Who's representing Asia in The International 2014?

Remember last year when we were speculating which teams would be receiving invites to The International 3, and the invited teams were revealed in twos and threes daily? That’s kind of a thing of the past now.

The website for The International 2014 (TI4) website is now live, complete with all eleven directly-invited teams and forty (yes, forty) teams in the four regional online qualifiers. Here’s the complete list of direct invites:

Last year was very disappointing for Chinese teams and their fans, as China performed below expectations and did not make it to the top three. Team Orange, on the other hand, was the only Asian team to make it in the top three while the grand finals both featured two European juggernauts, Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) and Alliance, with the latter taking the Aegis for 2013.

(See: 4 reasons behind China’s poor performance at the DOTA 2 TI3 championship)

Since then, there has been much anticipation about Eastern teams getting revenge on Western teams at TI4. Now that the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year is practically at our doorsteps, let’s take a look at the teams that received a direct invite to represent Asia, and if any of them have any chance of taking the TI4 this year.

Team DK

Let’s start the list with the invite that surprised absolutely no one: Team DK. From the day its complete post-TI3 star-studded roster was announced, everyone saw Team DK as the Chinese dream team and the pride of Asia. In fact, Team DK is one of the top bets to take this year’s Aegis.

This Chinese juggernaut has been a dominant force not only in the Chinese scene, but in the international scene as well. In fact, its most recent championship win at Starladder IX banked on a flawless series of offline victories against both Eastern and Western teams. This domination didn’t come without prior struggles of course, as the team suffered from underperformance, particularly with the arrival of the 6.79 patch. That patch was one of the primary reasons why its winning streak was cut short.

(See: Infographic: Team DK’s 6.78 and 6.79 drafting)

In fact, fans have been saying that the only thing that could stop, or even slow down Team DK, would be a patch update, like the recent 6.81 patch. While the team has been underperforming since its return from Kiev, Ukraine, this can’t be entirely attributed to the patch’s changes, as Team DK’s losses have been happening prior to 6.81.

Right now, Team DK seems to be trying out a variety of drafts and strategies, sometimes from other teams and other times from god-knows-where. Whether this is to save pocket strategies for TI4 or an attempt to devise new ones (or both?) will only be confirmed on the grand stage itself.