With less than a week until The International 2022 (TI11) Last Chance Qualifiers, we take a look at those who can be regarded as the ultimate dark horses heading to Singapore in hopes of delivering another Cinderella story at the biggest tournament of the year.
Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ) have been introduced in the TI schedule for the first time this year. The 12 teams part of the LCQ are those who placed second and third in each of the six regional qualifiers. They are taking the trip to Singapore to play on LAN between the 8th and 12th of October for the final two slots into TI11.
While six of these LCQ participants are clearly standing out as the favorites at the two TI11 slots, the other six have the potential to bring the chaos and deliver the next big TI story.
Polaris Esports
Inconsistency is what can describe best Polaris’ performance through the whole Dota Pro Circuit year. They started the DPC strong by promoting from Southeast Asia Division II to Division I, however, several roster changes had them bounce between top 4 in the second DPC Tour, reaching the finals in non-DPC events and then relegating again at the end of the season.
Polaris Esports roster
John Anthony “Natsumi-” Vargas
Mc Nicholson “Lelouch-” Villanueva
Nikko “Force” Bilocura
Marvin Salvador “Boomy” Rushton
nico “Eyyou” barcelon
Their latest upset was actually registered in the SEA regional qualifiers for TI11, where they knocked T1 out of contention for the one ticket available straight into The International 2022 group stage. They were in fact close to delivering SEA’s big qualifier surprise by pushing Talon Esports to a game five in the grand finals.
Interestingly enough, courtesy of Polaris, the SEA regional qualifiers grand final was the only series that went the distance, all other five regional winners claiming their spot at TI with clean 3-0 sweeps.
LCQ feature just two teams that are bound to begin next year’s DPC from Division II, but who also do have a strong chance at wrecking havoc at TI11 by delivering the most unthinkable upsets. Those two are Vici Gaming and SEA’s most unpredictable team, Polaris, and both are seeded in the LCQ Group A where many see Team Secret as the absolute front runner.
While no team will be eliminated from the LCQ group stage, fans should be prepared to see Polaris finding their way to the upper brackets of Last Chance Qualifiers and from there on riding the momentum to a potential big surprise.
Natus Vincere
It’s been far too long since the Dota 2 fans have heard the NAVI chants in a packed Dota 2 arena. NAVI haven’t made it to a TI stage, meaning into the main event, since 2014. They’ve managed to qualify with various rosters to TI5, TI6 and TI9, but they never made it out of the group stages.
This year, the road to actually playing in front of the TI crowd is even longer, but the dream is not impossible. Despite 2022 being a very difficult year for the blue and yellow Ukrainian organization, their Dota 2 team pushed hard and stayed focused to end the DPC season in second place in the Easter European league.
NAVI roster
Alik “V-TUNE” Vorobey
Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko
Vladyslav “laise” Lais
Georgii “swedenstrong” Zainalabidov
Alexey “Solo” Berezin
Arlington Major represented the first opportunity for NAVI to accommodate their youngsters to a live crowd, but unfortunately for them, their Major run came to an early end in the group stage. However, with Solo and No[o]ne- to guide them in Singapore, at their very first TI experience, the LCQ might act as much needed warm-up for what can become the biggest TI11 story.
NA hopefuls
Wildcard Gaming and nouns managed to stay in the middle of the pack through the whole North America regional league Tours this year. They’ve done so without major changes to their rosters. In fact, only Wildcard tinkered with their line-up, and that was done right before the TI11 regional qualifiers when they brought in Alone.
nouns roster
Guilherme “Costabile” Silva
Nico “Gunnar” Lopez
David “Moo” Hull
Zakari William Lee “ZfreeK” Freedman
Jacob “Husky” Fifik
Wildcard Gaming roster
Luke “YamSun” Wang
Ricardo Ernesto “Alone” Sanchez Fernandez
Cedric “Davai Lama” Deckmyn
Aleksandar “AleXxo” Diklić
Samuel “Sammyboy” Anderson
Between the two NA hopefuls, nouns seem to have a better shot at delivering the LCQ upset purely based on their much more experienced players. Except for Husky, who will be at his first big event, nouns players have years of LAN experience and even TI appearances and should have no pressure when facing the likes of Team Secret, T1 or Xtreme Gaming.
SA hopefuls
The South American region has been blossoming for a few years now. With every DPC season and every TI, the SA teams kept bringing their region to new heights. That happened mainly courtesy of Infamous, the first ever team to qualify for a Dota 2 Major, back in 2015, and then the first ever SA team to qualify for The International, in 2017. Since then, PaiN, SG esports, beastcoast and Thunder Awaken/Predator brought the SA Dota on every Major and TI stage.
Much like at the previous TI edition, SA will be represented this year by three teams who have secured a spot straight into the group stage. Hokori, who have won the regional qualifiers represent SA’s youngest generation of players joining now the veterans in their quest to push for a new SA record at the Dota 2 flagship tournament.
In the Last Chance Qualifiers, Infamous and Tempest are the two who will fight not only for joining the TI11 group stage, but also to register a new SA record.
Infamous roster
David “Parker” Chote
Leonardo “LeoStyle” Sifuentes
Frank “Frank” Arias
Miguel “Michael” Choque
Christian “ACCEL” Cruz
Tempest roster
Alonso “Mnz” Leon
Sebastian “Sebas” Taipicaña
Isaac Antonio “DrakenN” Zavaleta Lopez
Alexis “slad1n-” Cepeda
Romel “Mjz” Quinteros
If any of these two SA teams reach the TI11 groups, then SA will be fighting for the Aegis of Champions with four teams for the first time ever. It’s hard, nearly impossible to imagine that both SA teams will make it out of the Last Chance Qualifiers, but if TI has taught us something through its 10 previous editions, it must be that at TI everything goes.
