The Shanghai Major America Qualifiers kick off today, January 7th, at 19:00 CET. The eight invited teams, along with two qualified ones, will compete over the coveted spots at the Dota Major of the winter season.
Get up to speed with the Shanghai Major America Qualifiers schedule, participating teams, format, groups, and streams!
Ten teams – Leviathan, Void Boys, Archon, Elite Wolves, Digital Chaos, compLexity, Team Freedom, Shazam~, NoT Today, Power of Friendship – will be competing to represent the Americas at the Shanghai Major.
The Shanghai Major will take place between March 2-6, at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, in China. A fixed prize-pool of $3,000,000 is on the line.
OG, Team Secret, Evil Geniuses, EHOME, ViCi Gaming, CDEC, Virtus.Pro, and Alliance have already been directly invited to the event.
Shanghai Major America Qualifiers format
The ten teams have been divided into two Round Robin groups of five.
Top two teams will advance to a double elimination bracket.
First place team will start in the Upper Brackets.
Runner-up team will start in the Lower Brackets.
The first and second place teams from the Shanghai Major America Qualifiers will advance to the main event in Shanghai, China.
Shanghai Major America Qualifiers groups
Dota 2 Shanghai Major Qualifiers Groups courtesy of Dota2RUHUB
Shanghai Major EU Qualifiers schedule
Thursday, January 7th
19:00 CET –Digital Chaos vs Elite Wolves
19:00 CET – Archon vs VoidBoys
21:30 CET – Leviathan vs Digital Chaose
21:30 CET –Elite Wolves vs Archon
Friday, January 8th
00:00 CET – Power of Friendship vs Not Today
00:00 CET – Shazam~ vs Team Freedom
02:30 CET – Archon vs Leviathan
02:30 CET – VoidBoys vs Elite Wolves
05:00 CET – Team Freedom vs Power of Friendship
05:00 CET – compLexity vs Shazam~
19:00 CET –Leviathan vs VoidBoys
19:00 CET – Digital Chaos vs Archon
21:30 CET –Not Today vs Team Freedom
21:30 CET – Power of Friendship vs compLexity
Saturday, January 9th
00:00 CET –Void Boys vs Digital Chaos
00:00 CET – Leviathan vs Elite Wolves
02:30 CET – compLexity vs Not Today
02:30 CET – Shazam~ vs Power of Friendship
05:00 CET – compLeixty vs Team Freedom
05:00 CET – Not Today vs Shazam~
Shanghai Major America Qualifiers streams
The Shanghai Major Amercia Qualifiers will be broadcast in English as part of the coverage provided by Beyond the Summit in their “insanity hub”.
The Beyond the Summit Twitch channel will provide coverage of select group stage matches from all four regions.
The Shanghai Major America Qualifiers series will begin at 19:00 CET, on Thursday, January 7th, and end on January 10th.
Shanghai Major America Qualifiers teams
compLexity Gaming
compLexity Gaming
After coming in a commendable 11th place at The International 5, compLexity Gaming suffered roster changes. The team had a series of stand-ins and try-outs to replace both Tal “Fly” Aizik and David “MoonMeander” Tan, both whom parted ways with the team following The International to form the team and organization, OG.
Following a rather lackluster start to the fall season and their failure to qualify for the Frankfurt Major, the team underwent further roster changes as they bid farewell to the two players in October and welcomed Swedish brothers, Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin and Linus “Limmp” Blomdin for the new season, reviving most of the HoN StayGreen roster from 2013-2014. Simon “Handsken” Haag also joined the mix.
The roster has already swept through Digital Chaos, 2:0, in the StarLadder iLeague StarSeries Americas playoffs. They were expected to make their LAN debut at the Game Show Global Esports Cup studio playoffs portion in Vilnius, but needed a stand-in at the last moments.
compLexity roster:
Kyle “swindlemelonzz” Freedman
Zakari “freek” Freedman
Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin
Linus “Limmp” Blomdin
Simon “Handsken” Haag
Digital Chaos
Aui_2000 © ESL
Seasoned Dota 2 stars Aui_2000, BuLba and TC have been trying out their luck in the new season alongside up and coming players YawaR and Biryu, on a brand new team, Digital Chaos, founded by SUNSfan.
Although the team’s online presence has been noticeable, they haven’t really had the chance to shine on another level.
With Dat Quoc “Biryu” Ha from Digital Chaos being released from Digital Chaos’ active roster, the team welcomed Theeban “1437” Siva to their roster, as their fifth player. The move prompted the dissolution of his departing team – Cloud 9, and gave Digital Chaos the spot in the event. They grabbed an eighth place finish at The Summit 4 and seventh place at the Nanyang Championships LAN. With the former coach for Team Secret at the helm, the team is looking to make their mark more visible.
Digital Chaos roster:
Kurtis “Aui” Ling
Sam “BuLba” Sosale
Tyler “TC” Cook
Yawar “YawaR” Hassan
Theeban “1437” Siva
Leviathan
Team Leviathan
Team Leviathan is a starter gaming organization consisting of a group of friends who decided to get serious about their careers and moved into a team house located in Florida.
The squad was picked up by Flipside Tactics in June 2014. They left the organization in October 2014, when they decided to venture out into a full organization themselves.
Michael “FlyingZebra” Stanus-Ghib joined Team Leviathan in January 2015. After the team failed to qualify for The International 5, Eric “Shredder” Sheeder decided to take a leave of absence from the competitive scene, in order to focus on his studies. He was replaced by Francis “FranGay” Lee, on July 24th.
They were picked up by Team Imagine on August 18th, when two well-known North American League of Legends teams – Imagine and Odyssey – merged into a multi-gaming organization.
Leviathan’s sponsorship dropped when Team Imagine’s chairman, Martin Shkreli – also CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals – has been the subject of global outrage when he purchased the rights to an AIDS drug and promptly raised its price overnight by 5500%, from $13.50 to $750.00 per pill.
The team has taken 2nd at BTS Americas #2, the title at the Sudamerican Master 3 and a very commendable 5th place at WCA 2015.
compLexity’s Luis “Zyzz” Perez joined the team in time for the Shanghai Major.
Team Leviathan roster:
Luis “Zyzz” Perez
Josh “Shiibbyy” Trenholm
Andrew “Jenkins” Jenkins
Jason “Nesham” Newsham
Michael “FlyingZebra” Stanus-Ghib
Not Today
Not Today is a Peruvian team that has had a strong presence in the Americas region. After numerous roster changes and a few organization and sponsor changes, mainstay Freddy “SmAsH Sina, and his squad were picked up the organization in June 2014. The addition to roster occurred in March 2015 with the addition of Steven “StingeR” Vargas to the squad, which was the last change until June 2015 when the team released Ricardo “Mstco” Román and Jesús “Ifrit” Valencia.
Under the Not Today tag, the team won several minor tournaments, such as The Battle Fury, joinDOTA League/Season 3/America, Elpadrinoth American Cup, BoraDota Stars and Dota Regions Season 2. Not Today took part in several major LAN events, such as The Summit 2 and 3 and the MLG Pro League Season 1. They participated in the TI5 Americas qualifiers and placed third in their group. Most recently they placed second in the World Cyber Arena 2015 American Qualifiers and first in the Awqa League.
At the end of August, Juan “VaNn” Tito, Freddy “SmAsH” Sina, Steven “StingeR” Vargas left the team.
Not Today roster:
Benjamin “Benjaz” Lanao Barrios
Leonardo “LeoStyle-” Sifuentes
Alan “DDX-” Salvati
William “Gudii” Aguilera
Jerry “Jerry” Isidro
Archon
Fire was founded three years ago, by FLUFFNSTUFF, Jeyo, Michael “ixmike88” Ghannam, Tyler “TC” Cook, and Tony “HANNAH_MONTANA” Talavera. In February 2012, the squad was picked up by compLexity Gaming and disbanded shortly after The International 2012. The team resurfaced for a brief period of time, in December 2014, only to disband again at the beginning of this year.
Brian “FLUFFNSTUFF” Lee and Jio “Jeyo” Madayag reinstated team FIRE just prior to the roster lock deadline and then quickly swept compLexity Gaming, 3:0, in the ESL One New York Americas qualifiers’ grand finals.
Team Archon picked up FIRE on the eve of ESL One New York, October 3rd. The team’s impressive qualification for the event had been rewarded with a new sponsorship, adding to the hype of their first LAN together as a squad.
The team placed 6th at the event.
Team Archon 5oster
David “Moo” Hull
Brian “FLUFFNSTUFF” Lee
Bryant “Whitebeard” Lehwald
Jio “Jeyo” Madayag
Jaron “monkeys-forever” Clinton
William “Blitz” Lee (substitute)
Void Boys
Void Boys is a Canadian team established in November of 2014. The team placed third at the Battle of America and first in CEVO Season 6 Open Division 2. Their roster has been relatively stable since their inception, with Zheng “PatSoul” Yukai having left for Team Tinker for three months and then returned to Void Boys for only one month before departing only to come back again.
At the end of August, the last two team members, Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu and Tairan “SHANKS” Wang were added to the roster.
At the beginning of December 747 returned to the team from ROOT Gaming.
Void Boys roster:
Zheng “PatSoul” Yukai
Eric “747” Dong
“OmegaPwner”
Yao “fly.” Linhui
Yixuan “xuan” Guo
Shazam~
Shazam~ is a “new” team formed consisting of the entire most recent Cloud 9 roster, minus captain Theeban “1437” Siva, who has joined Digital Chaos. The team dissolved after 1437’s departure and Cloud 9 dismissed Ravindu “Ritsu” Kodippili from the roster and organization. The discharge came as a consequence of recent unprofessional behavior and involvement in unsportsmanlike conduct.
The entire roster has reformed with Mason “mason” Venne replacing 1437.
The team has already taken first place in the ProDotA Cup Americas.
Shazam~
Mason “mason” Venne
Arif “MSS” Anwar
Braxton “Brax” Paulson
Ravi “Ritsu” Kodippili
Avery “SVG” Silverman
Elite Wolves
Not Today during The Summit 3
As part of the post-TI5 shuffle at the end of August, Juan “VaNn” Tito, Freddy “SmAsH” Sina, Steven “StingeR” Vargas left the Peruvian team Not Today and teamed up with previous Not Today members Ricardo “Mstco” Román and Alex “Masoku” Dávila under the name Sector V, for the ESL One New York Open Qualifiers.
The team was signed by Elite Wolves – a new South American Organization – on September 30th.
The Peruvian team was invited to Frankfurt Major Regional Qualifiers. They had topped their group in the first stage and were able to advance into the main brackets having had impressive matches. The Peruvians would however, fall flat to Team Unknown in the semifinals and then were eliminated by Digital Chaos.
O December 5th it was reported that Elite Wolves had lost their carry player Juan Carlos “vanN” Tito Carrizales. With only three days left in the team registration period for the Shanghai Majors, Iwo “IWO” Bejar Kalinowski had registered for the team as a primary player.
While vanN had gone to Arytk gaming, he quickly returned to the team on December 25th.
EWolves roster:
Iwo “IWO” Bejar Kalinowski
Freddy “SmAsH” Sina
Juan Carlos “vanN” Tito Carrizales
Alex “Masoku” Dávila
Ricardo “mstco” Román
Team Freedom
ixmike88, USH, TC and FLUFFNSTUFF during the 2014 D2CL LAN finals
Team Freedom was formerly known as Team Mischief. They are a North American Dota team sponsored by esports.US, starting with December 21st.
While the lineup itself was put together during the post-TI5 shuffle, two of the original members – Justin “justin” Rosselle and Chris “USH” Usher – have parted ways with the team.
Team Freedom roster:
Francis “FranGay” Lee
Lee “SunBhie” Jeong-jae
Michael “ixmike88” Ghannam
Andrew “Jubei” Evelynn
Jason “Fun” Teodosio
Power of Friendship
USH, Team Archon
This squad of familiar faces and players was formed in the beginning of December.
Power of Friendship
Chris“USH” Usher
Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu
Michael “mjw” Nguyen
Mari “MaRiO” Gomez
Peter “Waytosexy” Nguyen
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