It appears that Valve has decided to forgo the Last Chance Qualifiers portion of The International for 2023, but it is it a good move?
One week ago, during the ESL One Berlin Major 2023, Valve announced the plans for The International 2023. While many fans rejoiced about the return of the pinnacle of all Dota 2 events to Seattle, Washington, there was no mention of the Last Chance Qualifiers as part of the plan.
Which left many fans and members of the Dota 2 scene scratching their heads.
What are the Last Chance Qualifiers?
Twelve teams fell short of the highly coveted spot in The International 2022 group stage. But they were able to punch a ticket to head to Singapore for one final shot —the newly added Last Chance Qualifier. Only two teams would survive the battle and advance to the group stage. However, the teams that didn't advance didn't receive any portion of the prize pool.
The LCQ was held as a LAN at the same hotel as the group stage with Valve/PGL flying the teams and providing the accommodations for them during this phase.
At The International 2022, it was Team Secret and Team Liquid that were able to advance through the LCQ to the Group Stage — and ultimately took 2nd and 3rd place in the main event.
It easily made for quite the Cinderella, Dark Horse storyline. Both fans and players alike supported the addition of the LCQ as part of The International circuit.
When asked about the importance of the Last Chance Qualifiers, Team Secret captain, Clement "Puppey" Ivanov andRoman "Resolut1on" Fomynok said the following:
“The LCQ is very important. Apparently, they are probably not going to do it again, but I want to convince them otherwise because the issue with the really stacked regions is that you won't get some of the best teams into TI. I think it's really valuable for any of these teams.
Let's say we would have won the WEU regional qualifiers, then you wouldn't have had Entity and Liquid at TI, and to be fair, Entity does deserve to be at TI, Liquid as you can see, made it to the top 4 and will play in the stadium this weekend.
The LCQ is an opportunity for a lot of teams to show what they actually got.
The LCQ is very important.
Apparently, they are probably not going to do it again, but I want to convince them otherwise
~ Puppey“
Resolut1on had said “The LCQ also shows which region is stronger.”
Support for LCQ
With it being so well received and so much support from even the players, it was quite disappointing to see that Valve has failed to mention the LCQ for this year, implying that they indeed have not intended to reinstate it.
The Dota 2 community enjoyed the LCQ format last season, and it also fits in perfectly to the competitive calendar since there aren’t many tournaments after the Bali Major until TI12.
Many believe that the LCQ is important for the competitive health of the scene and provides more opportunities for regions with a small number of slots to qualify for The International. At TI2022, a history-making five teams from South America were able to travel to Singapore to compete at the highest level. beastcoast and Thunderawaken had secured direct invites to the event via DPC points throughout the year. Hokori earned their ticket through the regional qualifiers and Infamous and Tempest traveled in hopes to gain access by participating in the LCQ. Competing internationally at the highest level is proven to be one of the best ways to develop talent and grow a region.
At a minimum, it is a nice way to clear up the inefficiencies and quirks of the system and slot distribution.
In addition, it also gives space for the teams that peak late in the season to still compete, making things much more competitive at the event. As it stands currently, the top seeds of regional Division 1 are substantially favored by the DPC point allocation compared to other teams and the top three or two finishers would advance to the Major for even more DPC points.
Potential arguments against LCQ
Last year's International spanned the course of three weeks. LCQ started on October 8th and the Grand Finals were held on October 30th. While there were breaks between various stages, it was a LOT of Dota 2. With LCQ + Groups + Playoffs, it is possible that many fans felt burned out from watching Dota 2 by the end.
Others did feel that besides Europe, all teams that were at the LCQ were not very good, which is why Team Liquid and Team Secret had relative ease in making it through. This then would mean that the LCQ was seen as a secondary European qualifier. Therefore, it would be preferred to have regional qualifiers that secure a more fair division of the spots and DPC points since all regions are able to secure those throughout the year in lieu of the LCQ.
Of course, there are also logistic and financial reasons that could be factored into the decision.
There is approximately a Major’s worth of cost that went into hosting Last Chance Qualifiers. Additionally, TI12 is in Seattle, USA, which is problematic for most foreign players to secure US visas before The International.
For now, it seems that the LCQ won't be happening, but it wouldn't be the first time that Valve changes their mind based on the community and player feedback. So there still is hope.
Also, there is still a chance that Valve has another idea brewing and will reveal some plot twist or introduce another idea in the near future.
Either way, it is important to keep in mind there is still one more Tour of the DPC 2022-23 season set to begin and one more Major.
