The International is reaching its climactic point. With just five teams left and two days of games remaining, the 2016 champion is anyone's guess. The representation is befitting of the tournament name, with teams from Southeast Asia, China, North America and South Korea and one with players from Denmark, Macedonia, the U.S., Romania and Ukraine. Each of the remaining five lineups showcased plenty of brilliant moments for the right to be crowned the best in Dota 2.
The favorite: Evil Geniuses
The defending champions enter the last stages of The International in elite form. Evil Geniuses is one of two teams to be undefeated in the main event (the other being Fnatic), and it may continue until tournament's end. There's no notable weakness for this North American squad. Peter "ppd" Dager rarely drafts a poor composition, Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg's rotations and positioning are brilliant, teams ban out Saahil "UNiVeRse" Arora's best heroes, Clinton "Fear" Loomis is the glue for the lineup, and the star power of Syed "SumaiL" Hassan only shines brighter when the pressure increases.
The contenders: Wings Gaming and MVP Phoenix
Both teams share similar positives: aggression, creative drafts and multifaceted players. The solution to beat either team is obvious, but it's whether or not the opposition can out-execute the plan. MVP Phoenix's speed is blistering. It's near impossible to shut down both Pyo "MP" No-a and Kim "QO" Seon-yeob and if either snowballs, the game is over. It will take an avalanche of mistakes for MVP Phoenix to lose the next set.
Wings Gaming allowed MVP Phoenix to draft a comfort composition and still won. This beast of a team will be the best shot to take down Evil Geniuses. It will go into the matchup as the slight underdog, but with the team's large hero pool and the ability to adapt to any situation, it may not even matter.
The dark horses: Digital Chaos and Fnatic
This is no slight against these two talented teams, but the field is simply that strong. Digital Chaos and Fnatic benefit from the underdog tag because it lessens the pressure on the players. In a tournament with so much on the line, any factor helps. Fnatic is undefeated in the main event and will enter its matchup against MVP Phoenix after an impressive victory over Team Liquid. The stars in Fnatic's main event run are arguably Djardel "DJ" Jicko Mampusti and Chong "Ohaiyo" Xin Khoo. The team will need the same playmaking and precision from everyone if it expects to get past the next challenge.
Digital Chaos is the darling of the tournament. From top to bottom, the team is clicking at the right time. Much is written about David "Moo" Hull, but the drafting creativity of Rasmus "MiSeRy" Filipsen and versatility of Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok are noteworthy. Teams will do the homework necessary to counter and play against Digital Chaos, but midnight may never come for this Cinderella story.