Happy Friday! We at Dotabuff know full well that it can be overwhelming to try and keep up with the happenings in the Dota 2 world.
With such a big and global community, events occur around the clock and when news stagger on top of one another, things can get drowned under the noise of memes and game highlights. From today onward, you can find a weekly summary of news, announcements and tournaments in the Weekly Courier.
Manila Masters
Photo by Pao Bago
Evil Geniuses win the Manila Masters and take home $125,000 in prizemoney. The North-Americans got dropped to the lower bracket after losing 0-2 to Newbee, but fought their way back into the grand finals after beating Team NP 2-1. In the grand finals, EG got their revenge on the Chinese team with a 3-1 victory. This is the 4th LAN title for the current iteration of Evil Geniuses and this victory, together with a top 4 finish at the Kiev Major, looks to secure them a direct invite for The International 2017.
Valve releases Collector’s Cache
On Friday, Valve released this year’s Collector’s Cache. Battle Pass owners can now purchase extra treasure chests for $1.99 with 20 sets inside, all of which are aquatic-themed for this year’s TI. Much like previous Collector’s Caches, the odds of receiving the rare sets increase with the amount of Caches opened. In addition though, users who have opened 10 Caches will receive a token with which they can choose and receive any of the non-rare sets. A list of all the available sets can be found here.
Rosters locked for TI7
With only a little over 2 months left until the beginning of The International 2017, teams can now no longer make any adjustments to their rosters if they still wish to receive either a direct invite or an invite to the regional qualifiers. Last Friday, rosters have been locked and any team or player not signed up on the official website will have to battle through the open qualifiers. Said qualifiers are set to take place from June 22nd onwards. An overview of the most notable roster changes can be found here
2 Teams pull out of DreamLeague to play at Zotac Cup
Team NP and Digital Chaos have both chosen to withdraw from DreamLeague’s NA division in order to attend Zotac Cup in Taiwan. While Team NP had been a designated invite for a while, DC replace qualifier Team Freedom who could not attend due to visa issues. Ironically, it will be Team Freedom to take DC’s place in DreamLeague, while Brazilian squad SG Esports will fill in for Team NP.
This is not the first time DreamLeague has been plagued with teams not honoring the commitment made to the league. No fewer than six teams withdrew from the competition in the previous season. Together with NP’s and DC’s withdrawl this week, Season 7 has now seen 4 teams withdraw so far. Read more at Dreamleague
Experimental phase for Ranked All Pick
On Wednesday, Valve announced an experimental phase for ranked All Pick. Roughly a year after bans had been introduced to ranked All Pick, matches will now see 25 heroes randomly banned. While this phase is set to only last “a few days”, it could very well end up being a permanent change.
See the announcement here
Tournament Overview
Also Noteworthy
Thanks for catching up with us. We hope you enjoy your weekend.
