The International 2024 Closed Qualifiers will be kicking off this weekend with China and North America in the spotlight.
It's that time of the year! Closed Qualifiers for The International 2024 are beginning and teams from all over the world will be throwing in their best tactics and pocket strats to land one of the most coveted spots in the Dota 2 pro scene.
Things begin on Sunday with China and then North America. A total of 20 teams from the two regions will be going head-to-head and here's everything you need to know about it!
The International 2024 - China Qualifier
Dates
- Start: Sunday, June 9
- End: Thursday, June 13
Format
- Six teams invited
- Six teams from open qualifiers
- Double elimination-bracket
- All matches are Bo3
- Two teams qualify for The International 2024
Teams of Interest*
- G2 x iG invited
- Azure Ray invited
- LGD Gaming invited
- Old Warrior open quals
- TEAM TURTLE open quals
* Important note: The second round of open qualifiers is still happening. Things will wrap up on Saturday, June 8th with three more teams advancing to the closed qualifiers. However, most teams and players of notable interest have already secured their spot.
Only six invites were bestowed directly to the teams. Of those, it was only Xtreme Gaming from China that received one.
G2 Esports entered the Dota 2 scene with Invictus Gaming partnership in December. Since then the stacked team has had several appearances at the big LAN events but has come up short in results each time. This roster is filled with the potential to secure one of the two slots. Just look at it:
Du “Monet” Peng
Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang
Jun Wen “JT-” Thiay
Zhibiao “BoBoKa” Ye
Jian Wei “xNova-” Yap
After losing nearly the full team following their championship win at ESL One KL, Azure Ray's new lineup is fearsome. They participated in all of the big events for the season and narrowly missed out on enough qualifying points for Riyadh Masters next month. Most fans are probably expecting to see this lineup make it through.
Zhen “lou” Lou
Jiaoyang “Ori” Zeng
Zhang “Faith_Bian” Ruida
Xu “fy” Linsen
Jiang “天命” An
Two months ago LGD halted their Dota 2 team following rumors of bankruptcy. They withdrew from Elite League citing unsatisfactory results. Then two weeks ago they announced they were back, with one change in the lineup, Echo replacing Gao "Setsu" Zhenxiong. While they don't have much to show in results this year, they more than makeup for it with potential and talent.
Xuanang “Shiro” Guo
Ziliang “Echo” Xu
Kongbo “Niu” Li
Jiahan “Pyw” Xiong
Yiping “y`” Zhang
Speaking of Setsu, he will be competing in the closed qualifiers under the Old Warrior banner alongside some legendary Chinese players. This team is no doubt going to give their opponents a run for their money.
Yangwei “old eLeVeN” Ren
Liangzhi “KAKA” Hu
Just as Team Turtle will undoubtedly do. I mean, just look at this lineup: (This might be our darkhorse favorite honestly)
Shenyi “Chalice” Yang
Yao “Somnus丶M” Lu
Haiyang “Yang” Zhou
The International 2024 - North America Qualifier
Dates
- Start: Sunday, June 9
- End: Thursday, June 13
Format
- Three teams invited
- Five teams from open qualifiers
- One team qualifies for The International 2024
Teams of Interest*
* Important note: The second round of open qualifiers is still happening. Things will wrap up on Saturday, June 8th with three more teams advancing to the closed qualifiers. However, most teams and players of notable interest have already their spot.
Of the only six invites that were bestowed directly to the teams, none were awarded to any North American team.
Subpar results have led to nonstop tinkering with Shopify's roster. The latest was less than two weeks ago when Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek was replaced by Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov. With only one spot up for grabs, the addition of MinD_ContrRoL will need to elevate their performances big time – which is entirely possible.
Artour “Arteezy” Babaev
Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer
Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Borislavov Ivanov
Kartik “Kitrak” Rathi
Rolen Andre Gabriel “Skem” Ong
An underwhelming performance at BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 brought about a roster change for nouns. Adding Philipp "Copy" Bühler in place of Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau has at least yielded the results of a spot at Riyadh Masters. They have their work cut out for them against Shopify Rebellion, but they are completely capable of overpowering them – after all they took the Riyadh spot with a 3:2 victory over Shopify.
Yuma “Yuma” Langlet
Copy
Nico “Gunnar” Lopez
Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos
Tal “Fly” Aizik
Both Grin and Apex have notable and regional veterans on the rosters. It wouldn't be a complete shot in the dark to say there is potential for either of these teams to rise to the occasion and usurp the two favorites – but if we are honest, it will be a very tall order.
The International 2024 (TI13)
The International 2024 is set to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark in September at the Royal Arena. This will mark the second time The International is coming to Europe, but the first time when, hopefully, fans will be able to attend. The first time Valve tried to bring its most prestigious tournament to Europe was in 2020 when the pandemic hit the world. TI10 was postponed for 2021 and moved from Sweden to Romania, and although tickets were sold, a new wave of coronavirus forced Valve to refund all tickets and hold the tournament in an empty stadium in Bucharest. Since then, TI moved to Singapore in 2022 and last year it returned home, to Seattle.