

Gyrocopter will be one of the most contested hero against them as CDEC and Archon loves to run the same hero as core.

The Russian squad currently ranks at 12~13th in Dota 2.

Archon (USA)

Archon’s game play seem to be a balance of sustainability, clash and pick-offs. They have the most number of unique heroes in their hero-combination – 10 heroes. Interestingly, Archon never suffered a defeat against a Viper  (4-) in 6.84. This may seem a positive outlook toward them, but picking Viper won’t mean an easy defeat as they love to pick squishy support duos such as Rubick and Witch Doctor.

Interesting to see is that one of Archon’s statistically best heroes is Zues. Vega is yet to drop a match against Zues (5-0) in 6.84, thus, this is the time for Archon to prove their play with Zues and to break Vega’s record.

Archon currently ranks 23~27th in Dota 2.

Thoughts?

“For me Vega Squadron and CDEC will qualify because they have better team play against the other two and have a lot of strategies in their sleeves.” – Joshua “Owa” Dela Serna, Mineski Dota 2 player.

“I’ll go wwith Vega and CDEC. Vega because they came from the European scene and they have faced two TI champions – Natus Vincere and the Alliance. While CDEC have faced Chinese juggernauts Invictus Gaming and Vici Gaming.” – Efigenio “Izzy” Toledo IV, Dota 2 gamer.

“I’ll go with MVP and Archon. MVP have proved time in time that their game play and strategy really work good for them. Plus, respect for the long-time rival of Rave and the Philippines. While Archon, aside from having a cool name, they have a wide range of hero pool which makes up for a lot of line-up and hero-combination possibilities.” – Jasper “Captain Art” Arcalas, Senior Dota 2 Reporter of eSports by INQUIRER.net

“CDEC and MVP. CDEC is easily a Tier 1 team, falling only in the finals of the Chinese qualifiers. Probably the deadliest of the regional qualifiers. MVP always has a surprising run that only comes up short as they showed last year. With the final slots awarded to up to 2nd place, I wouldn’t be surprised if they manage to surprise CIS favorite Vega Squadron.” – Paolo “Brightroar” Bago, Managing Editor and Publisher of eSports by INQUIRER.net

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