As you all probably have seen, the invites to this year’s TI were announced yesterday. I already wrote on Twitter that I was a bit disappointed and frustrated that we weren’t invited and I will elaborate on why here.
Knowing if you are gonna get invited or not is impossible unless you have performed really well right before an invitation is out for a Major or TI. You don’t know if there is gonna be 6, 8 or even 12 invites so unless you are top 6 (or even top 4 to be absolutely sure) you don’t really know. There are no indications or rules of how Valve think when they are deciding which teams they are going to invite so you can just make assumptions on your own of how they think. Personally I thought that the reason for having the Majors was to get more stability in the scene and that Valve would base their TI invites partly on the performances on the Majors. TI is bigger than all Majors combined so during the whole year you are playing to get invited to TI and I would probably rather play at TI and miss all the Majors than the other way around.
I though we were gonna get invited to TI assuming they would invite 10 teams. First of all, we have participated in all the Majors. We weren’t invited to the first one so we qualified there through the qualifier and showed that we deserved a spot there. After that we won two big tournaments, WCA and Starladder. Our performance hasn’t been the best the past months, I don’t deny that, but we have still shown that we are able to take a game of almost every team we face. Almost all losses have been 1-2. At the Manila Major we ended up at 9-12th place with a 6-6 score in games which were far more wins than other teams that ended up at the same placement.
Now I understand that I had a totally different view on which and how many teams that deserved to be invited to TI, that Valve only want to invite the current top teams and let the rest of the top tier teams fight for the remaining spots regardless of their performance throughout the year. I.e. if you have one really bad day and fail in the qualifiers you will miss the one tournament you have been fighting to enter for a whole year. In contrast, I thought they would look at the bigger picture of how the Majors went and how teams performed during a longer period of time.
Right now, going to a tournament and perform bad can have a negative effect on your invite if it’s close to when the invites are announced, but I don’t think going to a tournament should be able to hurt you in any way like ESL probably hurt Fnatic. As it is now, the system might encouraged teams to skip events because it can give Valve a reason to not invite you. You can say that Fnatic didn’t deserve an invite because they finished last at ESL but if they didn’t show up to this tournament you could say that they do deserve an invite because they finished top 6 in the last 2 Majors and no one could argue against that. The fact that Liquid probably got knocked down to the lower bracket because they played without Fata the first day and then later on eliminated Fnatic playing with Fata the day after disturbs me as well but that’s another story (I don’t blame Liquid though since they obviously rather played with their original lineup but rather how the bracket unintentionally could have been “manipulated” when players are swapped in the middle of a tournament).
Hopefully Valve can be more clear in the future on how the invites works. For now, let’s enjoy the upcoming bloodbath a.k.a. the European qualifier! #PJSalt 😀
/Akke
Joakim Akterhall 
Good blog! I can see where you are coming from! Go Alliance! (I am a Liquid Fan) 😀
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I agree, I actually expected 12 invites for Ti. Not just because they tried it for Manila (Success aswell? Amazing games, all teams great!). But because of what you said in your blog. A bad day for a good team. A very good day for a bad team (even if it’s the only good day in their career) and you’ll have a dull Ti because a lot of bad teams qualify.
Ti should invite the best teams in the world. Not a selected few and let the fans pray good teams win qualifiers.
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I agree if they only invite 6 teams and let the other 12 qualify they should rather introduce a “league” and point system like in LoL. Otherwise they should at least invite 10-12 teams. Manila showed that this worked perfectly.
Also when I think about NA qualifier with 2 spots but less teams in it -,-
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What? Your words imply that Dota is a game of chance and not entirely skill. Also, saying that “bad teams” could have a good day is really rude. How do you determine bad teams then? You could argue that Steph Curry had a bad day at the Game 7 but if you lose versus a “bad team” then you are just as bad as they are (or they are just as good as you are). Dota is like 99% skill game, that’s why it is a part of e-sports scene.
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Alliance should stop crying and just use their skill to get invited. not complain and make excuses.
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Done. 🙂 Now stop assuming this was an excuse because it clearly wasn’t.
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I agree with you Akke, but try to be positive and see the bright side, this is going to be the first time that one team goes through qualis and win the tournament :D, good luck you guys, a big fan from Argentina !
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Uhm OG went through the qualifiers in the frankfurt major and won the tourney.
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OG were direct invites in the frankfurt major 2016
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No. They weren’t. Facts, learn them.
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http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/Frankfurt_Major/2015
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http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/Frankfurt_Major/2015
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You come from the future? Frankfurt major 2016 hasn’t even been announced yet, and you should use ‘will’ rather than ‘were’ if you’re talking about upcoming frankfurt major after TI6. If you’re talking about Frankfurt major 2015, OG (formerly known as monkey business) were in the regional qualifier on that major.
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No.
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I understand your point of view and I actually also expected that Alliance will get invited even though we struggled since the Majors in Shanghai.
I will give you all my energy for the qualifiers! It will be hard but Im absolutely sure that we (with the energy of all the fans) will make it! GO [A]lliance and win this f****** thing!
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Im sorry for this, but i mean, i thought it was obvious you werent gonna get an invite. If i can see it, being a 4k trash, you could’ve seen it too. I mean i know it sucks but it was predictable.
GL on the qualyfier
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ive been a fan of you guys since your epic mega creeps comeback against NiP, i will never forget that game and never stop cheering for you guys! sorry you didnt get the invite, but i know you guys can still win!
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Have to say I don’t agree. I think the 6 invite format is correct and that in the end Navi have outperformed everyone else including Fanatic for the last slot. Having said that TI without Alliance would be much the poorer. Hope you guys make it.
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You’re completely missing Akke’s point. What you’re saying wouldn’t apply if Fnatic didn’t attend ESL.
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No, he is disagreeing with that point in the first place. It would have been the exact same thing if fnatic had not attended ESL: Navi would have been invited over fnatic because of that 2nd place finisher. Valve always gives out 1-2 invites for tournament winners or 2nd places in big tournaments right befor the event. In this case ESL was the only one. As long as a team that is not TL / OG finishes 2nd or 1st they get an invite. 100% of the time no matter if fnatic attends or fails at the tournament itself.
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Completely agree. This invite system that Valve is using is really unfair. We are talking about 20M+ (probably) dollar tournament here. We need rules, we need information… We need some transparency!
Good luck guys in the qualifier, I hope you can make it through 🙂
GO ALLIANCE!!
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It is the lack of transparency in the invite indices that lead to this kind of “unfair” decision. They should implement the point system to encourage teams to participate.
P.S: Go Alliance!
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I think the semifinal Vega-Navi was significantly weaker than OG-Liquid and you could see the result in the really one-sided final. So regarding this, I wouldnt value it that much, that Navi made it to the finals.
Apparently Valve does not think so and they invited Navi over your team. They dont seem to value your hard work (and the results) over the whole past year. Getting a good place at a major tournament right before TI seems to be enough to get invited. Your team has had a stable roster for a very long time and you always had good or at least decent results. To encourage roster stabiltity and sportsmanship like yours, I woulve invited you for TI not only for this reason, but also because youve been a top tier team since forever, taking games from any opponent (as you mentioned aswell).
The decision has been made thow, and arguing wont change it.
Apart from that, it was very nice to meet you and the team at ESL again and to watch your games on stage, doesnt matter if you lost (in fact you played really well vs. Liquid which is arguably on of the top teams right now). We will come and support you guys whenever you come to germany, already looking forward to the next LAN.
I wish you all the best for the upcoming quals, Im sure you will make it!
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you can say weaker and one sided but NaVi only lost to Liquid and OG which is the best top 2 teams in dota. (Dream league, Manila major and ESL) so if you think NaVi not in the same level of TL and OG and who else (Teams) can beat this 2 teams right now? None. So ur saying not make any sense and NaVi place at least top 2 in the last 3 tournaments they played this last 2 months except the Manila Major.
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I really do believe that the setup about invites should be more organized and clarified. Maybe it should run a setup like they do in tennis, where you have a world rankings based on your wins throughout the year, where wins in bigger tournaments counts extra. With this, it would be easy for every team to know its situation. Furthermore it would be easy for tournament organizers to settle their invites. Additionally it would not harm a team to perform badly in a torunament as you shouldnt be able to lose points according to the rankings.
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In my heart you should have been invited, but in reality you haven’t perfomed top 6 or even 10 imo lately. I still hope you win though 😉
Also stop smurfing with the grills and climb those high mmr accs of your and you might do better.
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But thats what Akke’s saying, they havent performed well lately but thats not the point, he’s arguing theyve performed very well the past year since TI.
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Performed very well over the past year? Never finished higher than top 8 in all 3 Majors, which are the most significant competitions after TI. Only notable results were WCA and Starladder, which were roughly half a year ago when teams were still gelling after the TI reshuffle.
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All this couldve been avoid if u just draft properly =/, at least u stopped throwing, so far. GL. Long Live Alliance T T
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Assuming Valve doesn’t care about all the regions getting invites I think the invites have been pretty fair. The only team invites you could argue against would be LGD and Na’Vi. LGD placed high at Manila so that probably secured them the invite. Na’Vi on the other hand have not only been more than just decent but recently the only teams they have lost against is OG and Liquid, that alone stands for a pretty good case for them. Also If Valve was decided on 6 invites then I don’t see how Fnatic could have gotten it over MVP which is where they are officially represented from. If they were to give 8 invites then I would have guessed DC and Fnatic would get them over Alliance.
Not hating on Alliance. Even though I am a Na’Vi fan, I really admire that you guys are real friends, and committed to succeed together. I will be cheering for you in the qualifiers. GO ALLIANCE!
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DC? Kappa
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If Valve were to give 8 invites then I feel they would have given 1 invite to a NA team, so yeah, DC.
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I understand you frustrations, but you have to understand that manilla was such a disapointment, so many direct invites that floped.
I agree that valve’s decision making should be transparent, because right now it is confusing as fuck for pro teams on deciding chat to do, and for fans who thinks their didn’t get the invite they deserved.
It’s also time to admit that there are many good teams in dota (EU & China helloooo) and telling objectively which of them should be invited is an impossible task.
And about having bad days, we know it happens. Showing results in the long term is what that matter the most!
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I think that MVP Phoenix deserved more than Fnatic with the direct invite; although they lost most of online qualifiers agains Fnatic, they won WePlay SS3 and DotaPit SS4 and also placed 5/6th in 2 Majors, much better than the achievement of Fnatic in LAN.
However, I don’t understand why Newbee, LGD or NaVi have the direct invite, they only played well in some recent leagues that I think it doesn’t enough for them to get the ticket to TI6; but still this is Valve decision, we must accept.
Hope you and the Alliance will have the place in TI6 after the EU qualifiers. Good luck!
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Newbee has been insane for around 2 months+ m8
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Yep, thats true . We need some transparency . We are talking about $18 Million+ tournament .
Go, Alliance . Take my energy~~~~
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I agree and you have a point. Really hope you can channel your frustration on qualis and also on the showmatch against navi. Show the world your true form! Best of luck!
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Dota has came to an age where they should post how they actually judge a team worthy of an invite. Totally understand akke’s point.
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For valve to be unclear on how invites work for the largest tournament of the year is rather poor of them, so a point raised there.. I’m pretty sure that if you guys had won two majors in the past few months, instead of half a year ago, the invites would have looked different, which is quite unfair to you guys. Nothing to do now but watch as Alliance work their way up through the qualifiers, I still believe in aliens. Good luck!
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The only reason you want to be invited to TI because it grants a lot of money vs other other tournaments. and you’re afraid you won’t get a TI spot because you’re not a consistent team. TI is for the best teams not for teams because you’re fucking cry baby swedish team.
Maybe if you were a team that actually played better than making excuses. You wouldn’t have to worry about shit all. Stop crying and increase your hero pool as you guys are easily predictable.,
If you want to place better than fucking stop blaming valve. It’s the equivalent of blaming your teammates when you’re making mistakes. Fix yourself not valve.
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I agree to a certain extent, but instead of us arguing on Alliance being better than to worry about being invited or not, shouldn’t it be that Valve be more forthcoming on their invitation system so teams would have clear expectation of requirements and objectives?
You don’t take an exam not knowing what the gradings are, do you?
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not knowing the it should be not knowing the exam will be from where like in medical these some curses thats have alot of
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resources but u dont know what it gonna come from so u gonna get fucked if they exam you on something u havn`t seen so it , so thats what i want to send sorry for crap english
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I had the same thoughts about it. I don’t think LGD deserved the invite, and I think fnatic got robbed. As far as Alliance goes, I agree with what you said. While your performance lately may seem unimpressive at first glance, you guys put up a fight in nearly every match up you lost, resulting in a 2-1. Either way… good luck in the qualifiers and SLAY THEM ALL!
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Nah don’t drag FNATIC in this. VALVE just doesnt want a tier 2 team or trash team from SEA joining in TI.
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fucking volvo
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Obviously Valve is not the best company to be hosting such large-scale tournaments (heck, they are not even an eSports company). We all agree that there has been close to zero transparency on how invites work, what qualifies you, and what is being considered.
Instead of us arguing on Alliance being better than to worry about being invited or not, shouldn’t it be that Valve be more forthcoming on their invitation system so teams would have clear expectation of requirements and objectives?
You don’t take an exam not knowing what are the gradings, do you?
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I feel that it’s kind of fair for Valve to only invite 6 teams, so as to free up more slots for each regional qualifier. After all, as you mentioned, most teams would rather miss all 3 majors but qualify for TI, so with just 6 teams invited instead of 10, 4 more teams get a chance of their lives.
On the bright side, having to play the qualifiers means having more practice which definitely helps moving towards TI. If the team is good, I’m sure it can overcome all odds.(eg. Newbee in Manila qualifier)
Good luck to your upcoming games, and hope to see you guys in Seattle.
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I’m all for less teams being invited tbh… I think it is better; The stronger teams at the time actually get the chance to qualify, rather than some arbitrary invites from Valve. I would like to see 4 direct invites; 4 regional qualifiers, with the winner of each invited; 2nd-4th place for each regional qualifier travels to Seattle and competes in a “wild card” playoff of some kind (12 teams competing for last 8 spots).
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1-2 is still a loss, 9-12th is still 9-12th
good results that are months ago dont matter cause dota is a fucking meta game, if you cant adapt to the patch it cant be helped.
Your 2 tournament wins only came from a patch heavily favoring your playstyle and your comfort heroes.
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Don’t worry man. Valve made you a favor. When you win those 2 tournaments, your team played a lot of games in different competitions. The best training is playing official games. Just win those qualifiers and you will be in a better spot than be invited.
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I honestly feel that Alliance should have to participate in the qualifiers. The only way the team won two tournaments a significant time ago was because the patch was overwhelmingly in your favor. Apart from that Alliance’s performance was very much sub-par compared to several other teams. Alliance did not place well in any recent tournament, including the Manila major. If Alliance is really that good, the team should not be afraid to play in the qualifiers. The team definitely does not deserve a comfortable position (by having a direct invite) when compared to the other teams that did get a direct invite. In any case, the qualifiers should be great practice for the team. Practice hard and best of luck!
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Not complaining on who got invites but if you are going to get e-sport the same kind of respect like other sports have you got to have organizations that set fixed rules on how things like this should be handled. There really cant be a guessing game on who will be invited or not, it just makes it unserious and leaves to much up for speculating.
Only six teams to increase probability to get eg/secret spots (which have huge fanbase=more $)?
Would (as you said) Fnatic get a spot if they would have skipped Manilla?
Possible to bribing your way to an invite?
You can argue countless of hours on who should be invited, i.e. the navi-alliance game could well have been a 2-0 game with just one or two small ingame decission, would that have ment that navi had been lower tierteam and shouldent get an invite?
There will always be a patch that is more suited for some team – OG shouldnt get invite since they are so strong and balanced with current meta now? That is just rediculous.
There just shouldent be room for doubts or speculations and this is where clear rules would fit perfect. Less trolling and pointless argumentations.
Have public ranking from the organization that clearly state current top teams or invite 20 teams to a minor e-league occuring 2 months before where invites are given to top 2-12 teams. Collect ranking points from the majors and decided from that. Just whatever as long as it’s clear how it should be done.
Use group seeding in the tournaments and be strict and open with rules, a less successful team can be “lucky” in seeding that takes them so much further then they probably would have gone if groups where more balanced. Ever seen a worldcup with all top nationalitys in same groups or seeding legs?
Hope you guys the best in qualifiers.
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I have been waited for 3 years, don’t make me wait any longer. #AllianceIsBack
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I also wish Valve were clearer with their reasoning, but have to say that even though im an Alliance fan I would’ve been surprised if you got a direct invite after these recent results. You guys haven’t felt like a top-team since after february, and 4 months is a long time in dota imo. I reaaally hope you can once again rise from the ashes and show what you’re really made of in TI!
-En förväntansfull svenne
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fnatic didnt get invite is because of their roster problem. Net leaving fnatic when he dont want to stay as sub and he rather leave and dont have any team.
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I think valve should really be transparent on how the Invites to TI works. 🙂
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Dear Akke how can Alliance be invited to TI? Did you evaluate your performance recently? Newbee has been godlike for the past 2 months Liquid always finishes 2nd or 1st OG has been one of the best teams since frankfurt 2015 MVP always played well Navi finished better than Alliance in recent tournaments and LGD did way better than your team. Even if there were more invites do you think they would have favoured Alliance over Fnatic or Wings? Be fair bro I think AD Finem or Complexity deserves an invite over alliance [u lost to ad finem recently didn’t u?] So stop criticizing Valve and expand your hero pool pls. Even I a 4k player can guess your hero pool easily S4-puck qop leshrac bulldog-natures prophet lone druid brood EGM-rubick shadow shaman silencer Loda-idk his hero choice never matters always a failure Akke-Chen Dazzle Venge…………………………only surprise was CENTAUR STRAT IN MANILA. Pls experiment with new meta heroes. Stop crying and try to figure out how to get past team secret empire and AF in main qualifiers.
I WAS A BIG ALLIANCE FAN…………UTTERLY DISAPPOINTED IN THE RECENT TIMES
Anyway goodluck
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So you expected TI invite after getting trashed by an Open Qualifier team? well gl with your expectations 🙂
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Fucking cry babies. Never been rAt fan anyway.
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Congratulations on getting through qualifier of hell!!:D:D So happyyyy:D:D #hatersgonnahate and whinersgonnawhine, fuck them 😀 looked really solid in all bo3 and the bo5! rooting for you in TI6!!!!:D will be setting alarm clocks and getting up in middle of night to watch your games xD goo alliaaaaaance!
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