The regional qualifiers are a wrap. Here’s every team who scored a spot to the International 11.
The International 11 is just around the corner, so we will have the chance to watch the best Dota 2 teams in action again. As you know, this is the game’s most prestigious and important tournament because it features the biggest prize pool in the world.
After the end of the DPC, we learned the names of the first 12 teams that received a direct invitation. We’ve covered them in a separate article, but they include the likes of OG, PSG.LGD, and all sorts of other teams.
That said, the direct invitations were not enough to fill every slot, which is why we had the chance to watch the Open Qualifiers. They took place in every Dota 2 region, and now that they are over, it is time for a quick recap of each one.
There are two slots left for The International 11, but we won’t learn who will take it until the end of the Last Chance Qualifier. We’ll have to wait a bit because this qualifier will take place between October 8 and October 12. With that said, here is what we need to know until then.
North America – Soniqs
The first Dota 2 region we’d like to start with is North America. Aside from South America, NA is probably one of the weakest regions right now because none of the big teams won any big tournaments in the last couple of years. In fact, TSM was the only team that reached the finals of ESL One Stockholm 2022, which was the first Major of the DPC.
The NA qualifiers weren’t as interesting to watch as the rest because two teams stood above the rest. Soniqs and nouns were the main contenders for the last TI spot, and they had little to no competition. After a couple of exciting series, the two had the chance to meet in the Grand Final, where we had the opportunity to watch an epic battle.
After three fantastic games, Soniqs delivered their knockout punch and became the last North American team so far that will attend The International. YawaR and the rest will be alongside Evil Geniuses and will go up against the best in the world.
South America – Hokori
After checking the North American results, the next region we want to talk about is South America. Many Dota 2 fans consider this to be the weakest one in terms of teams, but this might not be the case. Infamous and BC repeatedly proved that they are worthy foes, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they received direct TI invitations.
Since the two best teams in South America already secured slots for The International, the qualifiers weren’t that interesting to watch. Most people expected Infamous to be the third team from the region to secure a TI slot. However, Hokori surprised everyone by ripping through the competition in the lower bracket.
Despite being the underdog, the team got a clean 3-0 victory against their opponents in the final and became the third South American team at The International 11.
Western Europe – Entity
WEU was the most interesting and the last qualifier we had the chance to watch. Some of the world’s best teams had to go up against each other to decide which would be the last representative from the region. Unlike in other parts of the world, we had five teams here that had real chances of qualifying. This made the quals a lot more interesting than the rest.
After a couple of days of action and surprising results. Entity became the last team from Western Europe to secure a TI slot. People expected Nigma Galaxy or Team Secret to be the winners, but these two teams failed. Secret eliminated Nigma from the event and reached the Grand Finals. However, the team was unable to defeat Entity, who was clearly better.
Eastern Europe – BetBoom Team
Eastern Europe was also among the regions that many people were looking forward to for a couple of reasons. Besides the fact that the current TI champion resides there, several big teams have proven themselves. However, BetBoom Team was better than the rest and deserved to win the last slot in the region.
Despite winning the qualifiers, BetBoom had a lot of problems to go through. It all started in the Upper Bracket Semifinals when the team failed to defeat Natus Vincere. The latter was in excellent form and one of the main contenders for the TI slot.
After bouncing back from the lower bracket, BetBoom defeated Na’Vi and had the chance to go up against Virtus.Pro. This was an epic battle, but Outsiders couldn’t show their prowess, and SoNNeikO’s team got a well-deserved 3-0 victory.
China – Royal Never Give Up
It is high time for a Chinese team to win The International, which is why many people focused on these qualifiers. Even though PSG.LGD is in a league of its own, there are a couple of other top-tier Chinese clubs that deserve to be in Singapore. Following the qualifiers, Royal Never Give Up was above the rest and got a well-deserved victory.
Maybe and the rest had almost no problems in the Upper Bracket, but they had the chance to meet Xtreme Gaming twice. The latter was one of the main contenders for the last spot, but the team was unable to defeat its main opponent.
Southeast Asia – Talon Esports
Lastly, we have Southeast Asia, one of the most interesting regions, which is where International 11 will take place (the event will be held in Singapore). Usually, there are a couple of teams that stand out, and in this case, all of them received direct invitations. However, these quals were more interesting than usual because T1 had the chance to play alongside ana and Topson.
Sadly, even these two players weren’t enough for T1 to win. Despite the fact that the team reached the LB Finals, it lost to Polaris Esports. The latter reached the big final, where they played five games against Talon Esports. Even though the series was epic and both teams had chances of winning, Talon was the better team and won the match.
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