A few notable players will not be competing in the upcoming DPC 2021-22 Season Summer Tour, but hope they return for The International.
The last tour of the DPC 2021-22 Season is about to commence. It is the last chance for teams to earn points in order to receive an invite to the International 2022, expected to be held in Singapore this October.
- Read more about the schedule and format changes for The International 2022.
Teams that fail to accumulate enough points through the season will then compete in the regional qualifiers for a slot at the big event or at the very least to participate in the offline 'last chance qualifiers.'
However, like last year, there will not be any open qualifiers. In order for teams to compete in the regionals, they will have had to play in Div I or II in the last DPC league tour.
That means players who are not on a team now, can only hope to be picked up by one that will make another roster change after the season and already has a slot in the regionals.
Five notable players whose absence from the last tour that we hope to see picked up for the qualifiers:
Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka
Evil Geniuses failed to get a grip on the tournament meta and were the first team to be eliminated from the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 with an abysmal 2-10 game record. Shortly after, they made the announcement that they were bidding farewell to back-to-back, two-time The International Championship player Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka.
JerAx had joined the team six months ago at the start of the new DPC 2021-22 season, assuming the position left open by the departure of Tal "Fly" Aizik.
Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosian
Vladimir "RodjER" Nikogosian joined Natus Vincere in September 2020, when the organization brought aboard, initially on a trial status, the entire FlyToMoon roster. Although the team did well initially, Unfortunately for NAVI and their fans, missing the Singapore Major marked a full decline. The ultimate result was that RodjER's TI stage appearances streak came to an end.
In August he was put on inactive status and joined CIS Rejects in November at the start of the DPC 2021-22 season. He and his teammates were able to survive the open qualifiers for a Division II spot and ultimately took first place in the league, earning them a spot in Division I for the second tour.
However, that second tour did not happen for RodjER & Co —Valve had postponed the DPC for Eastern Europe indefinitely due to the war in Ukraine. Instead, they were forced to sit on the sidelines and wait.
At the end of April, Eastern Europe Dota Pro Circuit made a return with a format tailored for a faster-paced competition and three spots up for grabs for the Stockholm Major. CIS Rejects didn't make the cut and in May RodjER tweeted that he was looking for a new team.
One that he never found.
After a very disappointing season, Nigma Galaxy decided to make a roster change as they bid farewell to Igor "iLTW" Filatov and welcomed aboard Syed "SumaiL" Hassanin.
iLTW joined the team in April 2021 after placing Aliwi "w33" Omar on inactive status. As a Russian player, it was his second big stint playing with a European team. Back in 2019, he started the year at OG, but his trial lasted only about three months after which Anathan "ana" Pham returned from his yearly vacation to claim his spot.
Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok
About eight months ago Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok announced his decision to take a one-year break to deal with burnout.
Last seen at HellRaisers, with whom he fought through the upper and lower divisions of the 2021 DPC, Resolut1on is one of the most accomplished Ukrainian players. His career features a marvelous Cinderella run at TI6, where he reached the grand finals with Digital Chaos, and also a surprising top-eight finish at TI7 with Team Empire, for which he stood in at the last minute as their carry player couldn’t secure the US visa.
Earlier last month he announced he was back and looking for a team.
Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann
Quincy Crew carried on through thick and thin for two years without official sponsors and roster changes. But for the DPC season 2021-22 the Crew made some big roster changes, taking on three players outside the NA region, Maurice "KheZu" Gutmann being one of them.
Despite having strong showings in both seasons, they failed to clinch the extra DPC points when things mattered most and missed the chance to play at the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022.
After not reaching the Stochholm Major the team decided to make changes again removing the three non-NA players from the roster.
The third tour of the DPC 2021-22 season will begin with league play on June 6th and is followed by the last Major of the season in August in Arlington, Texas.
