The International 2022 (TI11) was utterly dominated by Tundra Esports who will remain in the tournament’s history books as the team to have made the most flawless run at the Dota 2 pinnacle event.
Singapore played host for The International 2022. This was the 11th TI edition and for the first time, Valve split the tournament into two distinctive parts, and more so, held the action in two different venues. TI11 playoffs matches were held in a rather intimate set-up at Suntec Singapore, a venue with around 5000 seats. The top 8 teams then moved into the main event at Singapore Indoor Stadium where the action resumed after a four-day break between the two stages of the tournament. The same format, but split into three weekends across the month of October will be followed at this year’s TI, in Seattle.
Despite the new format and the considerably lower prize pool compared to the previous, year, Tundra Esports were able to display a truly dominant form throughout the entire tournament. They found a perfect way to itemize, almost abusing the strongest aura items in the game and placed first in their group to then proceed to an undefeated playoffs bracket run and claimed the Aegis with a stunning 3-0 victory over Team Secret in the grand finals. Tundra’s victory at TI11 is equally attributed to the five players who had a perfect performance throughout the whole tournament and to coach Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling, who last year became the first ever to have won TI as a player and as a coach.
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Tundra Esports TI11 roster
Tundra Esports
Oliver “Skiter” Lepko
Leon “Nine” Kirilin
Neta “33” Shapira
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
Jing “Sneyking” Wu
So where are the TI11 champions now?
Following TI11, Tundra Esports dealt with multiple external factors, as Aui_2000 would tell GosuGamers in an interview held at the last Major before TI12. Some of the external factors were health issues of their position 4 support Martin "Saksa" Sazdov. The competitive season hasn’t been great for them, but it was good enough to ensure them a ticket to TI12, where they will come to defend their Aegis with four of the five players from the original roster.
Unfortunately for Saksa, the health issues progressed through the season up to the point where he couldn’t finish the tournaments. At Bali Major, Aui_2000 stood in for Saksa beginning with the second day of group stage matches. A couple of weeks later, he had to do the same and stand in for his team at Riyadh Masters 2023 beginning with the third day of group play.
After these two events, it became clear that Saksa wouldn’t be ready for TI12 and had to step down from the active roster. Tundra announced his extended break on September 6, 2023 and went to the last Dota 2 tournament before The International 2023 with the double TI Champion Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen joining in the mid lane.
Upon his arrival, Nine had to switch roles and will go for a two-peat on the TI stage from position 4 support.
