Aggression has been the hallmark of MVP Phoenix. Their style is nicknamed "caveman Dota," and the five players of Phoenix earned their title through a simple tactic: They run at you, and keep on running at you, until they win. They did exactly that in the opening match of The International 2016 to one of the top squads at the tournament.
In a winners bracket match, MVP Phoenix faced the titanic OG squad that had claimed victory at two majors (and sent MVP into the lower bracket at Manila). This time, however, MVP Phoenix had the upper hand.
"They're not used to the style that we play," said support Kim "Febby" Yong-min. "Just hyperaggression. They expect the heroes, but they don't expect how we're going to play it."
For years, MVP Phoenix has been seen as steadily rising, an underdog coming from a region not known for Dota 2. The South Korean Dota squad has fought hard to earn its place among the pantheon of top teams and, in the course of three games, exhibited exactly why it deserved that place with a 2-1 win over OG.
"[It] feels good to take our revenge for losing," said Pyo "MP" No-a. "We got humiliated in Manila, so it's a great boost of confidence for us. We know that we can beat them. We're quite happy."
The star of the series was easily Kim "QO" Seob-yeon's Phantom Assassin, a hero few teams are willing to even consider drafting. A high-damage carry, PA relies on chance to deal damage; each hit is a roll of the dice to determine whether you will score big with a massive coup de grace or fail. QO scored big on the pick, though, and Febby theorizes that it will likely be a third or fourth ban against the team from here on out.
That's MVP Phoenix's comfort zone, forcing others to conform to its game. For most of the year, MVP had to accommodate adverse circumstances; playing out of South Korea forces the team to compete on other servers because the country does not have its own server. This left the team dealing not just with high-level players but also with high levels of ping, resulting in serious lag during online tournaments. LANs alleviate that concern, allowing MVP to breathe and better execute, an X factor that serves it well at every on-site competition.
"We just practice a lot under harsh conditions, so when we go to LAN events, there's no delay, no anything," Febby told us. "It feels like we've been practicing with weights on, and, when we're at LAN events, the weights are off, so it's a lot better."
For MVP Phoenix at The International, the potential problems won't be ping or server woes, but team issues. Preparation, arguments and ego are what could plague MVP and stop its roll to the top.
"We need to be focused on the task and need to not get tilted or fight amongst each other," Febby said. "In the group stage, we kind of had an internal conflict, and we knew we could win all the games, but we screwed up because we fought amongst ourselves."
Core player MP looked elsewhere, toward concerns of confidence. "We lost at the Shanghai Major and Manila Major for the same reason. We placed quite highly, we beat some good teams, but we didn't prepare for the next match because we were way too confident," he told us. "The confidence actually worked against us, in the sense that we didn't prepare for the enemy. We didn't know what they were going throw at us; we just threw to them what we were doing the whole tournament."
This team is determined to overcome its demons, though, much like it overcame OG. The aggression cloaks a clever, coordinated attack, the confidence and internal struggles demonstrate a passion for the title, and so this MVP Phoenix squad is at the peak of its game. It is only two wins from a winners bracket berth in the grand finals of TI6, a first for South Korea.
As for fans cheering the team on, from South Korea and around the world, all the players thanked them, and Febby said the team planned to repay fans with good games, full of "hyperaggression, like how you guys like it." For the team, there will be no complacency and no lack of preparation. MVP Phoenix might employ "caveman Dota," but this team has more than an MO. It has a plan for the top.
"For this TI, we're not going to make the same mistake," MP said. "We're going to prepare well for every team. I think that's how we're going to win TI."