SLi Invitational Season 5: Preview

Find all information about the tournament below!

Dota 2's competitive season is in full swing, and the pressure gets higher as we inch closer to The International 2018. Another event of the Dota Pro Circuit is close at hand, and this time around all eyes are set on the city of Kyiv, which  NAVI.GG.BET will attend as the home team. You will find all the information about the upcoming in our preview!

On the eve of the tournament

StarLadder and ImbaTV's minor will be a real test for our players. NAVI are currently in quite a dangerous position: we dropped out of the top 8 in the Dota Pro Circuit rating after Dota 2 Asia Championships and are, for now, ineligible for the direct invite to Vancouver. With 1,199 points under the belt, we round out DPC's top 10, while the eighth-placed team has 1,665 points.

No need to worry, however, as there will be another chance to recoup the points. In fact, several chances. This spring, the boys will be in attendance at least at two events, the closest one being SLi Invitational Season 5. Only two teams have been to it, namely  VGJ.Thunder and  Natus Vincere. In order to do well on home stage, our boys gathered at the bootcamp in Kyiv.

SLi Invitational S5 details

The fifth event of the SL Invitational series is set to take place in the capital of Ukraine on April 12-15. It will feature 8 teams hailing from 6 regions, including direct invitees mentioned earlier and the winners of regional qualifiers. They will be battling for the $ 300,000 prize pool and 300 Dota Pro Circuit points. The points will be distributed among 4 top-placed teams: 150 points for the winners; 90 points for the runners-up; 75 points for the third and fourth place finishes.

The competition will be organized in two stages. The groups will utilize the GSL format, with the top two teams from each group advancing into the playoffs. All matches will be bo3. The playoffs will consist of a single-elimination bracket with Bo3 semifinals and a Bo5 grand final. 

participating teams

 NAVI have been drawn in group B alongside  Fnatic, SG e-Sports and  Vega Squadron, the last one participating in place of  LGD Gaming. Born to Win's opening encounter will be against Fnatic, who have been one of our principal rivals in recent months: we met three times within DreamLeague Season 8, ESL One Katowice 2018 and GESC: Jakarta. The last one of those ended in our favor, and we hope that the upcoming game will be its repetition!

Looking at other opponents, there are some other strong teams who have made a name for themselves.   Vega Squadron, for one, seem to finally have found a play style which works for them and successfully qualified for MDL Changsha Major and GESC: Thailand Dota 2 Minor. No doubt, their preparation for SLi Invitational will be as thorough as ever. The Brazilians from  SG e-sports will probably be looking to surprise their opponents – after ESL One Genting 2018, they did not appear at any of the DPC events.

Group A, on the other hand, features the winners of the CIS qualifier,  FlyToMoon, the North Americans from  OpTic Gaming, Polish  Team Kinguin and Chinese  VGJ.Thunder. This group promises some fierce action, as new FTM are hungry for victory, Team Kinguin are eager to show what they are capable of, OpTic Gaming desperately need qualifying points and VGJ.Thunder want to improve their position in the Dota Pro Circuit ranking.

Participants

NAVI.GG.BET (direct invite) 
VGJ.Thunder (direct invite)
FlyToMoon (CIS)
Vega Squadron (CIS)
OpTic Gaming (North America)
Team Kinguin (Europe)
Fnatic (Southeast Asia)
SG e-sports (South America)

Born to Win will have to face a serious challenge in Kyiv. As the race for TI8 points heats up, each team has to give their 100 % to win. Good luck to  Natus Vincere! #gonavi