In just over one day, the last team to earn a spot in The Summit 2 will be ushered into the Dota 2 tournament via a fan vote.
The tournament, which features nearly a $300,000 prize pool gorged in part by sales of The Summit’s compendium, pits six teams from around the globe against each other. Evil Geniuses earned their spot via winning the first Summit event, while four other teams will earn their way through regional qualifiers. Secret Team and Vici Gaming are already in.
Teams and players are competing to one-up each other with stunts and fan service hoping to win the necessary votes to qualify for the tournament. Today, Cloud9, the nominal favorite to win it thanks to their popularity and success at The International 4, just received a trump card from an unlikely source—their biggest rival, Evil Geniuses.
Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora put together a video opining his love for Cloud9 support Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling, stumping for Cloud9 to enter the tournament.
Wow.
Arora’s profile on the Evil Geniues’ website says his nickname comes from his passion for “discovering whole new worlds,” attributed to his past life as Ali, the Prince of Agrabah.
He certainly plays a mean Ali. But Ling is an even better Jasmine. One can only hope he dons the dress at The Summit if Cloud9 make it through.
HOLY SHIT I DIDNT EVEN GET TO SEE THAT UNIVERSE VIDEO BEFORE IT AIR’D WTF JUST HAPPENED
— Aui 2000 (@Aui_2000) November 14, 2014
The video comes complete with a blooper reel, the hallmark of any professional comedic production.
This stunt may make Cloud9 an easy favorite in the race, but the Redemption vote is far from a sure thing.
Chinese team LGD Gaming produced a video asking for votes, the only Chinese team to submit a plea. Team Tinker’s manager, Brian “chappY” Chapman, promised to sing whatever song the fans want if they get voted in. Dota 2 legends Natus Vincere promised a bit of singing and dancing of their own should they reach the tournament.
VOTE FOR @natusvincere to visit #thesummit2 and u will c @DendiBoss dancing and me singing together! also we gonna show u some good dota:)
— alexandr dashkevich (@NaViXBOCT) November 11, 2014
Teams are pulling out all the stops, but Evil Geniuses, a squad already qualified for the tournament, trumped them all.
This kind of leadup is making The Summit 2 look like one of the best Dota 2 tournaments outside Valve’s own big bash. You could say the real winners are the fans, but it’s probably the tournament itself. The Summit’s Compendium must be selling like hotcakes, considering it’s required to vote.
Published: Nov 14, 2014 04:27 pm