The International 2016: Let’s talk underdogs

With the eve of the International, all eyes are on the OGs and Team Liquids of the scene. This is perhaps the biggest group of contenders top to bottom we’ve seen in Dota2’s largest tournament ever. There are probably six or seven teams most people would list as a favorite, but what about the bottom half? Who in that group could take it all?

EHome

This Chinese power house, correction, ex-power house, comes to the tournament under most people’s radars. They used to be the talk of the Chinese scene but have take a back seat to Newbee, Wings, and LGD Gaming, rightfully so. They didn’t even win their regional tournament and come to Seattle as a wild card.

What this team lacks is consistent play. Their peaks are as high as any other teams, but their lows are probably lower than the rest of the field. Lanm, Fenrir, and Iceiceice are 3 of the most experienced and skilled players, but they don’t always play on the same page and when that happens it doesn’t correct itself very quickly.

Fnatic

The Southeast Asia region doesn’t get much love outside of MVP, but Fnatic is a world class team playing near the top of its game. They like to run at you, and that aggression can take teams off guard or just keep them on their heels. They also have one of my favorite support duos with DJ and 343 who bring a great mix of aggression and defensive positioning of out playing the opposition’s supports.

What this team lacks is consistent play from their cores. Ohaiyo can swing a game from the offlane position as the best player in the game or he can be the worst in the game. You can almost always look at his score and figure out if Fnatic won their game, which is great if he’s always playing well, but when he has an off game it seems to domino to the rest of the team.

Digital Chaos

After the roster swap with Team Secret, Evil Geniuses, and Digital Chaos, most people discounted DC as the team picking up the scraps. I would agrue they are the team playing the best of that trio with Misery calling the shots on a team with great chemistry. They have a great position one in Resolution, and w33 is an above average mid player whose signature WindRanger is a thing of beauty no matter what the meta says.

What this team lacks is consistency (I know, who would have thought). They have the experience and the talent, but Misery is still feeling his way out as a shot caller. I have no numbers to back me up, but I feel that if you get up on DC early, they have a harder time than most coming back. Maybe it all just comes down to feeling out their power spikes and knowing when to take advantage of those. But if they get rolling, they can be a beast to handle.