nouns will be heading to Seattle in October after making short work of Dendi's B8 in the grand final of the North American TI12 qualifiers.
The stage was set for one of Dota 2’s favorite players of all time, Danil “Dendi” Ishutin to make his way back to The International after failing to qualify for five years. Dendi’s team B8 were one step away from making it to The International 2023 (TI12), but they were halted in their path by nouns, who defeated them 3-0 in the grand final to secure the North American qualifier spot for TI12.
nouns made the trip to the grand final through the upper bracket unscathed, while B8 had to make a longer run through the lower bracket after dropping down in the first round of the upper bracket against Wildcard Gaming. But Dendi’s team showed a lot of resilience, winning five elimination series in a row to make it to the grand final.
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B8
B8The series was not too much of a challenge for nouns, who were clearly the better team on the day. The only real threat by B8 came in game 3, where Dendi played a mid Witch Doctor. But when it seemed they could have had a chance to win the game, B8 decided to go for the throne with the Faceless Void buying a Divine Rapier and going for the high ground siege without an Aegis, when Roshan was available! Needless to say, that Divine Rapier was dropped quickly and the chance to win the game went away as quickly as it had come.
This result will be a sigh of relief for nouns, who made a roster change in between the final DPC Major of the season (the Bali Major) and the TI12 qualifiers. They brought in experienced carry Héctor Antonio "K1" Rodríguez, but instead of kicking their carry, they kicked their position 5 and moved their old carry to the position 5 role. There were a few question marks over this move, but it seems to have paid dividends.
nouns' mid laner Nico “Gunnar” Lopez will be relieved to make it to his first TI after coming very close in the last few years, but stumbling at the last step.
Here's how nouns progressed through the NA TI12 qualifiers to a spot at The International 2023.
The International 2023 Teams
Team Liquid (DPC Rank #1) WEU
Gaimin Gladiators (DPC Rank #2) WEU
Tundra Esports (DPC Rank #3) WEU
9Pandas (DPC Rank #4) EEU
Evil Geniuses (DPC Rank #5) SA
PSG.LGD (DPC Rank #6) CN
Shopify Rebellion (DPC Rank #7) NA
Talon Esports (DPC Rank #8) SEA
(DPC Rank #9) SA
Team Spirit (DPC Rank #10) EEU
TSM (DPC Rank #11) NA
BetBoom Team (DPC Rank #12) EEU
Azure Ray (Regional Qualifier) CN
nouns (Regional Qualifier) NA
The International 2023
The International returns to the US after four editions held around the world. TI7 was the last edition hosted by the Key Arena in Seattle, where Team Liquid lifted the Aegis of Champions. From there on, each year TI went to different parts of the globe. Key Arena, which now is Climate Pledge arena from Seattle will be the home for The International 2023.
The International 2023: October 27-29
The eight teams that make it to The International 2023 (TI12) will play at the refurbished Key Arena, now Climate Pledge Arena, for a shot at the most wanted Dota 2 trophy, the Aegis of Champions.
Friday and Saturday will feature the upper bracket semifinals, finals, and the first round of elimination matches. The top three teams will return to the arena on Sunday, October 29 for the lower bracket finals followed by the best-of-five grand finals.
