The Weekly CourierManila Masters, Collector's Cache, Roster Locks
Happy Friday! We at Dotabuff know full well that it can be overwhelming to try and keep up with the happenings in the Dota 2 world. With such a big and global community, events occur around the clock and when news stagger on top of one another, things can get drowned under the noise of memes and game highlights. From today onward, you can find a weekly summary of news, announcements and tournaments in the Weekly Courier.
Manila Masters
Evil Geniuses win the Manila Masters and take home $125,000 in prizemoney. The North-Americans got dropped to the lower bracket after losing 0-2 to Newbee, but fought their way back into the grand finals after beating Team NP 2-1. In the grand finals, EG got their revenge on the Chinese team with a 3-1 victory. This is the 4th LAN title for the current iteration of Evil Geniuses and this victory, together with a top 4 finish at the Kiev Major, looks to secure them a direct invite for The International 2017.
Valve releases Collector's Cache
On Friday, Valve released this year's Collector's Cache. Battle Pass owners can now purchase extra treasure chests for $1.99 with 20 sets inside, all of which are aquatic-themed for this year's TI. Much like previous Collector's Caches, the odds of receiving the rare sets increase with the amount of Caches opened. In addition though, users who have opened 10 Caches will receive a token with which they can choose and receive any of the non-rare sets. A list of all the available sets can be found here.
View the CacheRosters locked for TI7
With only a little over 2 months left until the beginning of The International 2017, teams can now no longer make any adjustments to their rosters if they still wish to receive either a direct invite or an invite to the regional qualifiers. Last Friday, rosters have been locked and any team or player not signed up on the official website will have to battle through the open qualifiers. Said qualifiers are set to take place from June 22nd onwards. An overview of the most notable roster changes can be found here
2 Teams pull out of DreamLeague to play at Zotac Cup
Team NP and Digital Chaos have both chosen to withdraw from DreamLeague's NA division in order to attend Zotac Cup in Taiwan. While Team NP had been a designated invite for a while, DC replace qualifier Team Freedom who could not attend due to visa issues. Ironically, it will be Team Freedom to take DC's place in DreamLeague, while Brazilian squad SG Esports will fill in for Team NP.
This is not the first time DreamLeague has been plagued with teams not honoring the commitment made to the league. No fewer than six teams withdrew from the competition in the previous season. Together with NP's and DC's withdrawl this week, Season 7 has now seen 4 teams withdraw so far. Read more at Dreamleague
Experimental phase for Ranked All Pick
On Wednesday, Valve announced an experimental phase for ranked All Pick. Roughly a year after bans had been introduced to ranked All Pick, matches will now see 25 heroes randomly banned. While this phase is set to only last "a few days", it could very well end up being a permanent change. See the announcement here
Tournament Overview
- Epicenter Season 2 is set to begin this Sunday and features the top 4 teams of the Kiev Major.
- DreamLeague's NA division finished this week. Planet Odd, formerly known as Thunderbirds, will join Team Secret, Team Liquid and Vega Squadron in Atlanta.
- Zotac Cup's grand finals will be played out on Saturday, featuring Team NP and Newbee.
Also Noteworthy
- Jacky Mao made it on ESPN by falling out of his chair. Reddit had a chuckle.
- The Battle Pass' multiplayer campaign "Siltbreaker" has been delayed for another week.
- SUNSfan released his Aghs Power Rankings for 7.06.
- Thunderbirds, the squad that formerly played under the Digital Chaos banner, will from now on represent Planet Odd.
Thanks for catching up with us. We hope you enjoy your weekend.
gg good guide
2 nd omg
2ez4rts
4th! I made it to the top!
I want to thank Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, my friends and foes as this achievement wouldn't be possible without them!
Thanks and we are looking for 1st next time.
Good stuff..
Taking points from GosuGamers I see...
Me like...
Oh a weekly summary of news, this is the best thing I have seen from Dotabuff. There are other stats site, but this makes the one stats site to follow and be on.
Nice guide this is great
Like this weekly courier, good job
Give us Treasure-II already! And new Ranked All Pick better stay permanent. It is something Ranked All Pick has needed for some time now.
I don't understand the 25 ban, I mean, I guess is just because they want the players to choose other heroes beside the ones in the meta, but is this the right approach?
id rather have a game mode for ranked or normal where the top 25 most played heroes get banned
Wat? Wtf? The most noteworthy event of the week (of entire history of dota (2)) has been 4th minute deso, agh, skadi, tp boots on ww!!
"While this phase is set to only last "a few days", it could very well end up being a permanent change".
Would care to share your evidence / reasons for the claim that "it could very well end up being a permanent change"? Or is it just rhetoric to get emotional?
The 25 heroes ban is stupid because it can remove all counters of a certain hero and if the enemy pick that hero then the game is over before it starts.
Nice going valve
Can you make a "Meta Heroes at Zotac Cup" post tomorrow or they day after tomorrow please? :3
Really like this idea, great addition to articles here!
Neat article to keep dota players up to date with everything regarding the game. Please do this again!
Noice quick overview and perhaps instead of the twenty five rando hero bans maybe add more time for player ban and have them nominate 3 to ban instead of just one or something along those lines. But nevermind that i guess ppl would just attempt to ban the heros that counter their spam
Why does anyone take this SUNSfan's Aghs power ranking seriously? Its pretty freaking bad.
Nice job!
How about 2 random people on each team get a 100% ban? That way if someone bans a hero they're bad against they still have to risk playing vs them 3/5 of the time. And bans would be decided as a team.