The Kings of SEA just need to endure the paiN
Ninjaboogie Image © EPICENTER
The first (and currently the last) time Mineski-Dota attended the Dota 2 world championship was seven years ago, when The International debuted in 2011. Since then, however, the chance to fight for the Aegis of Champions has been elusive for the team—until this season.
The Southeast Asian powerhouse is currently at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, United Kingdom for the ESL One Birmingham 2018, the second-to-last Major tournament of the Dota Pro Circuit. They will open the first main stage game of the event against paiN Gaming, a momentum-filled Dota 2 squad that is fresh off their convincing 2-1 win against reigning The International champions, Team Liquid.
The first time both teams had to face each other in a best-of-three quarterfinal match was during the Captain’s Draft 4.0 Minor tournament, where Mineski-Dota dominated paiN Gaming in two sub 30-minute games. For paiN Gaming, what’s at stake this time at ESL One Birmingham 2018 is basically the same: a guaranteed 4th place finish, coveted Dota Pro Circuit points, and higher prize winnings. But for Mineski-Dota, it is easily going to be the most important game that they have to play in a long time.
The inability of Vici Gaming and Newbee to earn Dota Pro Circuit points this tournament after getting prematurely eliminated has allowed a better opportunity for Mineski-Dota to secure their The International comeback. Despite dropping a series against OpTic Gaming, Mineski-Dota’s elimination of LGD.ForeverYoung, the final Chinese team in Birmingham, has also moved them ultimately closer to clinching more Dota Pro Circuit points.
Mineski-Dota currently sits at the top five of the Dota Pro Circuit rankings with 3150 points. After PSG.LGD secured China’s first The International 2018 slot through their EPICENTER XL victory, the required Dota Pro Circuit points to be mathematically qualified for The International was reduced to 3291. (In case you’re wondering how to calculate the minimum Dota Pro Circuit points needed, check this out. But be warned that brain-wrecking mathematics is heavily involved.)
Applying some basic math, Mineski-Dota just needs 141 points to be directly invited to the eighth iteration of The International. If ever they won against paiN Gaming in their best-of-three, Mineski-Dota will be assured of 225 Dota Pro Circuit points—a number of points which is more than enough for them to book their ticket to Vancouver this August.
In the event that Mineski-Dota fails to endure paiN Gaming, Mineski-Dota still has a solid chance of being directly invited to The International 2018 even if they blow their chance of scoring more points, thanks to the last Major tournament of the season. The only scenario where the reigning Kings of SEA will have to go through the qualifiers is if the China Dota 2 Supermajor ended up with Vici Gaming at fourth place, Newbee at third place, VGJ.Thunder or Evil Geniuses at second place, and any eligible Dota Pro Circuit team aside from those who were already mentioned placing first.
But of course, that scenario will be rendered mathematically impossible if Mineski-Dota proceed to beat the w33-led squad and relive their title as one of the first SEA teams to be directly invited to The International.
