These six teams surprisingly didn't earn one of the 12 highly coveted direct invites to TI 2022 and will need to compete in the regional qualifiers to go.
Twelve teams earned the distinguished right to participate in The International 2022 after gaining the required amount of DPC points throughout the year.
This year, the distribution of the TI invites was punctuated by a frenzied intensity. Between incredibly close points and results and a discrepancy in point reporting, things have finally settled down.
Now, it is time for the remaining TI hopefuls to prepare for the upcoming regional qualifiers in order to book their tickets to Singapore in October.
Here are six surprising teams that need to participate in the regionals.
Western Europe
Team SecretTeam Secret had a difficult go of things this year. They missed two Majors in a row by placing fifth in the Dota Pro Circuit Western Europe regional league in both Spring and Summer Tours.
After just one series in the six-week league summer schedule, Secret replaced Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat, who is forced to an extended break due to health issues, with Baqyt "Zayac" Emiljanov.
Secret found their stride only towards the end of the league. But it wasn't until Riyadh Masters with Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok in place of Daryl "iceiceice" Xiang that the team began to really shine and turn heads again finally.
Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov stands alone as the only player who has had the honor to compete at every International every year since its inception. His (potential) missing the event will be devastating for everyone and officially mark the end of an era.
Team LiquidTeam Liquid had an impressive run through all three tours of the DPC 2021-22 Season. They managed to take first, then third, and then second place in the league play, landing a spot in all of the Majors.
The first scheduled Major ended up being held as Regional Finals instead due to COVID concerns, but the team took 2nd place overall.
But things didn't go as planned or expected for the team at the Stockholm Major or the Arlington Major where they took a disappointing 9-12th place finish with no DPC points awarded both times.
This is a fully stacked team overflowing with raw talent and charisma. But then again, the same can be said about the WEU qualifiers.
Entity, who turned heads at Arlington Major with their standout run, and Nigma Galaxy now boasting a roster with Syed "SumaiL" Hassan, are both among those vying for a spot.
Only one will land the official spot, two more will head to Singapore for the Last Chance Qualifiers.
Eastern Europe
OutsidersPerhaps one of the more heartwrenching storylines of the DPC 2021-22 season could be found in Eastern Europe.
The region was put on a season hiatus after Valve had postponed the DPC for Eastern Europe indefinitely due to the war in Ukraine.
The Virtus.pro line-up playing under the Outsiders tag got disqualified in the ad-hoc league play by Valve after Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko drew the militarist symbol “Z” on the minimap. Their disqualification gave a second chance to Mind Games, which Outsiders initially defeated.
However, Mind Games was not able to secure their visas in time to travel or participate in the event and after receiving a forfeit loss on day one, was then disqualified from the event on day 2.
Things didn't get much better for the Outsiders or the region at PGL Arlington Major.
When Fnatic lost to beastcoast, it not only solidified Evil Geniuses' place in The International but also crushed their own dreams, losing out on the invite to Outsiders by .05 points — or so everyone thought.
But according to Valve's official DPC website with the point distribution and rankings, there was a different story to tell, one that placed Outsiders in rank 13 and not 12th place to secure the invite.
All thanks to Math. Valve is rounding their numbers up and down. Which when their site was officially updated changed things.
Outsiders took third place in the regional league play for tour 1 (then known still as Virtus.pro) and then were heading towards the Major in tour 2 before being disqualified. In the third tour the team took first place but their 7-8th place finish at Arlington Major wasn't enough to secure them the appropriate number of points.
Perhaps if the team hadn't needed to be disqualified this wouldn't have been an issue at all. Hindsight is always 20-20.
BetBoom TeamBetBoom, formerly known as Winstrike became the first team in EEU to secure a ticket to the Stockholm Major, then Team Spirit. At the event, they faired better than the TI 2021 champions and walked home with a 7-8th place finish which gave them $12,500 and 240 DPC points.
In the third tour the team ended in 4th, missing out on the last Major but securing 100 points. This put BetBoom in 16th place overall at the end of the season, narrowly missing out on an invite.
Now with Vladimir "RodjER" Nikogosian replacing Maksim "Forcemajor" Meretskii they will no doubt be a contender for the regional spot.
North America
SoniqsSoniqs (formerly Quincy Crew) started out the DPC 2021-22 season strong. In Tour 1, they managed to come out on top of the league play securing 300 DPC points right out of the gate. However, in the regional finals, they took a disappointing third place, earning no additional points.
In the second tour, they narrowly missed out on attending the Stockholm Major.
Soniqs managed to repeat their first season feat and finish 6-1 in the league. However, both EG and TSM.FTX had an identical result and the regular season final standings had to be solved via a three-way tiebreaker. Former QC lost to both of their adversaries in the best-of-one tiebreaker format and missed the chance at playing at the upcoming Stockholm Major.
For the third tour, Soniqs were once again forced into tie-breakers but this time they came out in 2nd and landed their place to compete on their home field at Arlington Major.
But something just didn't work for them there. The team came in last in their group. Without securing a single series win, the NA team became the first to be eliminated from the entire event and never got to step foot on the main stage.
The result meant an 18th-place overall finish for the DPC season and not enough points to secure an invite. With EG and TSM both already securing a place at The International 11 main event, Soniqs chances to land the regional spot or at least the Last Qualifier slot are quite high.
China
Royal Never Give UpRoyal Never Give Up started out the DPC 2021-22 season with a commendable 3rd-place finish in the first tour that yielded a second-place finish in the regional finals. This gave them a whopping 250 points to kick off the season.
For the second tour, they were able to clinch a spot for the Stockholm Major when they finished league play in fourth place. However, unable to travel to the Major, the top four teams from China dueled it out for a share of the 750 Dota Pro Circuit points available in the format of the regional finals. It was here, that they took a disappointing fourth place and failed to secure more points.
Four months ago RNG took fans by surprise by removing their long-standing Malaysian support player Chong “FelixCiaoBa” Wei Lun from the roster in the Spring Tour regional league aftermath. Hu "kaka" Liangzhi was officially welcomed to the team as a replacement.
The change seemed to inejct the team with more life and they took an impressive first place finish in the summer tour league play, granting them 500 points and a place in Arlington.
Unfortunately, Daniel "Ghost" Chan Kok Hong's visa for the United States got denied in “multiple attempts" and Anathan "ana" Pham was recruited as a stand-in. Despite having such a ringer for the team, it wasn't enough for RNG to secure any extra points. Their run ended in 9-12th place, being eliminated by Outsiders 2:0 in the first round of the lower brackets.
They were unable to secure any additional points and ended the season in rank 15th overall.
It is expected that the team should perform well enough to secure at least a Last Chance Qualifier spot, if not the regional one, but with China, there are never any guarantees. The region is hungry for a TI win and every team wants to be the one to claim it.
The International 2022 qualifiers
The remaining spots will be decided through regional qualifiers September 3-18th.
All teams that participated in the third tour of the regional leagues have a chance to qualify through the regional qualifiers provided that they do not replace more than two players from their third tour's roster. As in the previous season, there will not be any Open Qualifiers. However, all Regional Leagues will have an Open Qualifier tournament for their Division II spots meaning that the third tour's open qualifiers will essentially act as TI Open Qualifiers.
In addition, on 22nd January 2022, it was announced that the second and third-place teams from each region's qualifiers will 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.
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.
- Read more about the schedule and format changes for The International 2022.
International 2022 is expected to be held in Singapore from October 8th (starting with the offline/LAN last chance qualifiers) through to October 30th with the grand finals.
