Being the 4^th Major of the Dota Pro Circuit season, MDL Disneyland is of tremendous importance for a lot of teams. As you probably know, at the end of the regular season, the top 12 teams from the Dota Pro Circuit get a direct invite to The International 2019.

However, only two more Majors are left to be played and some of the teams, including the 2017 and 2018 TI champions, are either struggling to grab one of the 12 tickets or to maintain their current spot. Because of this, the MDL Disneyland Qualifiers have enormous importance. And fortunately for OG, Team Liquid and a few others, things went better than they had hoped.

In this article, I will take you through the chaos of the qualifiers and offer an analysis of how the teams stand in terms of strength, based on what happened over the last week.

Europe

In the European region, the MDL Disneyland Qualifiers went slightly different than people had expected. On the one hand, one of the best three teams, Ninjas in Pyjamas, fell to a much weaker opponent, The Final Tribe, allowing OG to get an easy victory in the Lower Bracket Finals and grab the 3^rd reserved spot. As usual, the first two spots were claimed by Team Secret and Team Liquid.

OG’s success couldn’t have come at a better time, and it clearly proved what many of us have been suspecting for a long time: that their TI 8 title was primarily a result of ana’s performance. Immediately after his return to OG, the team went from zero to hero in just a few weeks. They even took a game off Liquid in the first decider match of the Playoffs, showing that they truly are back in the race for The International 2019.

With both Team Liquid and OG at the MDL Disneyland Major, Europe has a real chance to get four of its teams into the top 12. That would be absolutely amazing for the region because it would allow the likes of Alliance and TFT to qualify as well.

But if that doesn’t happen, then we are likely to see either OG or Team Liquid in the European Qualifiers for TI 9, and their chances would be vastly better than those of the other competitors. The worst case scenario would involve both of these teams having to qualify, which would be an unfortunate outcome for the fans.

North America

The North American Qualifiers for MDL Disneyland looked predictable at first, but then disaster struck in the form of a partial disband. After several failures in a row, Forward Gaming cracked under pressure and lost all of its star players in one week. Resolut1on, SVG (the captain) and UNiVeRsE left the team, almost ensuring its failure in the qualifier. Unsurprisingly, that’s precisely what happened.

A former NA giant, compLexity Gaming, took advantage of this and managed to bring Forward down in the first decider match of the Playoffs, thus securing a spot at the Major. In the other Upper Bracket Final, Evil Geniuses defeated J.Storm, although not as easy as people had expected. The end result was 2 – 1.

Now, the only question is who will get the 3^rd ticket? And the main battle will be between J.Storm and Forward Gaming. By the looks of things, J.Storm is much stronger and should easily qualify, while Forward is likely to finish 4^th.

China

The Chinese Qualifier proved to be very competitive, even though Vici Gaming had just won the DreamLeague Major. PSG.LGD was in great shape as always and qualified after a quick 2 – 0 victory over Newbee.  However, in the other Upper Bracket Final, Vici Gaming was defeated by Keen Gaming.

As a result of this loss, Vici Gaming dropped into the Lower Bracket, where it should have an easy time against EHOME, which will be followed by the winner between Newbee and Royal. None of these teams has what it takes to beat VG in a best of three given their current form. They may have faltered against Keen Gaming, but they’re unlikely to be bested again.

As a whole, China currently has four teams in the top 12, and two of them are practically qualified for The International 2019. Both Vici Gaming and PSG.LGD are in the top six and will not lose their TI ticket. However, EHOME and Keen Gaming are still struggling. In all likelihood, Keen Gaming will keep their ticket as well, but EHOME is almost guaranteed to lose it after the next Major. This is due to the simple fact that they won’t take part in it and are currently sitting at number 12 in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings, with just 490 points.

CIS

The CIS region was very eventful during the MDL Disneyland Qualifiers. Of course, Virtus.pro won the competition, although not without losing a few games. However, second place was won by a totally unexpected team. Everybody assumed that Gambit Esports or Natus Vincere would be the ones to cover themselves in glory. However, it was Team Empire that ultimately won the battle for the 2^nd ticket, thanks in part to a very well executed Death Prophet strategy, which they used twice.

It will be interesting to see this former CIS giant at the MDL Disneyland Major. I personally expect them to finish 13^th – 16^th, just because they have a very inexperienced roster that doesn’t stand a chance against the best teams in the world. But only time will tell. Keep in mind that the Major takes place between May 4^th – 12^th, in Paris.

South America

In South America, Chaos Esports Club was one of the two winners, but the other one wasn’t Infamous, as I had previously expected, but Butterfly Effect. What’s even more surprising is the fact that this underdog demolished everyone at the event, including Chaos. Of course, this new team is just a mixture of veteran players who have gathered under a new banner. We’ve seen them before at big events, and some of their names should sound very familiar: 4dr, Liposa, and Thiolicor.

It will be fun to see the Brazilians play at such a high level, but again, just like in Team Empire’s case, they are not likely to get anything more than a 13^th – 16^th place finish at MDL Disneyland.

It’s worth noting that, since the end of the Qualifier, Team Effect has been acquired by PaiN Gaming.

Southeast Asia

The Southeast Asian Qualifier provided no surprises, partly because Fnatic is such a formidable team at the moment and was expected to beat everyone else. They’re sitting at number 5 in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings and are guaranteed to get a direct invite to The International 2019. So, the only question was: who will grab the 2^nd ticket to the MDL Disneyland Major?

At the time of this was written, the race is still open but the likelihood of TNC Predator winning the Lower Bracket is over 90%. This team is also in the top 12, and they’re likely to remain there until the end of the regular season, as long as they manage to qualify for the last two Majors.

One thing worth mentioning about the SEA region has to do with Tigers, a team led by 1437 and having Dendi as its midlaner. Unfortunately for them, they only finished 4^th in their group and didn’t even have a chance to compete in the Playoffs. It certainly seems that Dendi’s career as a professional Dota 2 player is drawing to an end unless of course, he decides to move to some other team and try his luck there. The CIS region seems to be the right place to go, although I’m not sure which of the teams would want him.