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By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--EG's championship run in the Manila Masters turns out to be a needed norm for the club to enter TI7 outright.
The American side will have a chance to reclaim the championship of DOTA 2's most prestigious tournament it last won in two years ago as Valve announced on Monday that it is among the six teams that are given direct invites to the tournament proper on Aug. 8-13 (Philippine Time) at the Key Arena in Seattle.
EG failed in its title defense bid last year and had to relinquish the Aegis of Champions to Wings, but the latter waived its players earlier this year following a fallout. The said players would form its own team, but it was later disbanded, assuring that a new champion will be crowned this year.
Still, China is assured of a participation in TI7 as Newbee, which actually finished runner-up to EG in the Manila Masters, was given a direct invite as well. China will actually have four representatives to TI7 as three slots are up for grabs in the China Qualifiers.
The four other teams that are given direct invites to TI7 are OG, Virtus Pro, Liquid, and Invictus.
Meanwhile, three TI7 slots are allotted to Southeast Asian teams, which will be disputed in the SEA Qualifiers.
On the other hand, two berths each to the tournament proper are up for grabs in the European and the Commowealth of Independent States (CIS) Qualifiers, while one spot each is on the line in the North and South American Qualifiers.
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