The Summit series is one that’s special to the Dota 2 community. While the tournament may not have the biggest prize pool, it’s still loved by both professionals and fans because of the overall style of the tournament. Rather than being held at a stadium or convention centre, the event is held at the Beyond the Summit house in Los Angeles. Think of it as a big LAN party; each team is housed at the BTS house and the weekend is devoted to Dota.
That isn’t to say there isn’t time for anything else at the house, however. There are also smaller events and games at the house, including a party game stream that’s run during the event and is popular in between matches, along with interviews with the some of the notable names of the scene. The Summit is also the only place where you’ll see professional players on the couch, watching their colleagues play each other and casting their matches.
For those of you who are more interested in the tournament aspect of the event, the double-elimination bracket for the tournament has some notable names.
It’s difficult to say who is going to stand out at The Summit 6, because the teams attending are the best teams from their respective regions. When we look back at the BEAT Invitational, things only become less clear, apart from one thing: Wings Gaming is the clear favorite. Wings have still proven to be the dominant team they were at the International 2016, and don’t show signs of slowing down. Apart from them, predicting results is nearly impossible. Digital Chaos has not played since its TI6 performance, and the only result from OG we have with their new stack is from MDL in September.
The other North American teams are two fierce competitors. As a squad, Evil Geniuses has proven that it has the capability to be as competitive internationally as the squad from last season, and Team NP proved itself against international talent at BEAT Invitational, even beating EG themselves.
The rest of the qualifiers fielded great teams. In Europe, CIS proved that it can still field teams that are fiercely competitive, as shown in Virtus.Pro and the various online qualifiers they have participated in. In its current form, an argument could be made that Virtus.Pro is the best on the continent, as the promising Western European teams have shown little more since being decimated at TI6. Ehome is still the second best team in China, and that’s not a bad thing when China looks to be the most competitive region in Dota 2. The last team at The Summit 6 is Team Faceless. Faceless has shown that it is far and away the best team in SEA, with a winrate of more than 90% against local talents. The team will be “Black^” in action this weekend, seeking to prove that its success at home can translate internationally.
Note: Beyond the Summit’s “Interview” with IceFrog is satire.
Video Credit: Beyond the Summit
Who are you excited to watch this weekend? Let us know in the comments or tweet at us at @GAMURScom.
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