SA Dota loses both teams in first lower bracket round of Last Chance Qualifiers

A total of four teams will end their road to The International 2022 (TI11) in the first lower bracket of the Last Chance Qualifiers playoffs.

The first to head home empty handed and with their dreams shattered in the TI11 Last Chance Qualifiers were the two South American teams, Tempest and Infamous. The former landed in the lower bracket on the back of an abysmal 1-9 performance in Group A and had to wait for their opponent for the elimination match to be decided in the upper bracket opening series of the playoffs, Natus VincerevsT1 .

It was NAVI who joined them and came all warmed up and determined to dismantle Tempest.

 

Natus VincerevsTempest

NAVI opened the first game draft with Primal Beast and Shadow Fiend, which gave them the room to develop their draft according to what Tempest was showing and also secured for themselves Undying in the second pick phase.

With both PB and Undying absolutely dominating the drafts in the group stage, and both placed in the support positions by NAVI, Tempest found themselves in great difficulty establishing any sort of early lead or even keep the game under control straight from the laning stage.

Even so, Tempest allowed NAVI to have the Primal Beast in the second game as well and went on trading early kills with them on the back of a Vengeful Spirit-Bloodseeker safe lane duo. The first 10 minutes feature plenty of action, a total of 11 kills, about one kill per minute being split between NAVI and Tempest.

However, once NAVI had Blink Dagger on their offlane Enigma and Volodymyr "Noone" Minenko started to make his team fight presence felt, Tempest had no more steam to postpone their elimination from TI11 LCQ.

At the same time, on a parallel stream, the other SA representative, Infamous was keeping the hope alive for their region with a shocking first game victory over one of the Last Chance Qualifiers favourites, Xtreme Gaming.

 

Xtreme GamingvsInfamous

Widely regarded as one of the teams with the highest chances at grabbing one of the two LCQ tickets to TI11, Xtreme Gaming were sent into the lower bracket rounds by Team Secret earlier in the day. But, unlike NAVI, they started the elimination gauntlet with a worrisome first game against Infamous.

They got run over by a Beastmaster draft meant to push towers fast and corner the enemy team in the base by the 20-minute mark. Infamous itemized for early team fights and constant aggression, David "Parker" Flores on Juggernaut becoming a complete nuisance with his 10 minutes Maelstrom, followed by Linken’s Sphere, to dodge Xtreme’s Doom.

Infamous got extremely close to pulling the biggest upset of the Last Chance Qualifiers with a Huskar last pick in the second game. They kept the same aggressive stance through the whole game, put Xtreme at a disadvantage with clutch Roshan fights and control of the Aegis, but couldn’t breach the high ground when they had the advantage. A team fight lost in front of Xtreme Gaming’s tier three towers gave the Chinese the window to even the series and serve Infamous a taste of their own medicine in the third game.

Xtreme saved themselves from elimination with strong team fight tools and push power between a mid lane Death Prophet and carry Naga Siren. They forced the same early aggression Infamous displayed in the first two games and punished the SA for their last pick Terrorblade, who couldn’t keep the pace with Xtreme’s core in either farm or team fight power.

While Tempest and Infamous will have to start packing, Xtreme and NAVI prepare for a direct confrontation with elimination on the line. They are set to play tomorrow, October 11 at 13:00 local time, 07:00 CEST.