"Ranking race": Qualifying points of 2017

Qualifying points of 2017

DOTA Summit 8 was the final tournament in 2017 that provides the qualifying scores necessary to get the invite to The International 2018. The next tournament of the so-called Pro Circuit series will be held in 2018. This means we can make a short summary of the year of 2017.

First, we'd like to remind our fans what the qualifying points are. The introduction was made in the beginning of the gaming season 2017/2018 after The International 2017. Valve set a number of tournaments with the status of Minor and Major. The company undertook to set the date for these events and contribute as much as half of the prize pool. The teams that get to the top 4 of these events get a share in qualifying points. By the end of season, top eight teams of the ranking will get direct invites to the main Dota 2 event of the year — The International 2018.

Note that it's the players, who are awarded with the qualifying points, not the teams. So the rank of a line-up is determined by the sum of the qualifying points, which its members have. Furthermore only three players with the biggest quantity of qualifying points are taken into account. This enables the team to make reshuffles and even play with stand-ins during the season. The Minor tournaments award 300 or 400 qualifying points, while the Majors grant 1500 or 2250. Learn more about the system on Dota 2 , FAQ section.

Qualifying points

Team	P
Team Secret	3690
Team Liquid	2700
Virtus.pro G2A	2700
Newbee	1035
Evil Geniuses	765
Mineski	720
OG	540
Vici Gaming	540
Natus Vincere G2A	315
TNC Pro Team	270
Fnatic	202,5
LGD Gaming	202,5
compLexity Gaming	135
LFY	135
Immortals	90
Team Kinguin	90

As of now, Natus Vincere G2A has participated in four tournaments sponsored by Valve: three Minors (StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 3, PGL Open Bucharest and MDL Macau) and one Major (DreamLeague Season 8). The Born to Win got to top 4 in the past 2 events, which granted them a spot in the Pro Circuit ranking and a chance for the invite to The International 2018.

There will be 100 115 points in total in the current gaming season. Of them 23 460 have already been granted to players, which is 1/4 of the total quantity. 16 teams got to the ranking table. We've divided these squads into 4 categories basing on their total quantity of qualifying scores.

Leaders

The top four teams of the Pro Circuit ranking are the leaders of the pro scene. Though the performance of The International 2017 runner-up - Newbee - isn't consistent roster in terms of achievements, Team Secret, Team Liquid and Virtus.pro G2A are stable, and it will be hard to push them away from their positions.

The team of the former Natus Vincere captain Clement "Puppey" Ivanov has made good work before the beginning of the season, inviting a couple of powerful players. The reshuffle resulted in good plays at Minor tournaments, second place at ESL One Hamburg 2017 and first place at DreamLeague Season 8. The team now holds the first place in the ranking.

The winner of The International 2017, Team Liquid is one of the world's strogest and consistent Dota 2 teams as per moment. The line-up participated in 5 Valve-sponsored events and took top places at each of them. The captain of the team, Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi, is also former player of NAVI.G2A.

The CIS team Virtus.pro G2A takes third place in the ranking. The team gained first places at ESL One Hamburg 2017 and DOTA Summit 8, the latter - without their captain and leader Alexey "Solo" Berezin.

The last, but not the least is Newbee. The line-up didn't have a successful start of the season, but eventually showed good performance. Though the gap in qualifying points between the Chinese squad and the team that holds fifth position is only 300 scores, this roster has good potential to strengthen their positions in the ranking.

Runner-ups

These team have earned much scores and they have good chances to get the slots at TI 2018. They got to top 4 at various tournaments sponsored by Valve. These are Evil Geniuses, Mineski, OG and Vici Gaming.

Evil Geniuses is a well-known team. However, the beginning of the gaming season was a failure for them. Eventually, Evil Geniuses pulled themselves together and showed the expected level of performance to much pleasure of their fans. As a result, they took fifth place in the Pro Circuit ranking.

The next team is Mineski, which had a very bright beginning of the season, but faced some problems afterward. However, let us not forget that their victory at PGL Open Bucharest is no coincidence. The roster has some powerful players, one of the best in the world and any fan of competitive Dota 2 knows their nicknames. This SEA team is a dangerous rival capable of gaining the slot at TI 2018, if they manage to overcome their problems.

OG and Vici Gaming have equal quantity of qualifying points. The team that has won the biggest quantity of Majors by Valve began the gaming season with a total fail. They lacked team play and their poor results made many fans discuss the possibility of reshuffles. However, step by step the team was regaining their good performance and finally they won MDL Macau.

As concerns Vici Gaming, the Chinese team became the runner-up at a minor tournament twice, which is unlikely satisfactory achievement for the team. Nevertheless, these victories secured them the spot in the top 8 of the ranking, which is not bad after all. In future they might improve their results.

Contenders

The second half of the ranking consists of the teams that won't receive direct invite to The International 2018. The first team on this list is Natus Vincere. As per moment, our players fall behind the eighth place by 225 qualifying points. The difference is not that big, but we need to put much effort at the next tournaments and qualifiers to catch up with those ahead.

On the other hand the gap between NAVI and the team that holds 10th place - TNC Pro Team - is only 45 qualifying points. This might be good, as the players will be more motivated to work hard and practice a lot. Each player of Natus Vincere understands that a minor weakness can give the advantage to our opponents, while regaining positions will be hard.

It's interesting, that top 11 and top 12 have equal quantity of qualifying scores, but different situations. Fnatic has just found their play after a reshuffle. They took second place at DOTA Summit 8. This provided necessary scores to Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao and his teammates after a bad season. Meanwhile, LGD Gaming are currently undergoing serious problems. As a result, the organization announced the possibility of reshuffle. If the team will acquire players without qualifying scores, the team will lose its position in the ranking.

Underdogs

Though the term "underdogs" isn't very correct for the top 13-16 teams, their position in the ranking is bad. These teams haven't been consistent throughout the season, but managed to achieve some results at a tournament or two. Both LGD.Forever Young and compLexity Gaming have 135 qualifying points, while Immortals and Team Kinguin 90 points each.

Let us remember that, while every team needs as much points as possible, a busy schedule of the leading teams can force some of them to miss some of the Valve-sponsored events. That's when the teams from the bottom of the table can take advantage of the situation and get to the event's top 4, earning the points. In other words, those teams that are in the middle of the ranking have good chances to improve their positions, if the leaders decide to take a break.

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Summing up, we can say that our team has good chances to secure a direct invite to The International 2018. Meanwhile, let's not forget that the teams have so far earned only 1/4 of all the points. The situation might change significantly in future (and it's likely to change multiple times, especially in the middle of the ranking). We might also see new teams joining the qualifying points race. Let's hope that Natus Vincere will work hard on their strategies and tactics and hit the top 8 of the ranking, securing the direct invite to TI 2018! #gonavi