Travelling north this weekend will be two of Singapore’s most renowned DotA ensembles, team AEONSports and MeetYourMakers (MYM). The rendezvous will be in a convention hall straddled the region’s most iconic twin towers, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). The confluence of talent is no coincidence for some of the mightiest DotA teams in the e-club’s participating territories will gather there this week to play in what is the most anticipated event of the holiday season; the DotA 2 Malaysia Invitational.

 

    

The tournament will feature eight teams in total across six participating countries. And with the likes of 2011 WCG AC champions MUFC and 2011 PGF victors Mineski.Infinity thrown into the fray; the Singapore teams cannot expect an easy run up to the finals.

Leading AEONSports into the tempest is general manager Michael ‘XtReM1St’ Phee, who despite the potentially tricky match ups, refuses to play up the expectations of his team. “Personally, I don't set any difficult expectations on my players. The only ones are to maintain a high level of discipline as well as professionalism,” asserts the general manager, “as long as they've been putting in the effort & not give any attitude problems that would be good enough.”

AEONSports’ previous outing at a DotA 2 tournament was at the recent WCG Asian Championship 2011 in which the team was dealt an uncanny early exit. However Michael is sticking to his old guards in his team’s latest endeavor. “We are fielding 4 out of 5 of the same players from WCG Asian Championship for this Dota2 invitational tournament. Lin 'Bouncy' Zhi Ren will be entering the army soon & this will be his last competition for AEONSports,” explains Michael, “we didn’t make any major changes to the lineup this time round as we felt that it might affect our overall chemistry & teamwork.”

Team AEONSports

While solidarity and consistency may be the name of the game for AEONSports, team MYM will table a whole different philosophy when they approach their match ups come mid-December. “My team is relatively new, we came together and started practicing as a team only after SMM,” relates team leader Benedict ‘hyhy’ of MYM. “But I have always set high expectations on my team; hopefully we can play up to the level we have set for ourselves.”

Spotting a fair mix of experience and fresh enthusiasm within their ranks—such as ART, Chibix33, Rabeplue and xFreedom, team MYM may well emerge the dark horse in the tournament of immaculately decorated teams. Even so, neither Michael nor Benedict will be taking their opponents lightly as both warn of the strength of the home teams - MUFC and ORANGE Esports given that they will be riding on a strong wave of home support. “Personally, I feel all the teams in this tournament are strong as they are recognized by E-club Malaysia as the best teams from their respective countries. However, more attention could be paid to team N9 from Australia and either of the Malaysian teams as they possess a great pool of experienced players in both DotA (original) and DotA 2,” adds AEONSports’ general manager.

With the official release of DotA 2 looming first quarter of 2012, many eSports watchers in the region will be on edge in the run up to what could be the final pre-released major DotA 2 tournament in the South East Asian region. Top that off with the added monetary incentive of USD$5000 for the winner and USD$3000 and USD$2000 waiting the first and second runner up respectively, no team, notwithstanding our local contenders will be aiming for anything less than gold. “We expect to do well,” assures hyhy, “hopefully a top 3 finish.” But in Michael’s eyes all that glitters is gold as he pledges to the fans “nothing less than a championship!”

So fans of AEONSports and MYM rally round your team and cheer them on as they take national pride with them to the jointly organized tournament by e-club and Rapture Gaming (RGN) on the 17th of December running till the 18th. For more information on team MYM, follow them on their Facebook Fanpage, while supporters of AEONSports may find the latest updates on their favorite team at  their Facebook Fanpage.

Finally, for more information on the DotA 2 invitational, head on down to the official site to see the full line up of teams.