I wanted to share my thoughts on Manilla Major invites in this blog; so no emo boy writing in this one probably. As the qualifiers are approaching, and invites are soon being released, a lot of discussion and predictions have been surrounding this topic. From reading a lot on what people have to say, I feel that people have not been looking deep enough on what teams have done post TI5.
Predictions are generally based on recent memory with the Shanghai Major placements eclipsing over everything else. In this Blog I will provide who I would invite if I was for some reason IceFrog, and explain my reasoning for the invites. Even if people disagree with me, at the very least I want to refresh our minds on what has really happened post TI5.
Alright here’s my list in order of priority:
1. Secret
Reigning champions of the previous major, runner up for the Frankfurt Major, team Secret got owned by Vega at ESL NY 2016 then won MLG New Orleans and Nanyang Cup. Since Frankfurt they have gotten second last place or last place in every non Major Lan they participated in incuding WCA, Starladder, MDL, and the recent ESL Manilla. They also had a roster change replacing two players (Misery and W33 for BabyRage and Bulbo’s Assassin).
Despite the poor placements (including the recent ESL Manilla where we got soul crushed by Empire TWICE) they are still the reigning champions of Shanghai. When it comes to tournament placements overall Secret is definitely an invite, the only issue is the recent roster change post Shanghai Major. Perhaps there would be more debate if the recent additions were rookies but Arteezy and Universe have placed top 3 on EG in every event they have participated in post TI5 including both majors.
Alright that took way too long to write, for the top of the list I’m just going to list important things and move on till it gets more interesting.
2. Liquid
Same roster post TI5, two players known for placing highly in tournaments for the last 2 years (Fata, Kuroky), Runner up of Shanghai Major, Runner up on the recent ESL Manilla.
3. Evil Geniuses
4 of 5 players that won TI5, 3 of 5 players placed top 3 in every event they participated in since TI5 (and it was a fair amount of events). Second place at the recent DotA Pit, 3rd place in both Majors. Two player roster change post Shanghai Major. The two new players have not accomplished anything since TI5 but Aui has accomplished a lot not too long ago and Bulbo is Sam.
4. MVP Phoenix
Same roster since post Frankfurt Major. 4th Place in Shanghai Major placing first in their group, first place in the recent DotA Pit over Evil Geniuses.
Alright time to start explaining the rest of the list.
5. Wings 6. Vici R (Vici Gaming now I think)
Wings won the most recent Lan ESL Manilla. Winning a LAN event with teams from all over the world including the top two Seeds on the list Secret and Liquid should secure them an invite.
Vici also won Starladder-Ileague recently another LAN event. They also have FY who accomplished a lot over the last two years (2nd place TI4, 4th TI5, multiple first and second placings between TI4-TI5, Post ti5 part of the best Chinese team till Frankfurt Major where they got 5th place).
The reason to why I put Wings on a higher seed is because Vici Gaming used a standin (Mikasa) at starladder ileague. The teams at Starladder-Ileague based on recent accomplishments are weaker than the teams at ESL-Manilla. Perhaps only 1-3 (VG, Alliance?, Og?) teams will be invited to the next Major from that tournament versus the 3-4 potential invites from ESL manila (Secret, Liquid, Wings, Fnatic?).
Wings have won every online match post Shanghai Major. Although they only played the ESL Manilla qualifier, they won 3-0 against VG R in the finals.
Alright time for the Controversial teams
OG, coL, Fnatic, Alliance, and Newbee 7. OG
A lot of people believe that OG does not deserve to be invited and will end up playing in the qualifiers, putting both coL and Fnatic above them. This is because both coL and Fnatic placed higher than OG in the Shanghai Major.
Taking a closer look at the three teams in contention, OG placed 7th-8th at the shanghai Major where as Fnatic and coL placed 5th-6th. Basically one placement higher.
OG has kept the same roster since TI5, the same roster that won the Frankfurt Major. They have placed top 4 in nearly every LAN they participated in with the exception of DotA Pit. In DotA Pit they lost in a single elimination format to MVP the champions of the tournament and were the only team to take a game off them in the first round. They finished 4th place in the recent starladder-ileague S2 where they lost 2-1 to both NaVi and VG.R in extremely close games where both VG.R and NaVi placed top 2 in the tournament. Post Frankfurt Major they got first place at DreamLeague, second place to Liquid in Defense, and 3rd place at MDL to EG.
With all these achievements, and fielding the same roster that accomplished it all, for me its quite clear that they deserve an invite.
8. Alliance
This one’s probably the most controversial of them all. I’m sure a lot of people would put Fnatic over Alliance here but I will explain my reasoning soon. I will explain the accomplishments of every other team in contention before reasoning why Alliance on paper has more to offer.
First lets start with Complexity. A lot of people would put them and Fnatic over OG/Alliance for invites. However I feel using the Shanghai Major as the only metric for invites to be wrong. coL has played in four LANs besides the Shanghai Major with their current roster. In each of them, they’ve placed in the lowest or second-lowest possible position (technically this includes DotaPit because it was a single-elimination tournament- they only one one bo3 series, against VP just before they disbanded).
From results coL is the 2nd best team right now in NA but that does not necessarily translate to top 8 teams in the world (which means an invite). I believe that the idea of the Major is to have the best teams in the world compete, not necessarily the best teams of each region compete.
Newbee is currently the best team in China atm, well at least Online. Newbee currently has 3 TI winners (Hao, Mu, Chuan). They have won 2 qualifiers to LANs, but its too bad both LANs will be after the invites. The only logic for Newbee to be invited would be that China right now is the strongest region (winning two recent LANs back to back) and Newbee is stronger than VG.R (online, they haven’t played against Wings). However, from history Valve has always put a huge emphasis on LANs over Online matches so most likely Newbee will not be invited.
For me Fnatic and Alliance comparison is the hardest one. But I would personally still put Alliance over Fnatic. Fnatic is currently demolishing the Sea region. But honestly, this is no different from what the same group of players have been doing for the last 2 years. The only reason to why its such a big deal right now is because MVP got first at DotAPit and 4th at Shanghai Major, and also because Fnatic got 5th-6th at the Major. The sea region is definitely much stronger than before, and Fnatic right now is their king. However, once again, LAN events have always been taken much more seriously than online matches. Although Fnatic owning the Sea region is much more impressive than coL owning the NA region and Fnatic has been beating MVP multiple times, Valve would still put MVP far above Fnatic in the invite list.
Fnatic has placed last or one placement higher in every LAN tournament they have ever participated in except for Shanghai Major where they got 6th out of 16 teams and the recent ESL Manilla where they got 3rd-4th out of 8 teams.
I also feel like their recent accomplishments deserve an invite. However, their roster issues I feel tip the balance. Since most of Post Shanghai Major, Fnatic has been using a standin in 343, with Mushi coaching the team due to health issues (just want to note that the Shanghai Major booth that irritated my eyes during our match against OG probably triggered Mushi’s Asthma problems). Their dominance and top 3-4 placement at ESL Manilla post major has all been done with a standin. Had Mushi played instead and the same results followed I’m sure they would be locked for an invite, but as things stand, I’m not so sure anymore.
Let’s compare the two teams Alliance and Fnatic during, post, and pre Major.
During Major: (Fnatic Ontop slightly) Alliance Places 7th-8th, Fnatic places 5th-6th. Fnatic places one round higher. Alliance and Fnatic in same group. Alliance wins 2-0 over Fnatic Placing first in their group and Fnatic places 2nd in group.
Of course a higher placement is a higher placement, so Fnatic definitely wins when it comes to the Major, but I would argue that it was much closer than people believe.
I feel like OG and Alliance have been shunned upon due to expectations and on the other spectrum Fnatic has been praised for placing higher than expected. In reality their placement is more similar than the public reactions.
Post Major: (Fnatic ontop) Alliance placed 5th-6th at starladder Ileague s2 (no online matches) Fnatic: Subs 343 for Mushi, King of the Sea Scene (Online), 3rd-4th ESL Manilla (more competitive tournament on paper than starladder-ileague s2)
Pre Major: (Alliance by far) Since Frankfurt Major Fnatic has placed last place or one round higher in the two LANs they attended (SL-Ileague, WCA). Alliance won both of these lans that Fnatic attended.
Potential of Alliance versus Fnatic:
One thing Valve considers and we all do is “potential.” If for example two teams had the same accomplishments, say both teams beat the same teams, and both teams have players that haven’t even played competitively for half a year. However one team has Xiao8 in it and the other team had no one known. Then Xiao8’s team will at least be in the Chinese qualifier where as the other team will be in the opens. Whether you like it or not, this same thing happens even with invites. It played a part when Alliance got invited over Liquid for Shanghai Major and it has played a part in most Valve events in general. It is the same reason to why Newbee got invited to TI5 even though they have done very poorly since WCA 1.
Using this principal Alliance has by far more “potential” than Fnatic. Alliance is fielding the same roster they used during TI2-TI4 where they won every LAN they attended post TI2 and even between TI3-TI4 they were getting top placements, first places and 2nd places. Most people forget that Alliance was still a top team till TI4 just like how people have forgotten that OG/Alliance were top teams up to Shanghai Major.
On the other hand Fnatic has Mushi who placed 3rd at TI3 and 4th at TI4. Ohaiyo also placed 3rd at TI3 but no other member has done anything spectacular except for the shanghai major’s 6th place.
Personally even without this potential thing. If you asked me whether I would be more proud getting 5th-6th place at a Major, or getting 7th-8th place at the same Major, but I win two big Championships instead of last place, then I would take the later option any day.
The last factor we didn’t talk directly about is time. The more recent a LAN is, the more important it is. Although the Shanghai Major is more recent than the WCA and SL-Ileague. I believe that anything after the FrankFurt Major will be counted heavily on.
Assumptions Used:
It is my assumption that Winning the most recent LANs are more important than getting 5th-6th place at Shanghai Major. Personally I would feel much more satisfied getting first place at ESL Manilla than getting 5th-6th at the Major but if Valve thinks otherwise than perhaps coL/Fnatic are both invited and much higher seed.
Closing Thoughts:
These are my hyonest thoughts regarding who I believe should be invited to the Major. These invites are a very important matter. I hope that people look at the invites more deeply and objectively. Right now I feel like people are looking at it more emotionally. I feel like the public have been band wagoning, being too harsh on OG/Allliance for betraying expectations and not getting top placements. Where as for coL and Fnatic, they are the ones rising up, and people are just cheering for the under dogs. Right now there are no real guidelines on who is to be invited, but personally I don’t mind it being that way if Valve is careful. We wouldn’t want another Kaipi/Potm Bottom incident xD.
One more thing about Qualifiers: Recently there have been players moving from one region to another in order to play an easier qualifier. Personally I think you should be able to sign up and play any qualifier you like. The Majors/International should be about fielding the top 16 teams in the world, if all those players are from one region than so be it. So what if a team of Russians sign up for NA qualifier and win it all. Are the NA teams gonna be like "its Unfair you beat us with 200 more ping! You are better than us in every way but we deserve it because of where I was born!" The same applies if you move over to their countries.
Shoutout to the fans of the Phillipines, you guys made me feel better when I was down :D. Shoutout to Nahaz for helping me edit
These invites are a very important matter. I hope that people look at the invites more deeply and objectively. Right now I feel like people are looking at it more emotionally. I feel like the public have been band wagoning, being too harsh on OG/Allliance for betraying expectations and not getting top placements. Where as for coL and Fnatic, they are the ones rising up, and people are just cheering for the under dogs. Right now there are no real guidelines on who is to be invited, but personally I don’t mind it being that way if Valve is careful. We wouldn’t want another Kaipi/Potm Bottom incident xD.
spot on
Nice blog, thanks for writing this up
One more thing about Qualifiers: Recently there have been players moving from one region to another in order to play an easier qualifier. Personally I think you should be able to sign up and play any qualifier you like. The Majors/International should be about fielding the top 16 teams in the world, if all those players are from one region than so be it. So what if a team of Russians sign up for NA qualifier and win it all. Are the NA teams gonna be like "its Unfair you beat us with 200 more ping! You are better than us in every way but we deserve it because of where I was born!" The same applies if you move over to their countries.
I kinda like your analysis(despite of all typos there). But, I think OG will still get an invite if the Frankfurt Major position is still in effect. That also applies to Secret (like a defending champ). Wings and VG.R will have an invitation. But, the problem is: How many teams will be invited? will be the same numbers as FF/Shanghai? Or it'll be a different platform?
I'm confused Envy. You talk about having the strongest teams but then you play the "potential" card and pull up achievements from years ago. If you play always by those rules a TI champ will always have the edge about a younger team. In my eyes you're missing a few factors like patch, roster shuffles and expectations. Alliance was a favourite to with the Shanghai Major as much as Secret or EG were one. They delivered close to nothing and reached just top8 because all of china suddenly had to urge to play even worse. Alliance is strong this patch or was strong ( Shanghai Major and post Major looked horrible) because "their" heroes are viable again.
Edit: IMO the Majors should be a base for the TI invites and one should only use the last Major as a criteria for the Major Invites and not the results from the Major before the last Major.
On April 26 2016 02:07 EternaLEnVy wrote: Bulbo is Sam.
Are you comparing Bulbul with Samwise Gamgee???
Also, is it a possibility for Volvo to invite fnatic with their current roster, leaving Mushi out? I know you can have standins, but if the wins which make the team invite-worthy are all with the standin, what happens then? Maybe I'm talking more about VG.R than fnatic.
On April 26 2016 02:07 EternaLEnVy wrote: Bulbo is Sam.
Are you comparing Bulbul with Samwise Gamgee???
Also, is it a possibility for Volvo to invite fnatic with their current roster, leaving Mushi out? I know you can have standins, but if the wins which make the team invite-worthy are all with the standin, what happens then? Maybe I'm talking more about VG.R than fnatic.
Using an official standin should't give you some kind of handicap for invites. Valve gave teams the opportunity to use official standins so you should be able to use them however you want. Official standins should be treated like an additional player of said team.
We wouldn’t want another Kaipi/Potm Bottom incident xD.
I apologize for being ignorant but could someone please enlighten me about this incident?
wooo Envy Blog
as for your question, Kaipi was EE's former team and POTM bottom was Aui/fogged's old team. Back in TI3 quals time period, Kaipi was crushing but somehow didn't get an invite, they had a stacked roster (PLD, EE, Arteezy, Bone7, CWM) and many thought they would stomp qualifiers. Potm bottom similarly were the 2nd/3rd best team in the west (behind only Na'Vi really) in the pre-TI2 spring/summer, but didn't get to play as well (they were actually IG's practice partner lol).
Basically Jacky is saying that Valve has had misses on invites before lol (hence the existence of open quals too)
coL still has eliminated Alliance from the last Major and did more LAN than them, with very good performance, losing the Wings close game (where Liquid got rekt). Seem to me they are performing better.. I hope they get an direct invite. OG at the last major were behind Fnatic/coL, and they didnt do anything since then, poor performance, I would not be surprise if they are not invited.
You keep bringing up past achievements like how Newbee has 3 members of TI4 newbee or that OG won frankfurt, but all this does is it makes it harder for newer teams to get invited and the dota invite system becomes an old-boys club. Teams should be invited on how strong they are currently not their past achievements in TI.
Why the fuck should it matter if a team has some TI winners when they are weak now and flopped at the most recent major (Newbee). How long are people going to use irrelevant past achievements (TI4 and TI5) as basis for invites now? The invites for this major can only be based on shanghai results and recent lan wins because there just isn't enough time or opportunity for teams to prove themselves between shanghai and when the invites come out.
You can't keep using LAN results from months ago to keep inviting the same teams when there are teams who have had more recent and relevant results like col and fnatic or it just becomes an old-boy's club making it harder for new and emerging teams to move up.
And also, let's not pretend that Alliance's 2 LAN wins were impressive at all. They essentially cheesed their way to a starladder win using a beyond broken chen and won a poorly organized WCA.
Also, Valve has been using the same metric to invite teams for the past 2 majors. Frankfurt's direct 8 invites were essentially top 8 from Ti5 minues Vega and Shanghai was the same. Valve can't just change their invite metric for this major without any warning or communication. It would be very unfair to col and fnatic because they would be receiving differential treatment compared to the previous 5th/6th place winners of the previous majors. Valve needs to use the same metric for this major for the sake of continuity and fairness even though I am in complete agreement that the current invite system is flawed. I personally think only top 4 should receive direct invites and noone else and Valve needs to make a strong stance or just flat out say it with a new system like CSGO's instead of being so vague and keeping everyone in the dark and guessing. But it has to be the next set of majors where Valve communicates it beforehand or it just looks awful for them. Because it would seem like they intentionally changed their metric this time around just to fuck over col and fnatic.
On April 26 2016 04:23 twfa wrote: You keep bringing up past achievements like how Newbee has 3 members of TI4 newbee or that OG won frankfurt, but all this does is it makes it harder for newer teams to get invited and the dota invite system becomes an old-boys club. Teams should be invited on how strong they are currently not their past achievements in TI.
Why the fuck should it matter if a team has some TI winners when they are weak now and flopped at the most recent major (Newbee). How long are people going to use irrelevant past achievements (TI4 and TI5) as basis for invites now? The invites for this major can only be based on shanghai results and recent lan wins because there just isn't enough time or opportunity for teams to prove themselves between shanghai and when the invites come out.
You can't keep using LAN results from months ago to keep inviting the same teams when there are teams who have had more recent and relevant results like col and fnatic or it just becomes an old-boy's club making it harder for new and emerging teams to move up.
And also, let's not pretend that Alliance's 2 LAN wins were impressive at all. They essentially cheesed their way to a starladder win using a beyond broken chen and won a poorly organized WCA.
Also, Valve has been using the same metric to invite teams for the past 2 majors. Frankfurt's direct 8 invites were essentially top 8 from Ti5 minues Vega and Shanghai was the same. Valve can't just change their invite metric for this major without any warning or communication. It would be very unfair to col and fnatic because they would be receiving differential treatment compared to the previous 5th/6th place winners of the previous majors. Valve needs to use the same metric for this major for the sake of continuity and fairness even though I am in complete agreement that the current invite system is flawed. I personally think only top 4 should receive direct invites and noone else and Valve needs to make a strong stance or just flat out say it with a new system like CSGO's instead of being so vague and keeping everyone in the dark and guessing. But it has to be the next set of majors where Valve communicates it beforehand or it just looks awful for them. Because it would seem like they intentionally changed their metric this time around just to fuck over col and fnatic.
So I'm not the only one that thinks using old achievements/potential as a valic factor to decide invites? Yeah.
I'm in the same boat as you. Why does it matter if alliance were dominant until TI-4? The fucked up so bad afterwards that one of their TI winners was kicked from the game and another one didn't wanna play with the team for months. Their wins were just lucky because the beginning was exploited as a splitpush meta again. Alliance sucked every patch where splitpush was for the trash can.
Also if winning something in the past gives you a better chance to recieve an invite the "old guard" in china will never disappear.
Alliance... did they even play a game after the Major? I'm sorry but hell no. Navi on the other hand is playing and qualifying for events. They are looking strong now. I still wouldn't give Navi an invite.
For people saying TI5 was a long time ago, it is less than a year. Reigning champion often gets an invite due to crowd considerations. They know who they are and they can likely do it again.
On April 26 2016 07:16 Yurie wrote: For people saying TI5 was a long time ago, it is less than a year. Reigning champion often gets an invite due to crowd considerations. They know who they are and they can likely do it again.
TI5 isn't the same when major patches change the game. I also disagree with having a major patch right before the qualifiers.
thanks envychan! i mean having the patch right now is more reasonable than implementing during the off-season right before esl manila. reasoning is that teams spent the majority of that time scrimming and preparing in that patch for this essential tournament. it decides invites for the upcoming major.
it's widely understood that the patch is hitting before the manila major and instead of releasing it any closer to the major, they do it as quickly as possible. this really only effects teams going through the quals for said major and is in a way endearing because everyone is on even footing and adaptation factors in greatly.
do we have proven teams as invitees fight other teams who are looking to fix their previous holes? or do we have those teams match up against teams in similar situations who look quite strong in the new patch for having placed highest in those closely contested quals.?
if games are more close because strategy isn't quite established yet, then you'll still see the teams with better strategy and execution come out on top whereas before in the qualifiers we would see the already-strong teams sweep quals. (no contest on col. destroying NA for example). it's both fair and unfair.
You talk about potential but we all know the upper limit of Alliance's 5 current members already. In fact the potential of Fnatic is much higher because they are improving while still practicing against shit tier teams in SEA. I don't play League, but 1 of the main reasons that western scene cannot defeat Koreans (other than the Korean gaming infrastructure) is due to the region locked system where they do not have much opportunities to play against higher tier competitors. Just put yourself into their shoes. Can you imagine that during the old days of Kaipi, you guys do not have the opportunities to scrim tier 1 teams even after improving and defeating all tier 2 teams?
Though I can still see Valve not inviting Fnatic even though they deserve it. Because of how there's literally no good 3rd SEA team, they are better off letting Fnatic grabbing the qualifier spot and give that slot to another region (and no, not Alliance).
Inviting teams based on achievements past a year and more defeats the purpose of the major system. You want consistency based on recent times and also reward upcoming teams. I remember watching GSL SC2 during the early days. 1 of the complains was that once you got into code S, it was so hard to drop out, while upcoming players from code A had so much difficulty getting into code S. And those upcoming code A players smash everything once they get into code S. It's like the journey to code S was harder than topping the code S group.
I suppose i mostly agree except for the OG and alliance. I'd say invite OG at TI6(cause major winner and it's within the year after TI5) but not Manila major honestly.
Idk about alliance they feel weird lately.
Shoutout to the fans of the Phillipines, you guys made me feel better when I was down :D.
Yeah man. I wish i met you during the event but glad to hear you being gucci man.
One thing I am willing to bet on is that Complexity will get the short end of the stick, because swindle vocally complained about Shanghai Major and the way Valve handled the matchfixing incidents. It won't be the reason that's publicly stated or even the one they agree on in the company, but it will be on the back of their minds and fueling the emotion that will be motivating other arguments to not invite coL.
One thing I am willing to bet on is that Complexity will get the short end of the stick, because swindle vocally complained about Shanghai Major and the way Valve handled the matchfixing incidents. It won't be the reason that's publicly stated or even the one they agree on in the company, but it will be on the back of their minds and fueling the emotion that will be motivating other arguments to not invite coL.
there's no way wings doesn't make it. They won the harder tourney and Valve wants Chinese teams. It's perfect lol
On April 26 2016 04:23 twfa wrote: You keep bringing up past achievements like how Newbee has 3 members of TI4 newbee or that OG won frankfurt, but all this does is it makes it harder for newer teams to get invited and the dota invite system becomes an old-boys club. Teams should be invited on how strong they are currently not their past achievements in TI.
Why the fuck should it matter if a team has some TI winners when they are weak now and flopped at the most recent major (Newbee). How long are people going to use irrelevant past achievements (TI4 and TI5) as basis for invites now? The invites for this major can only be based on shanghai results and recent lan wins because there just isn't enough time or opportunity for teams to prove themselves between shanghai and when the invites come out.
You can't keep using LAN results from months ago to keep inviting the same teams when there are teams who have had more recent and relevant results like col and fnatic or it just becomes an old-boy's club making it harder for new and emerging teams to move up.
And also, let's not pretend that Alliance's 2 LAN wins were impressive at all. They essentially cheesed their way to a starladder win using a beyond broken chen and won a poorly organized WCA.
Also, Valve has been using the same metric to invite teams for the past 2 majors. Frankfurt's direct 8 invites were essentially top 8 from Ti5 minues Vega and Shanghai was the same. Valve can't just change their invite metric for this major without any warning or communication. It would be very unfair to col and fnatic because they would be receiving differential treatment compared to the previous 5th/6th place winners of the previous majors. Valve needs to use the same metric for this major for the sake of continuity and fairness even though I am in complete agreement that the current invite system is flawed. I personally think only top 4 should receive direct invites and noone else and Valve needs to make a strong stance or just flat out say it with a new system like CSGO's instead of being so vague and keeping everyone in the dark and guessing. But it has to be the next set of majors where Valve communicates it beforehand or it just looks awful for them. Because it would seem like they intentionally changed their metric this time around just to fuck over col and fnatic.
Newbee is the strongest Chinese team after the reborn of Chinese teams this year, with five strong players and a reasonable combination of the old and young. Recently, it is even hard for the other Chinese teams to win even a single game from Newbee.
A lot of newbee fans (also including myself) do not want a direct invite but rather prefer fighting through the qualifiers. We are confident in our team and really want to watch them crushing the others and grabbing the position.
I totally agree that the 5th/6th place can barely be counted as an achievement since people will only remember the champions (probably also the runner-ups and the third place winners, but simply as background). You know, it sometimes confuses me so much that people take these teams that never win a single tournament, as a strong team. I could understand that they are good teams, but they have never proved themselves. In this thinking, if you do not invite these that have already proved themselves, who can you invite?
A lot of newbee fans (also including myself) do not want a direct invite but rather prefer fighting through the qualifiers. We are confident in our team and really want to watch them crushing the others and grabbing the position.
well you got what you want lol (i'd rather if they were invited honestly)
A lot of newbee fans (also including myself) do not want a direct invite but rather prefer fighting through the qualifiers. We are confident in our team and really want to watch them crushing the others and grabbing the position.
well you got what you want lol (i'd rather if they were invited honestly)
Yes, our team, the newbee, just finished a 15-0 series in the China qualifier and got our ticket to the Manila Major without losing a single game. This is the performance I have been waiting for. Wish they can go far enough