ESL One New York may be the first milestone in the history of the Secret Team which created in the aftermath of The International 2014. The team will have to prove against world-class counterparts for the first time. Here’s who they are going against.
Vici Gaming
The chinese [vici gaming] went on a rampage in the their qualifiers and held a 10:0 record in the end. They beat TI4-champions [newbee] three times with a combined score of 7:0 while also beating [lgd gaming] and [hypergloryteam] flawlessly. Plus, they are the best team in the past three months winning i-league lately, being 2nd at The International 2014 and 3rd at World E-sport Championships 2014. They added german Dominik „Black^“ Reitmeier and Daryl Koh „iceiceice“ Pei Xiang as their first foreign players after TI4.
Evil Geniuses
The [evil geniuses] made a quick run through the American Qualifiers beating both [the thundercats!] and [complexity gaming] by 2:0. The team didn’t undergo any changes after TI4 except for Clinton „Fear“ Loomis returning from his inactivity. It suited them well as [evil geniuses] won the World E-sport Championships 2014 a month ago.
Cloud 9
[cloud 9] is the third best team of the past three month and recently entered the Top 10 of the World Ranking for the first time. The american organization is home to players from four different countries (Canada, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria) und thus fought in the European Qualifiers where they beat [team empire] and [alliance] to go to New York – even though they lost WehSing „SingSing“ Yuen in the TI4-aftermath.
Natus Vincere
For a long time [natus vincere] was the shining star of all that was called Dota. But lately the ukrainian team is struggling. They didn’t win any tournament since April and underwent a significant change in their lineup after finishing The International 2014 as 7th. Kuro „KuroKy“ Salehi Takhasomi and their captain Clement „Puppey“ Ivanov left the team and were replaced by Ivan „VANSKOR“ Skorokhod and Artem „fng“ Barshack. The new lineup was good enough to get a second place at the Game Show League Season 1 and qualify for ESL One New York by beating [denial esports], [fnatic.eu] and [xgame.kz] though losing to [secret team].
Na’Vi North America
Good thing for Na’Vi that they have two team in the competition: [na`vi north america] was found by them picking up the [north american rejects] in June. The team instantly participated in The International 2014 (#15) and won the BountyHunter America Showdown twice in a row. [na`vi north america] qualified for ESL One New York flawlessly beating [root gaming] and [sneaky nyx assassins] in the American Qualifiers.
Sneaky Nyx Assassins
The clearest underdog of this ESL One New York is [sneaky nyx assassins]. The team is on position 127 of the World Ranking with only one tournament in their record from April. Back then they were third in the American Dota League Season 2 behind [team liquid] and [mousesports]. They lately added Bryant „whiteBeard“ Lehwald to their roster. But they sure earned their spot in the tournament beating [top5] and [complexity gaming] in the American Qualifiers. As a warmup they won Dota 2 Canada Cup Season 3 this week against [na`vi north america].
Secret Team
The probably most awaited team in this tournament: The [secret team]. Created from members of [natus vincere], [alliance] and [fnatic.eu] after The International 2014, the team will now for the first time enter the big stage. But they are coming with online glory beating [meet your makers], [nvmi] (now [virtus.pro]) and [natus vincere] in the European Qualifiers and showing a 13:1 record in the current season of StarLadder.