The International is the main tournament in the world of Dota 2, held annually in mid-October. But the teams are fighting for the right to go to this championship all year long. At the moment, the top 12 teams that will take part in the championship have been determined. Now each of the six regions will hold qualifiers for The International 12, which will determine six more TI participants (one from each region). The first qualifiers will be held in China and North America. Read about the format of qualifiers and its favorites in Telecomasia.net's article.
Bet on esports with 1xBetThe International 12 qualifiers format
The International 12 qualifiers for China and North America will take place simultaneously - from August 17 to August 21. The games in China will start early in the morning (GMT+3), and in North America - late in the evening.
In both regions, the qualification bracket looks more or less the same. The teams that stayed in Division I at the end of the DPC tour 3 will start the playoffs in the upper bracket. The Division II teams will play in the lower bracket, and the first round of losers will be held in bo-1 format. The rest of the qualification matches will be bo-3 and the grand finals is bo-5.
Who will participate The International 12 qualifiers in China
The regional qualifier in China will feature 13 teams. Two of them can be considered as tier-1, two more as tier-2, and the rest as tier-3. The full list of qualifiers is as follows:
- Team Aster;
- Azure Ray;
- Invictus Gaming;
- Xtreme Gaming;
- Aster.Aries;
- Holy Grail;
- Team Zero;
- Team Bright;
- Big brain;
- Supernova;
- Team Disillusion;
- iG.Vitality;
- Limit.
Team Aster - main favorite to qualify for The International 12 in China
This year, the Chinese teams didn't perform their best on the international arena, always remaining in the shadow of the teams from Europe and the CIS. Thus, only one Chinese team managed to qualify directly for the main Dota 2 tournament of the year. It was PSG.LGD, who finished sixth in the overall standings with 1284 points.
However, the Chinese region is still quite strong, and there are some interesting teams there. Team Aster is one of them. This team has been doing well both at home and at international tournaments. Besides, in spring the legendary Pakistani player Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan unexpectedly joined Team Aster, strengthening the roster.
With SumaiL, Team Aster took 7th-8th place at ESL One Berlin Major 2023 (the best result among the Chinese teams), 8th place at DreamLeague Season 20, 9th-12th place at The Bali Major 2023 and 7th-8th place at Riyadh Masters 2023. So we can say that Team Aster had a good season overall, but it didn't help them directly qualify for The International 12. So now the team will have to participate in the regional qualification to get to the main tournament of the year. It is a major favorite.
Team Aster has top-notch players with a lot of experience who know what they need to do to win on the map. Their main problem is the language barrier, because SumaiL doesn't speak Chinese, and his teammates don't speak English very well. Eventually, team's coach Cheng "Mad" Han took on the role of an interpreter.
The coach basically acts as a translator. He tells me what the teammates are thinking and also conveys my thoughts to them. The coach is constantly working. Everything happens naturally in the team: I do what I want, and so do my teammates. We don't have any particular problems outside of the game. At least I want to believe that. I have good teammates. I don't think we have a captain. I have a leading role in the team. It suits me, I enjoy it. Honestly, I wouldn't enjoy being a captain, but I enjoy being a leader.
If I teach SumaiL a word in Chinese, he will forget it the very next day. We usually try to learn English better to communicate with him. I know English better than the rest of my teammates, so I try to build communication between the two supports and SumaiL.
At the beginning of July, Team Aster announced changes in their lineup. Ye "BoBoKa" Zhibiao, the team's position 4 support, left the team, and Hu "Kaka" Liangzhi took his place. The atmosphere in the team has improved with him, as noted by all the players.
I think almost nothing has changed. Now they talk a lot during the game. From now on, there's not even a second of silence during the match. Everyone is talking. Sometimes I don't understand what's going on as 4 people are talking simultaneously. I don't know if they understand each other, but I definitely don't.
With a revamped roster, Team Aster is the main contender to win the regional qualifier for The International 12 in China. They have at least a 70-80% chance to win. However, China has always been famous for its unpredictable home arena battles. So other contenders can also get a quota for the main tournament of the year.
What other Chinese teams can win?
Another Chinese team, which is looking to win qualification, is Azure Ray, featuring the legendary Lu "Somnus丶M" Yao and Xu "fy" Linsen. The team had a good run at The Bali Major 2023, finishing in 7th-8th place. In their best form, Azure Ray could very well compete with Team Aster for a trip to the main tournament of the year.
The team's weak point is their young carry, Lou "Lou" Zhen, who often doesn't play his best. However, if "lou" managed to gain good form over the past two months, Azure Ray's chances of winning increase.
Xtreme Gaming is also playing well in China with a young carry and very cool supports - Zhao "XinQ" Zixing and Ding "Dy" Cong. It will be very hard for this team to compete with both Team Aster and Azure Ray, but in theory they can make it.
The dark horse of the Chinese qualification for The International 12 is Invictus Gaming, who managed to assemble a very strong lineup with Zhou "Emo" Yi at mid lane and Xiong "Pyw" Jiahan at position four. No one expects anything from Invictus Gaming, but it can surprise everyone. But other Chinese teams probably have no chance to qualify for the main Dota 2 tournament of the year.
Bet on Dota 2 with 1xBetWho will take part in North American The International 12 qualifiers
13 teams will take part in the regional qualifier for The International in North America. None of them can be considered to be of tier-1 level, and only one team is tier-2 by their level of play. All other participants are tier-3. The full list of participants of the qualifiers is as follows:
- Felt;
- nouns, Team DogChamp;
- B8 Esports;
- Wildcard Gaming;
- Lucky Bird;
- Ravens;
- Sand King Gómez;
- CDUB Esports;
- The Cut;
- American goons;
- TiltedBoys;
- GRIN Esports.
Who will win North American qualifiers?
Surprisingly, one of the main favorites for The International 12 regional qualifier for North America is B8 Esports with their permanent mid laner Danil "Dendi" Ishutin. The team has shown good results before, staying in the middle of Division I. And before the qualifiers B8 Esports has changed and strengthened its roster.
Thus, Alik "V-Tune" Vorobey, Denis "StoneBank" Korzh, Nikolay "CTOMAHEH1" Kalchev and Ivan "Kidaro" Bondarev will play together with "Dendi" in the qualifiers. This lineup is quite strong for North America. And if "V-Tune" is in good shape and will show a good game, B8 Esports can become the favorites of qualifiers.
We chose "V-Tune" to join our roster. We contacted him, he was interested to play TI qualifiers with us. I hope we will play together at TI. Of course, "V-Tune" needs no introduction. He is a top quality carry with a lot of experience. So far the games look promising. We are working hard and we will put all our efforts to play our best at TI qualifiers.
So now "Dendi" has a real chance to take part in The International 12, after a legendary comeback. However, it is worth noting that in case of defeat, the B8 Esports roster will fall apart and will have to be reassembled for the next DPC-season.
That said, B8 Esports cannot be called the biggest favorite for North American regional qualifiers for The International 12. That would be nouns, which regularly takes the third place at DPC seasons. And last time, the team even managed to beat TSM and compete at Bali Major 2023, finishing 15th-16th at the tournament. Furthermore, The International 12 has recently joined the nouns roster, which is definitely a boost. So it will be very difficult to beat nouns at these qualifiers.
