Finding a Niche

The Summit 4 is a tournament that feels lost, trying to find it’s way in the new landscape of competitive Dota. Originally conceived as a “Homestory Cup for Dota”, The Summit tournaments have a long history of crowdfunding; the first Summit was itself a stretch goal for Beyond the Summit’s indiegogo campaign. Starting with a modest $50,000 base prize pool with another $50,000+ raised from ticket sales, The Summit rapidly expanded to a $100,000 base and over $300,000 total prize pool in just its second tournament. A large part of the crowdfunding success was owed to their brilliant “redemption vote” which allowed fans who purchased the compendium to vote for an eliminated team to be redeemed back into the tournament. The Summit 3 saw some stagnation as the base prizepool remained at $100,000 and the total prizepool dipped somewhat on account of a less compelling redemption vote race and a more saturated tournament scene. The Summit 3 also seemed to back off the Homestory Cup vibe a little bit. In acceding to players demands and providing improved practice space while putting less pressure on the players to cast and entertain when not playing, BTS tacitly acknowledged The Summit’s position as a serious, high-stakes tournament.

This fourth Summit, however, has seen a catastrophic decline in crowdfunding. With the same $100,000 base prize pool, BTS has attained barely $10,000 in additional crowdfunding on the eve of the LAN finals. BTS themselves point to Valve’s refusal to enable proper 3rd party compendiums in the new Dota 2 Reborn client, which not only made their ticket less compelling but also removed their ability to run the exciting and profitable redemption vote. In addition there is the possibility of wallet fatigue amongst fans, brought on by TI5’s incredibly successful extraction of money from the paying fanbase followed up by the Fall Compendium immediately after. Put next to tournaments increasingly offering larger and larger base prize pools and more dramatic, fan attend-able events, The Summit 4 seems to lack an identity. This may be their chance to recapture the magic of a cozy, fun tournament for the fans to enjoy the players’ personalities as much as their Dota skills.

The Bracket

The Teams

OG

The last month has been a story of ups and downs for OG as far as results go. The incredible win in Frankfurt was followed up by some "easy money" in Jönköping, where the team didn't drop a single game. Everything was great in OG land. Then came The Defense and we saw fellow TS4 participants Liquid completely dismantle the hottest team on the scene over 4 games. So suddenly there's a bit of doubt sneaking into the back of OG's mind. That said, with the exception of Miracle- the players on OG should have enough experience to work through this rough patch.

Or is it more than "a dip"? Yes the team pulled off an amazing run at the Frankfurt Major, maybe one of the best runs we've seen in Dota. But since then the team has only really been challenged once, against Liquid, and they did not rise to that challenge. The rest of their games have been against tier 2 teams. So at The Summit OG has something to prove; they have to prove that the Frankfurt Major wasn't a one time thing.

Mineski

The fight Mineski put up at the first Major during the group stage left more than just a few stunned and at a loss for words. Their innovative play that few saw coming from a battered region had many looking at the upper bracket and asking themselves, “Mineski”? A team from SEA managing to not only make the upper bracket but to do so by beating EHOME and Alliance 2-0! Their losses came at the hands of both finalists, Secret and OG, which is hardly a bad showing from the Philippine squad. Mineski has had no roster changes after the Major and remain as the five players who have taken over the SEA region. With Fnatic on a downward spiral Mineski have taken advantage of their lapse and have claimed the throne in SEA. Mineski also seemed to be one of the first teams to realize the potential of Huskar in the pro scene not just as a seldom picked pocket strat but as a powerhouse capable of taking the game into his own hands.

Mineski’s road to The Summit 4 was anything but easy, they came from the losers bracket after being beaten by Fnatic to overcome them in the finals 3-2. Before the grand finals they had to go through MVP Phoenix, First Departure, and Signature Trust as they truly ran the gauntlet of the SEA Qualifiers. They face a difficult first round opponent in OG, the team that dispatched them from the losers bracket in Frankfurt. Now that they have a chance for revenge as they face up against OG again we’ll have to see if Huskar will come knocking on OG’s door.

Virtus Pro

Silent comes crashing into the world of VP and their fans as he replaces Illidan coming into The Summit 4. The question on the minds of many is will he harm or help the team? Words are unnecessary when you look at Silent’s performance over the years with Empire. He has been one of the most consistent, albeit quietly so, carries in the world until a rough couple of months near the end of his journey on Empire. Without a doubt if many tried to walk in Silent’s shoes they would stumble in his footsteps. Illidan may be a tough act to follow in his own right, but for every game Illidan carried this team there was one where his unorthodox plays cost them.

After a string of 5th/6th place finishes following TI5, VP will be looking to run with Silent’s old consistent heavy farm and high rotation style of carry play he had been known for up until the last few months on Empire. As VP look to break into the higher echelon of teams this winter season, The Summit will be a good place to experiment and plan for the future with Silent bringing new potential and valuable experience with him.

Vici Gaming

One of the more surprising developments in the post Frankfurt Major shuffle came from Vici Gaming. What surprised us, however, was that the team didn't make a move during the transfer window. Even though the team finished on the upper half of the major, there is no doubt that some of the players on the team severely underperformed. But surprisingly it seems that VG feels that their current squad has potential. And with a long roster lock coming up, we'll truly see what this lineup can do.

Coming into this week there isn't much we can say about VG. The team has incredible players on all positions and if they can get it together they'll always be a threat no matter who's on the other side. But VG hasn't played an official game in close to a month. What have they done with this free time? The Summit will tell!

EHOME

As a team, EHOME are in a very peculiar position. On one hand, they have ascended to the top of the Chinese scene by merit of defeating their regional rivals during their tear through the lower bracket of the recent Frankfurt Major, striking down Vici Gaming, LGD, and Newbee.Y. An effortless run through the Starladder qualifiers has only strengthened EHOME’s reputation as top dogs as well. Yet at the same time, they still have so much to prove this week at The Summit. Even though they were the top placing Chinese team at Frankfurt, it was still only a humbling 4th place finish behind two European squads and a certain NA team that landed the direct invite to the BTS house.

Needless to say, the stakes are high for EHOME and their compatriots Vici Gaming as China returns to the hallowed grounds of an international LAN. With no roster changes preceding the Shanghai Major’s roster lock, they go into The Summit 4 as strong as they’ve ever looked. Can they get past Team Liquid, fresh off of a LAN win over incumbent Major champions OG, in their first upper bracket match? Will they retain their focus, in a house full of steamy bathtub interviews, Gang Beast brawls, and after-hour poker games? Can China’s reputation as the premier region in the world of competitive Dota be restored? EHOME shoulders the brunt of this task, whether they asked for it or not.

Team Liquid

Liquid goes into The Summit 4 fresh off their win at The Defense Season 5 where after losing to OG in the upper bracket they came back to beat them in the finals 3-1. This was in fact Liquids first LAN win in the history of Dota 2 and with it comes higher expectations for the team to perform at an event where many top teams are gathered. Liquid has proven that OG is in fact beatable on LAN despite their wins at the Frankfurt Major and DreamLeague, which is a big step up for a team that had failed to qualify for the Frankfurt Major at all. They have avenged their elimination at the hands of OG (then monkey business) in the Frankfurt qualifier, now can they prove that they belong in the big leagues?

Liquid took the “easy” route through The Summit 4’s European qualifier, winning through the winners bracket going through VP, Vega, and finally beating Empire 3-1 to secure their spot in the main event. Their first opponent will be EHOME, one of the strongest teams in the world and 4th place finishers in Frankfurt. With careful planning and proper preparation Liquid should be able to put the so-called “6 Minute God” cty to the test and if they beat EHOME it could give Liquid the momentum needed to surprise more than just OG fans.

Digital Chaos

After high expectations upon forming before the Frankfurt Major roster lock, Digital Chaos has proceeded to consistently fail to qualify for important tournaments. The Summit 4 represents perhaps the only success of the original roster, who qualified by winning the American Qualifier. Even that success seemed only possible due to Evil Geniuses bypassing the qualifier as the only direct invite to the tournament.

After such a poor Fall season, DC chose to relegate their least experienced player Biryu to the substitute position, and picked up an experienced captain in 1437. While the lineup has been finalized for over a week now, The Summit will represent the first games officially part of the winter season as the roster lock comes into effect only 10 hours before the games begin. Just as qualifying represented the sole vindication of the original roster, so too do these LAN finals represent a crucial chance for the new roster to show that they are more than a joke. The fact that DC is one of just 2 North American teams present at this tournament is a nice advantage for the team who won’t face the same jetlag as their opponents.

Evil Geniuses

EG have a rich and varied history with the Summit tournament in all it’s iterations. At the first Summit, EG won it all with a lineup consisting of PPD, UNiVeRsE , Arteezy, Zai and Mason. At The Summit 2, a similar lineup with Fear in for Mason fell victim to internal strife and the lineup never played another game together after placing 4th. With Zai and Arteezy out for Aui_2000 and SumaiL, EG came tantalizingly close to reclaiming their crown at the 3rd Summit, placing 2nd. Now, fielding a strange mashup of old rosters, EG look to repeat their victories without falling victim to the issues that destroyed them once before.

EG have had a very quiet Fall season, participating in just 2 tournaments prior to the Fall Major. Their 3rd place finish at the Major might have been exciting for any other team, but EG expected more after winning TI5 and even changing rosters in what they felt was a further upgrade. At the Major, EG’s losses came at the hands of Secret who won’t be attending The Summit, and OG. Thus, with seemingly just one team to be afraid of in OG who are even on opposite sides of the bracket, EG are looking to make a deep run into this tournament and challenge for their 2nd win in just 4 iterations of the event.