The dust has settled, the qualifiers have completed and 18 teams are left standing. Forward Gaming, Infamous, Chaos Esports Club, Na’Vi, Royal Never Give Up and Mineski have made it through the grueling regional qualifiers to join the 12 invited teams at The International 9. None of the teams from the open qualifiers reached The International, once again proving the brutally high level of the invited qualifier teams.
This year also marks the lowest amount of Chinese players in TI history. The number is the all-time low of 18, compared to the 27 of last year’s TI. Many legendary teams like EHOME, Newbee, iG and CDEC didn’t make the invites, while PSG.LGD and RNG both field a Malaysian player.
Ember Spirit was unsurprisingly the most popular hero in the qualifiers with 92 appearances and a 57% win rate. His win rate is the highest among the 15 most played heroes and fairly balanced between Radiant and Dire. Ember is used most effectively in teams looking to end the game within 40, with his win rate dropping off majorly after 40 minutes.
Rubick was the most popular hero among Side specific picks. He was picked 48 times on Radiant Side and only 20 times on Dire Side. Enigma was the most popular Dire specific pick. Both heroes performed only average as Side specific picks. The most successful Side specific pick was Morphling, with a 58% Radiant win rate over 31 games.
Drow Ranger and Zeus were surprisingly not picked during the entire qualifiers, alongside Pudge and Visage.
Our most anticipated player of TI9 is MATUMBAMAN from Chaos Esports Club. He got kicked from Team Liquid in June after 4 years of loyal service and a first place at TI. MATU is looking for revenge on his old team and qualified with his new team through the qualifiers.
The International 9 kicks off on August 15. Keep following Mobile Wins for more coverage.
