Dota 2’s biggest event, The International, is right around the corner.

That brings its own unique brand of excitement, of course. A spectacular attraction with the world’s best teams, playing for a prize pool of well over $20 million? It’s high entertainment!

But while much of the appeal of The International is the simple fact that it is The International, it’s worth remembering that it’s not a movie or a television show. It’s 90 players that have worked their way onto a grand stage for a life-changing opportunity.

With that in mind, it’s worth looking back on some of their journeys and analyzing what this means to them. Here are five stories to follow at TI7.

Can OG Avoid Being Dota 2’s Dan Marino?

Longtime Miami Dolphin Dan Marino is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. Quantitatively, the stats back it up, too.

Nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback. Two-time AFC Offensive Player of the Year. Five-time leader in passing yards. Three-time leader in passing touchdowns. The list goes on!

The one knock on him? Zero Super Bowl wins. That goose egg stains an otherwise stellar career for Marino and OG might wind up with that same scarlet number if they don’t post a very, very strong performance at TI7.

OG entered TI6 as the clear favorite to win the tournament following first-place finishes at the Frankfurt Major, Manila Major and ESL One Frankfurt. A shocking loss to MVP Phoenix was followed by a huge upset by TnC Gaming and, just like that, OG was sent home with a 12th-place finish and nearly disbanded afterwards.

The new OG immediately reestablished itself as a force by winning the Boston Major. From there, it once again set the standard for excellence by following that up with a win at the Kiev Major, and once again steps into The International as one of the favorites to win.

But while OG’s on-paper legacy is already quantitatively secure after four first-place finishes in Valve-sponsored tournaments, their dud at TI6 looms large qualitatively. If they flop again at TI7, that could color some of the discussion.

Secret Looks to Turn Its Luck Around

At one point, Team Secret seemed poised to dominate the Valve Majors era. A second-place finish at the Frankfurt Major cemented their elite status and a first-place finish at the Shanghai Major suggested that Clement "Puppey" Ivanov’s pet project might just be a dynasty-in-the-making.

Then came the infamous roster swaps ahead of the Manila Major. Aliwi "w33" Omar and Rasmus "MiSeRy" Filipsen were controversially dropped and replaced with Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora and Artour “Arteezy” Babaev ahead of the Manila Major. While that lineup was absolutely brimming with talent, they struggled mightily at the event and ultimately finished in last place.

That was followed by a last place finish at TI6. Then missing the Boston Major. Then another last place finish at the Kiev Major. That’s not what most fans were expecting from the group, but there’s a lot to like about Secret heading into TI7.

Since laying an egg in Kiev, Secret has posted strong performances in Epicenter 2017 and the Summit 7, and looked dominant in the TI7 European qualifiers, earning first place in with an 8-1 run through the round robin.

Everything is in place for Secret to reestablish itself as a legitimate force on the grandest stage. Will they be able to pull it off?

China in Position to Dominate the Standings

China has always had the deepest pool of Dota 2 talent, but 2017 features a whopping five teams that are capable of making strong runs through the TI field. Each one has the pedigree, talent and recent success to suggest they are capable of a top-six finish. Let’s go over them quickly:

Newbee- After a disappointing 9th-12th finish in TI6 saw the roster blown up, Damien "kpii" Chok and Hu "Kaka" Liangzhi have helped anchor the roster with Zeng "Faith" Hongda proving to be a strong captain. The result has been excellence in LAN events, including top-three finishes in their last five tournaments.

Invictus Gaming- After years of struggling to find the right roster, the TI2-winning organization pulled together a strong squad that runs as a finely tuned machine, courtesy of a busy schedule. A top finish at DAC2017 and a strong showing at the Kiev Major earned them a direct invite to TI7, and cemented them as one of China’s best.

LGD Gaming- The entire LGD organization was shaken up after both teams struggled at the Boston Major and failed to qualify for the Kiev Major. Since then, both have turned things around with the primary group looking particularly strong after a first-place finish in the 2017 MDL.

LGD.Forever Young- While the primary LGD team is riding a strong wave of momentum, LGD.FY may be even better. Second place in the 2017 MDL and a top-four finish at Epicenter show that the Young Guns can hang with the best teams in the world.

iG Vitality- Invictus Gaming’s sister squad hasn’t had the same level of on-paper success, but they’ve shown flashes of being a top-end team on a few occasions. Their strong run through the hyper-competitive Chinese Qualifiers and here-and-there wins over solid international opponents suggest they could make a dark horse run at TI7.

There’s a lot to like about each of these organizations and, depending on how things shake out in the group stages, any of them could wind up taking home a big paycheck. And with the right seeding? Don’t be shocked to see three, or even four, Chinese teams in the top six.

Cloud9 Poised to Be Breakout Stars

Everyone knew Team NP was going to be a fan favorite. A huge number of Dota 2 fans follow Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao’s every move and when he pulled together four alumni from the 2014-2015 era Cloud9? Well, it was hard not to cheer for them.

Slowly but surely, though, Team NP went from being a fan favorite to one of North America’s best teams and when it added Adrian "FATA-" Trinks and Johan "pieliedie" Astrom? Then it suddenly had the look of one of the world’s best teams.

Now they have the chance to live up to their potential after finding itself under the Cloud9 banner once again.

There’s most certainly cause to be bullish on this group. Their strong 8-1 run through the North American qualifiers was preceded by top-four finishes at The Manila Masters, ZOTAC Cup and Summit 7. Along the way, they beat a number of their TI7 opponents, including Team Secret and Invictus Gaming while displaying rapidly improving chemistry.

If that continues, and if they can get in their groove at TI7, they might just be able to pull off a 2016 Digital Chaos-like run to the finals.

Infamous Carries the South American Banner Into TI7

There is a lot of money to be made in Latin America and Valve is looking to cash in big by forcing tournament organizers to host at least one South American team in Major/Minor events, starting with The International 2017. That’s a genius move from a business perspective...but does it make sense from a sporting perspective? The performance of Infamous at TI7 will go a long way towards determining that.

To date, South American squads have been unable to earn their way onto any big Dota 2 stages.

From Valve-sponsored Majors all the way down to smaller shows, mid-tier North American teams have consistently run through their downstairs neighbors and have rarely had any difficulty doing so. Worse, in the rare instances where South American teams actually got the opportunity to compete for serious cash at tournaments like Galaxy Battles and WESG 2016, they failed to impress against actual world-class competition.

Despite that, when SG Esports found itself under the bright lights of the Kiev Major it shocked the world by handing the heavily favored Team Secret a last-place finish. That win proved that South American teams are, indeed, capable of beating out elite-level opponents, but the region’s legitimacy isn’t close to being secure.

With TI7 marking the start of a new era for the continent, it’s on Infamous to defend its territory’s honor. Good showings in back-to-back Valve tournaments would do a lot of work in cementing South American Dota as a serious force but a loss could sew the seeds of doubt about its viability going forward.