The teams directly invited to The International 5 have been announced by Valve.
Swedish squad Ninjas in Pyjamas didn’t receive the spot they had hoped for and now have to make their way through the qualifiers, but manager Linus ”Isola” Svensson is confident in his team.
– This year will be the first where a team from the qualifiers will win The International, he tells Aftonbladet Esport.

Last year chinese team NewBee won the TI4 finals and claimed the largest prize sum in eSports so far, over 5 million dollars. The compendiums for TI5 were released a couple of days ago and the pool is already up to 6,4 millon, with most people expecting it to exceed last year’s sum by a long shot.

”We still have some work to do”

Now, the list of directly invited teams has been published by Valve. Teams like Evil Geniuses, who won DAC in February, and reigning champions NewBee will attend the main tournament in Seattle’s Key Arena in August. But newly formed Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas, who have put up some fine international results lately, were overlooked. The team had hoped for an invitation but will now have to make their way through the European qualifiers.
– It’s been five months since we joined NiP and six months since the team formed. We’ve travelled to China, Malaysia, Germany and the US during those months but we still have some work to do. We had hoped for an invite but we’ll just have to take the long road and play our way through the qualifiers, manager Linus ”Isola” Svensson tells Aftonbladet Esport.

Are there any teams in the invite list you think you should’ve replaced?

– Every team has earned their spot one way or another. NewBee won The International last year and it would be breaking tradition to not invite them as reigning champions.

”They’re obviously the toughest opponents”

In the European qualifiers they’ll face well-known teams like Alliance, Vega, Power Rangers and Na’Vi. Plus, a new format where the last spot out of ten is up for grabs for any team within the region has been introduced. But Svensson already knows which teams will be the hardest for them.
– Alliance and Na’Vi are obviously the toughest opponents. And you can’t underestimate Hellraisers who’ve proved they can win qualifiers when necessary. But we feel confident in our game and have a lot of time to prepare in the new patch before the qualifiers.
And if the manager’s vision is realized, there will be a huge Swedish party in Seattle early August.
– This year will be the first where a team from the qualifiers will win The International, he says and smiles.