The controversy started with Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling's tweet, someone who is generally very quiet on social media. Then a variety of other personalities also commented on the issue, most of them in support of Rave, all the drama was obviously followed by a huge Reddit thread as well.
how does my get an invite over rave what a joke
— Aui 2000 (@Aui_2000) May 7, 2015Arguments in favor of Team Malaysia:
Team Malaysia are a relatively newer team than Rave, the powerhouse was formed in March and have dominated the South East Asian since. They’ve won almost all the South East Region tournaments/qualifiers that they’ve participated in and also had average results in International LANs.
Tournaments Results (since their formation):
3rd - Red Bull Battle Grounds
5-6th - Starladder, season 12
2nd - Corsair Gaming Arena #2
1st - GEST SEA Cup
1st - Corsair Gaming Arena
Qualifiers from SEA:
ESL One Frankfurt 2015
I-League Season 3
Record: 32-7 since their formation (March 2015)
Win Rate: 82%
If Valve’s Criteria was to select teams on the basis of their recent performance than Team Malaysia are no doubt the better choice.
Arguments in favor of Rave:
Rave has been one of the oldest teams in the South East Asian region, they’re also the most stable team. The Pinoy squad has been playing with the same roster since June 2014, this much stability is a rare sight in the professional DotA scene.
The Jeyo lead squad has also been facing a variety of VISA Issues as well and weren’t able to attend the Join DotA MLG Pro League #1 LAN in Columbus. They also had to skip the Starladder XII qualifiers to secure a VISA for The Summit 3 which they have done.
Tournaments (2015):
5-6th - DotA 2 Asia Championships (2015)
7-8th - Major All Stars (2015)
3rd/4th - I-League Season 2 (2014)
1st - MPGL Main Event (2014)
Qualifiers from SEA in 2015:
The Summit 3
Record: 19-4-18 since January 2015, (Wins-Draws-Losses)
Win Rate: 51%
If Valve’s Criteria was to select teams on the basis of Roster Stability and long term performance which is clearly not the case, Rave would have been better suited for the final spot.
They teams have met each other once; in the finals of the Red Bull Battlegrounds SEA Qaulifiers where Team Malaysia beat Rave 2-0 in a best of three series to secure themselves a LAN spot.
Valve's descision to select Team Malaysia might look controversial at first, but after looking at their performances its clear who the better team is. Rave hasn't had any big results since DAC while on the other hand Team MY have been performing consistently with a 83% win rate and dominating the SEA scene along with having good performances at International LANs. Valve seems to be taking a chance on a newer team with MY but the players are definitely very experienced with Mushi, kYxY and Ohaiyo attending multiple Internationals in the past.
Since the Pinoy Squad wasn’t able to secure an invite, they’ll have to go through the grueling ten team SEA online qualifier featuring MVP.Phoenix, Mineski, 5eva and a plethora of other SEA teams along with another one from the open qualifier.
All in all, Volvo's descision to pick Team Malaysia over Rave is justified by their consistency and their domination of the South East Asian DotA2 scene.
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