The International 7's group stage is underway. To get you prepared, I'll be previewing each of the teams at the event. Next up are the 3 teams that qualified through the Chinese Qualifier. This year the qualifiers were split among 4 regions (Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia, and China) with both the Americas and Europe regions split into two sub-regions. Still with me? Good.

Chinese Qualifier #1: Invictus Gaming Vitality

Just because a team is a youth team for an organization does not mean that they can't compete at the highest level of Dota. IG.V proved that by winning the always-tough Chinese TI qualifier. IG.V comes into TI as the most stable roster at the tournament, having played together since March 2016. During their time together, IG.V has proven to be a strong competitor within the Chinese scene. However, they've struggled when playing against International competition. They won both qualifiers for the Boston and Kiev majors but then failed to accomplish much at the actual events. They will need to prove that they can compete with teams outside of China if they want to get far at TI.

Chinese Qualifier #2: LGD Forever Young

Youth teams in the Chinese scene aren't always just young players trying to break into the scene. Sometimes these teams have a veteran or two to help groom the younger players. That's the case for LFY as they have two of the more successful veterans still playing competitive Dota in China. Leong "ddc" Fat-meng is one of 3 players (and the only Chinese player) to play at all 7 Internationals. Xie "Super" Junhao has played at 4 Internationals and has finished in the Top 6 at all 4 including an appearance in the Grand Final at TI4. Their leadership makes LFY a dangerous team coming into TI7.

Chinese Qualifier #3: LGD

LGD is one of the most successful organizations in China and always seem to be a strong competitor at TI. Despite multiple Top 4 finishes in their history, a TI championship has eluded them. This LGD squad hopes to change that. Led by longtime members of LGD, captain Yao "Yao" Zhengzheng and mid Lu "Maybe" Yao, the team comes into TI with high hopes and on a bit of a hot streak. LGD won the Mars Dota 2 League 2017 in early July and finished 3rd at The Summit 7 in late June.