Taking place after the qualifiers for TI7, Mars Dota 2 League 2017 will feature the best teams from around the globe, battling in China for supreme honour.
From July 5 - July 9, fans hyped after the International 2017's qualifiers will have another chance to root for their favourite teams, in the Mars Dota 2 League 2017. The League features eight of the top teams in the world, who'll gather in China to establish their dominance going into TI, and perhaps take one last LAN before they set up their bootcamps focused on the International.
A fierce contest is expected between the teams, as the LAN's directly-invited teams are four of the best in the world. OG, winners of 4 out of 5 majors and a favourite leading up to the International, features a solid lineup that seems to be almost unbeatable right now. They will be looking to repeat what they were able to successfully pull off at the Kiev Major, and bag one last LAN win before the International. The Chinese crowd will also have a lot of cheering to do, as Invictus Gaming are also looking very stable going into MDL. They were able to shock Dota enthusiasts around the world, by sweeping over OG 3:0 in the finals of the Dota 2 Asia Championships.
With MDL 2017 giving them a home ground and a hyped audience on their back, iG doesn't seem to be going down too easily. Evil Geniuses have also been directly invited to MDL, and they're most certainly a team that needs no introduction, having lost in Kiev Major only to OG, the winners themselves. Newbee seems to be the weakest link out of the four direct invites, they have been failing to produce results recently, getting knocked out in the first round of the Kiev Major by Team Liquid, and failing to qualify for both the Summit 7 as well as EPICENTER Moscow in the heavily contested Chinese qualifiers.
The Chinese League also features four qualified teams, and the exciting Chinese qualifiers recently concluded with the two sister teams - LGD and LGD.Forever Young having qualified for the League. China reserved an extra spot in the qualifiers unlike the other regions, and LGD was able to beat LGD.FY in a close 5-game series to qualify for the LAN, while LGD.Fy sweeped EHOME.Keen to guarantee their spot too. In what seems to be the story of all SEA qualifiers this month, Clutch Gamers were able to secure themselves their fourth LAN this month after pulling off a historic 40,000 NetWorth comeback against Mineski being led by Chai 'Mushi' Yee Fung.
