For over a week, teams on nearly every continent clamored for the final eight spots at Dota 2’s Kiev Major. Now, eight days later, eight teams have emerged from regional qualifiers and must prepare for the next step.

This Major’s qualifiers have been more intense than ever. In SEA, where not a single team was given an invite, teams fought for two chances to represent their region. Meanwhile, South America had its first-ever regional qualifiers, separating its unique community from that of North America, and CIS was given its own chance after being stacked with European teams. Champions of the Winter Battle Cup, the in-game tournament system, were given a chance to participate as well.

To fill out the final eight slots of the Kiev Major LAN event, South America, North America, Eastern Europe/CIS and Western Europe were each given a qualifier spot, and China and SEA fought for two.

With these changes in place, hundreds of teams entered the heat of battle. Now, we have our winners.

The first team to reach the finish line was Faceless from the SEA region as the Singaporean squad, which includes vets Black^, iceiceice and xy-, took down three regional rivals with scattered Filipino pros. After tying with two other teams 7-2 in the group stages, they were given a run for their money, especially against TNC Pro, which delayed the inevitable after their base was torn apart. The team has already shown a solid record in its short time together, Kiev aside, and if their LAN run is anything like their qualifiers, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

In the final day of qualifiers, Filipino org TNC Pro caught up in the loser’s bracket to earn the second regional spot. Like much of the region, they also had a hard battle to the top, especially against ex-finalists and local rivals Mineski.GG. They eventually earned the privilege of being their country's representative. After reuniting TI6 member Raven with fellow teammates Kuku and Sam_H, they’ve been one of the more prominent teams in the region (and even internationally) in the time before the qualifiers, so it's a matter of how they’ll stand once again against elite teams. Will they surprise in Kiev like they did at TI6?

In the western hemisphere, Team Secret picked up a hard-fought EU West spot after a difficult run in what’s considered to be a “stacked” region. Alliance, the TI3 champs, had come from defeating fan favorite B)ears in the loser’s bracket for the grand finals, but Secret were able to take them down in a tense but clean 2-0 match. Secret, which is a former European favorite banner that now features vets pieliedie, MP, KheZu and MidOne, had their reputation tarnished after Puppey and Kermal, respectively the captain and owner, were accused of holding back money from winners; EternalEnVy of Team NP claims some is still missing. Kiev will be Secret’s first Majors appearance since the claims surfaced after The International 6.

The neighboring team in EU East/CIS to win the local spot was Virtus Pro, the aggressive Russian team that was favored during the pre-Boston competitive season and won The Summit. With Solo in the captain’s chair and a star squad beside him, they had a perfect group stage and were able to pull off a full run through the winner’s bracket, defeating the roster of long-standing CIS banner Team Empire. After dropping game one, final two games in the match were won in dominating and persuasive fashion, each wrapping up in under 22 minutes. VP will need to bring this fast and furious game to Kiev and hope other teams won’t learn how to shut them down like they did in Boston.

The atmosphere of the North American qualifiers was tense, especially with recent shuffles and drama hanging in the air. BuLba had just left Liquid to form international squad Team Onyx, and CompLexity rose up from the open qualifiers after their mid left, bringing in pub star and 9k MMR player 747.  It came down to these two teams, and Team Onyx rose to the occasion to win for the NA spot. The team is certainly an all-star lineup, especially with DemoN returning from his time with TNC and Fnatic to help the SEA region improve, and now they’ll set out to be the newest crew of celebrity power in NA.

South America’s qualifiers were packed with a few small and unfortunate, but fortunately resolved, controversies. Unknown, whose banner once represented the region at Valve’s Frankfurt Major, ragequit mid-game long before what’s politely acceptable. In another match a caster was assigned to the region but reportedly wasn’t informed on their active channels, and international casters scrambled to cover for them.

Despite these issues, the South American qualifiers proved entertaining to watch. In the end, SG e-Sports from Brazil came out on top with an emotionally-charged victory over established squad Not Today. Each player has been working hard to succeed in the local professional scene since 2014, and now the recently-formed squad will represent their region and proud country in Kiev.

China’s qualifiers were fairly stacked, as many the teams that fought for Kiev were considered to be fairly equal in tier. In the first set of finals, two different Invictus gaming squads, the main roster and the Vitality squad, faced off against each other for the first qualifying spot. The two sister squads had intense battles, but IG.V proved their worth and took the prize.

IG’s main roster, featuring renown vets BurNing and Q, still had a shot at the second slot, and Vici Gaming’s main roster came up from the loser’s bracket to give them a run for their money with an intense rematch series. IG still proved stronger and won the second spot, filling out the sixteenth slot for Kiev’s main event. 

The Intel Extreme Masters in Poland came to an exciting end last weekend, with CS:GO’s FaZe Clan stomping Astralis 3-1 in a nail-biting final. Meanwhile, Team Dignitas beat Fnatic during the Heroes of the Storm Western Clash and StarCraft II’s TY secured a victory against Stats. Currently, League of Legends’ LCS continues to dominate the headlines, but there’s plenty of action to be had elsewhere. There’s drama from CS:GO: StarLadder to the Rocket League: Championship Series. All the details on this weekend’s events can be found below.

League of Legends: 2017 EU LCS Spring Split

Misfits have continued to impress fans as they proved that they could even rival the best teams. In week six Misfits managed to take down Unicorns of Love after they closed out the series thanks to a crucial Baron fight. Meanwhile, H2k took on their old rivals Fnatic and both teams appeared to be evenly matched, but Fnatic started to crumble under the pressure. Game two also went in favour of H2K and they took the top spot in the group B bracket. G2 may have suffered a disappointing loss against Flash Wolves in IEM last week, but they beat back the opposition to claim the top spot in the group B bracket. It’s looking extremely close between G2 and Misfits and time will tell who will remain on top this weekend. This week’s schedule and stream can be found over on LoL Esports.

League of Legends: 2017 NA LCS Spring Split

Team Liquid entered week six with a shakeup to their roster to help steady their disappointing start to this year’s LCS. They faced Immortals and their new ADC Youngbin had trouble finding his feet on to the LCS stage, but Team Liquid eventually secured their third win of the season.  However, Echo Fox managed to steal a win from Team Liquid, but Echo fell to Cloud9 after Akaadian got out-jungled by Contractz. Meanwhile, Team SoloMid was back to their dominant selves after they beat both their former rivals Counter Logic Gaming and Team Dignitas. The competition is heating up as we enter week seven of play and all teams will be looking to climb the competitive ladder. The full schedule and stream can be found over on LoL Esports.

CS:GO: StarLadder i-League Season 3

The best American and European teams will clash for their chance to secure a place in the LAN finals of the StarSeries, and with potential $300,000 at stake, only the top two teams from each bracket will secure tickets to the finals, held in Kiev, Ukraine. Matches will be played in a best-of-three single elimination, which will heighten the pressure and leave little room for error. OpTic Gaming and Eanix are kicking things off in America today at 17:30 PST / 02:30 CET, while the European games kick off Saturday with Team EnVyUs vs. BIG at 07:00 PST / 16:00 CET. The schedule and stream for both playoffs can be found here.

Rocket League: Championship Series

Rocket League is back with season three of its famed championship series and eight teams from North America Europe will compete for the $300,000 prize pool. Season three will also include players from Oceania for the first time, so it will be interesting to see how they compete against their North American and European rivals. There’s also been a host of roster changes in the offseason and we expect this year’s RLCS to be more intense than ever. The North American open qualifier final is kicking off on Saturday at 12:00 PST/ 21:00 CET, while the final of the European open qualifier starts at 04:00 PST / 17:00 CET. Make sure you catch all the action over on the official Rocket League Twitch channel.

Dota 2: Kiev Major Regional Qualifiers

The Kiev Major qualifiers have been taking place all around the world and the best teams will be fighting it out in the regional qualifiers today. In Europe, Elements Pro Gaming, Team Secret, Ninjas in Pyjamas, B)ears, ALTERNATE aTTaX, Cloud9 and Alliance will battle it out. Elements Pro Gaming and ALTERNATE aTTaX are kicking things off at today at 04:30 PST / 13:30 CET, but the action doesn’t stop there as various matches will be played throughout the day.

In North America Team Freedom, NP, Onyx, Complexity Gaming, Wheel Whreck While Whistling will clash. NP and Onyx start their series today at 13:30 PST / 22:30 CET, while the South American branch begin their battles at 13:00 PST / 22:00 CET when the Mad Kings take on Midas. The South American bracket delivered a major surprise this year as neither Infamous nor Not Today managed to reach the top four of the first open qualifiers. Instead, the four South American squads advancing into the regional qualifiers are Union Gaming, Team Unknown, Mad Kings and the Argentinian squad Vultur Gaming.

Meanwhile, over in the Chinese bracket Young Elite managed to win the open qualifiers, while EHOME missed their second major after they lost to Vici Gaming Team Max. China is kicking things off with a match between CDEC and Cavalry at 18:00 PST / 03:00. The competition is certainly looking fierce and the new meta changes from 7.02 will make this an event you won’t want to miss. The full schedule for all the regional qualifiers and links to each stream can be found here. 

The dust in the Dota 2 scene has settled, and eight squads have been chosen to battle for millions in the Kiev Major.

Hailing from three international regions, they have been directly invited to the LAN finals of Valve’s event in Ukraine in late April, each eyeing a slice of a multi-million dollar prize pool. While eight teams have yet to be brought into the ring from their own regional qualifiers, those guaranteed a spot are already among the top of the world.

The teams given direct invites are as follows:

• Wings Gaming (China)
• OG (Europe)
• Ad Finem* (Europe, with a fully-Greek lineup)
• Team Liquid (Europe)
• Evil Geniuses (North America)
• Digital Chaos (North America)
• Newbee (China)
• Vici Gaming “J” (China)

* Ad Finem have subsequently let their Dota 2 team go, but the invite stays with the players who are expected to announce a new team soon.

The first invite went to The International 6’s defending champion Wings Gaming, which had a versatile and fiery showing at the annual event back in August. While their performance hasn’t been outstanding since their 5th-8th place finish in Boston, they’ve held onto their roster and held their own against many other teams across the globe. At the very least, it seems that at least the stable TI6 roster and regular appearances kept the team worthy of consideration. Wings can always rise again, though they may have to fight through other regionally-strong teams—and further, those at Kiev—to reach their peak potential.

Boston Major champs OG had the opposite issue (if one can call it that) in the past year. While they fell in an unexpectedly-difficult match at TI6, the squad worked back to full strength through a new lineup and won December’s Major. The European squad returns for a fourth potential Major win after maintaining an impressive regional showing, led by a strong captain who thoroughly understands his teammates’ strengths and has adapted to the changing tides of several patches. They now need to overcome the resurging momentum that other teams have picked up since Boston. Of course, any team can have tricks up their sleeve, and OG is no exception. 

As the Greek 'underdog' team, the squad formerly known as Ad Finem’s main showing was in the Boston Major itself through their inspiring second-place run. The team brought high energy and mind-blowing individual performances to the stage that garnered a quick, passionate following and brought hope to the Greek scene. However, their focus on Boston seems to have let everything else fall to the wayside: that, or their lack of presence in tier-one matches forms a vicious cycle. Still, Valve rewards stability in regard to their own events, and with this in mind not inviting Non Finem would work against the developers’ own ethos. Now that they’ve been invited, the community will be kept asking: will they step it back up for Kiev?

The third and last European invite, Team Liquid, was once dubbed the rivals of reigning regional champions OG, and now they’ve proven yet again to be a formidable foe with cohesive and memorable performances. They took the sole European qualifying spot for the Dota Asian Championships, and they ran from the qualifiers of last month’s StarLadder tournament to take the grand prize. Team Liquid hasn’t showed up this well since the lead-up to last year’s spring Manila Major, where they came second, only falling to OG. Now, their new post-Boston lineup looks to repeat last spring’s run, but hopefully with the optimal outcome this time.

North American teams also brought their A-game to the Boston Major, and they’ve kept it up since then. Even immediately after 7.00 dropped, Evil Geniuses maintained their pace by winning the China Top cup the following weekend. They’ve been dominant in their few professional experiences since then (minus the offbeat Elimination Mode tournament), and regionally, they’ve been unshakable as the top North American team in the game, as they have been since their TI5 win. It’s just a matter of how they will emerge of their training, then, into both DAC and Kiev. If their recent history alone could talk, it’d say that their opponents need to stay on their toes.

Speaking of opponents, much of the same could be said for Digital Chaos, which took second at TI6 and fell to Wings. Since then, the team has shuffled, but they’ve kept presence in both the regional and international scenes. After their surprising loss to Ad Finem during the Greek team’s hot streak at Boston, they’ve gone on to win ESL One Genting and qualify for DAC, maintaining the versatility that made the TI6 squad successful. Their wins overall haven’t been as persuasive as regional counterparts EG, but they certainly aren’t a force to be reckoned with and are a competing regional name against the TI5 winners.

On the other side of the world, despite complaints about the presence of five Chinese teams at Kiev, nobody can say the remaining two invited teams haven’t worked for their spots. In a trying time for the region, Newbee, playing under the TI4 champions’ banner, have performed well, taking second at ESL and winning the Dota 2 Professional League. The team has kept their place at the top of the region with a uniquely safe but proven approach to their lineups, playing to their team’s strengths. The region recognizes their power as well, as they were directly invited to DAC where they’ll show their chops before Kiev.

Last but absolutely not least is Vici Gaming J, where the “J” represents the official endorsement by Chinese-American basketball pro Jeremy Lin. If he had any say in putting the squad together, it shows that he’s absolutely in the loop for the Chinese scene, with a mix of proven players and rising stars. While their individual picks are somewhat predictable, their strength individually and as a team have been more than enough to push them to the top. The formula clearly works well, as they were one of four teams Chinese qualifier teams that made it through a tough pool for DAC, and they qualified for and nearly won the StarLadder event, defeating OG and only falling to Team Liquid. In Kiev, VG.J may be looking to establish themselves more formally on an international scale as a dominant Chinese force.

With a month and a half between now and Kiev, eight teams yet to qualify, and plenty of matches and tournaments until then, it’s hard to say who of the above may come out at the top if any. The Majors have already been a source of pride and surprise, even in the short time since their inception. Of course, with teams like these already leading the pack and an already-vibrant new meta from 7.00 to 7.02, we can be confident that it’s going to be the Dota event to watch.