The Southeast Asian region has blossomed through the years, earning them the privilege to host The International 2022. Can they claim the Aegis too?
Filled with passion, grit, and talent, the SEA region has developed the reputation of being one of the 'hottest' spots for Dota 2.
An International championship title never quite panned out for them. Only two top-three finishes at TI’s through the years are all there is to show for -- Scythe Gaming’s third place at TI 1 and Orange Esports' third place at TI 3.
Former pro player, Wong "ChuaN" Hock Chuan was the first (and only!) Malaysian and Southeast Asian to ever take home the Aegis back in TI 2. Aside from that, the only Southeast Asian players that have ever come close to lifting TI once more have been Malaysian player Wei "xNova" Yap competing for PSG.LGD at TI9 with a third-place finish and another Malaysian, Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang, playing for PSG.LGD at TI2021 when he came in second place.
With The International 2022 taking place in Singapore, two teams —Fnatic and BOOM Esports— and an entire region are pining to get their hands on the Aegis of Champions.
Can they do it?
SEA Rising
Last year Djardel Jicko "DJ" Mampusti told GosuGamers that SEA teams are slowly becoming a real threat to the western and Chinese scene
I think every year SEA teams are getting better and we are slowly becoming a real threat for the western and Chinese scenes. I remember 5-6 years ago, it was just always a standard for a SEA team to qualify to a LAN event and finish in the last place in the tournaments. Right now a good number of SEA teams have already won international tournaments.
Five months ago Carlo “KuKu” Pallad stated
Right now, I can say that [SEA] teams have improved a lot. Every team has its own coaches, unlike before, where the players had to make every decision.
Fnatic and BOOM Esports secured their place at TI11 by accumulating enough DPC points throughout the year.
BOOM secured 1482 points and ended in 7th place. Fnatic secured 1020 and rounded up the invited teams in the last spot.
Two months ago BOOM Esports defended their Gamers Galaxy title in a back-and-forth best-of-five grand finals against Polaris Esports to become the back-to-back champions.
Small(er) LAN titles and DPC regional League top ranks are not enough to cut it on the International circuit and certainly not when up against the most elite teams from around the world.
Is either team in condition or form to land in the playoffs at The International?
Both teams are starting out The International 2022 playoffs in the lower brackets. In order to advance further, they will need to survive the brutal and unforgiving best-of-one elimination series.
- Team Spirit
vs
BOOM Esports at 11:00 CEST - Fnatic
vs
Gaimin Gladiators at 12:00 CEST
Making Waves
Perhaps BOOM's most exciting recent feat was their last day run in the group stage of The International 2022. They not only beat Evil Geniuses 2:0 but then when forced into a three-way tie with elimination on the line, they overwhelmed both Soniqs and BetBoom Team to advance to the playoffs.
Will BOOM be able to have a repeat performance and write their own Cinderella Story?
Can Fnatic shift gears fast enough and blow past their opponents to the finish line?
The International 2022 Broadcasts
The event will be officially streamed in five different languages - English, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese. In addition, there will be other streams with various languages available for fans across the globe.
English:
- Twitch: Main Channel
Russian:
- Twitch: Main Channel
Chinese:
- Twitch: Main Channel
Spanish Streams:
- Twitch: Main Channel
Portuguese Streams:
- Twitch: Main Channel
The International 2022
The International in Singapore will be the largest Dota tournament in history featuring 30 world-class teams battling out on the road to the Aegis of Champions across 4 consecutive weekends.
TI11 is expected to be held in Singapore from October 8th (starting with the offline/LAN last chance qualifiers) to October 30th with the grand finals.
- Read more about the schedule and format changes for The International 2022.
On 22nd January 2022, it was announced that the second and third-place teams from each region's qualifiers would compete in the Last Chance Qualifier LAN event prior to The International to decide the final two qualification spots - thus expanding The International 2022 from 18 to 20 teams.
