This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　I feel like the Dota community, at large, is still hungover from the Major League Gaming Championship in Columbus, Ohio last week, but we already have another major event to satiate our Dota needs.

　　The ASUS ROG DreamLeague Playoffs, the culmination of DreamHack's in-studio ASUS ROG DreamLeague, begins tomorrow bright and early for us here in the states. The event, taking place at DreamHack Winter, will feature the four best teams from the regular season. Let's break down the competitors:

　　

Team Name	Regular Season Score
Alliance	Seven wins, three losses
Team Liquid	Six wins, four losses
Fnatic	Six wins, four losses
Natus Vincere	Five wins, five losses

Game one of the double elimination, best-of-three playoffs will be Alliance versus Fnatic.

　　Game two will be Natus Vincere versus Team Liquid.

　　On the heels of event that had as many curve balls as the Major League Gaming Championship did, it is difficult to make a lot of predictions very comfortably. We do have the luxury of having had the opportunity to speak to most of the teams but days ago, so we can reiterate how all of the teams felt about their shots this weekend.

　　

Alliance

When I spoke to Alliance's off-lane player, Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg, he lamented about a few things in particular that were hurting his team's ability to perform at the level their fans expect the The International 3 winning team to play at.

　　He first noted that they were suffering travel fatigue and were out of practice. Alliance's unique ability to find themselves qualify for every offline final under the sun does have its drawbacks. They've been traveling for the last month, and they've been lacking consistent practice. Ahnberg also noted that they needed to start innovating with their hero selection. He mentioned that his small list of regular heroes was starting to hurt them, and said that we should expect to see Elder Titan in the off-lane more from them.

　　

Team Liquid

Just about every team at the Major League Gaming Championships, including Team Liquid themselves, said that they are not yet a strong offline team. Coming into the ASUS DreamLeague Finals at second shows that they are a capable and talented bunch, but there is that little bit missing when they're playing in person. To quote an old esports adage from years post: "Do it on LAN."

　　The new, post TI3, lineup now has two offline appearances under their belts. They played in Nexon in South Korea and they have Columbus behind them now. As the sole representative of North America playing in Sweden, this event could be their chance to really put it all together and show us all something incredible.

　　

Fnatic

Fnatic is a team I have a difficult time putting my finger on. We gave them a middle of the road review going into the Major League Gaming Championships, and they finished tied for fifth with Alliance batting .500 at four wins and four losses. Going into the DreamLeague Playoffs they've beaten Alliance twice, went one and one with Na'vi, and they lost both their matches versus Team Liquid. Again, very middle of the road.

　　At Columbus Fnatic looks strong, beating Alliance and Liquid while losing to Na'vi. With this team having won god knows how many HoN tournaments in this venue, maybe it's time we saw them get one in the bag playing Dota. They're a a seasoned team, and while inconsistent, they are capable of beating anyone. They've proven that over and over again, and the real test Fnatic this weekend will be stringing those wins together.

　　

Natus Vincere

Na'vi, the most accomplished Dota team in the entire word. They're a team, along with Alliance, who enter every event considered favorites by many.

　　Of the four teams playing in the ASUS DreamLeague playoffs, Na'vi had the strongest showing at the Major League Gaming Championships placing third/fourth. I think, pound for pound, coming into the event Na'vi feels the strongest. They looked the best last weekend, and there hasn't been a lot of time for any of the teams competing in the ASUS DreamLeague playoffs to squeeze in a lot of practice. It wouldn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to presume that everyone is coming to the party playing similarly to how they played last weekend, and in this case, in this event, that would mean that Na'vi's game shows the fewest blemishes.

　　

Match Schedule

Team Name	Team Name	PST	EST	CET
Alliance	Fnatic	9:00AM	12:00PM	18:00
Na'vi	Team Liquid	12:00PM	3:00PM	21:00

The matches can be watched live on the ASUS Rog DreamLeague Twitch.tv stream.