The International 2024 Closed Qualifiers; Western Europe and Southeast Asia

The International 2024 Closed Qualifiers will continue and conclude with Western Europe and Southeast Asia 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 began with China and then North America. Three teams – Team Zero, G2xiG, and nouns from NA claimed their region's slots. Then things moved over to South America and Eastern Europe with three teams seizing a spot. So far only Heroic has clinched a place with the second SA team being determined later tonight and the sole Eastern European spot being revealed later this afternoon. 

Beginning tomorrow the last two regions will have their chance. A total of 24 teams between the two regions will be going head-to-head and here's everything you need to know about it!

The International 2024 - Southeast Asia Qualifier

Dates

• Start: Wednesday, June 19
• End: Sunday, June 23

Format

• Eight teams invited
• Four teams from open qualifiers
• Double Elimination bracket
• All matches are Bo3
• Two teams qualify for The International 2024

Teams of Interest

•  Aurora invited
• Talon Esports invited
• Blacklist International invited
• Bleed Esports invited
• TNC Predator open qualifiers 

Of the only six invites that were bestowed directly to the teams, none were awarded to any Southeast Asia team. 

• Read Valve announces the six teams getting a direct invite for The International 2024

It would be pretty fair to say that it has been a stormy SEA this year. The region struggled for some teams to remain afloat while others had waves of chaos. The best would be Aurora having taken a consistent 7-9th place finish at various international events.  Most of the other teams struggled to even find their seat at the table for events. 

Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon
Artem “Lorenof” Melnick
Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong
Worawit “Q” Mekchai
Chon Kien “Oli” Chan

Although Aurora seems to be highly favored, Talon, Blacklist and Bleed are close second contenders… with TNC throwing a monkeywrench into the entire picture. 

After a five-month hiatus, TNC Predator returned to Dota 2 with a revamped roster featuring Carlo "Kuku" Palad. The team did not have the best year in Dota 2 and decided to take a break with CEO & founder Eric Redulfin acknowledging that it was “the worst season for the organization” but promising that the organization would return “in the near future.” 

Jinn Marrey “Palos” Lamatao
Yuri Dave “Yowe” Pacaña
Joshua “Kokz” Marano
John “Jing” Duyan
Carlo “KuKu” Palad

The International 2024 - Western Europe Qualifier

Dates

• Start: Wednesday, June 19
• End: Sunday, June 23

Format

• Ten teams invited
• Two teams from open qualifiers
• Double Elimination bracket
• All matches are Bo3
• Two teams qualify for The International 2024

Teams of Interest

• Tundra Esports invited
• OG invited
• Entity invited
• Team Secret invited
• MOUZ invited
• PSG Quest invite
• Nigma Galaxy invited
• Team Bald Reborn open qualifiers

Of the only six invites that were bestowed directly to the teams, two were awarded to Western Europe – Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators. 

Western Europe continues to be one of the most highly competitive regions in Dota 2. While the crown has been passed to Team Falcons representing MENA as the dominating team in the scene, WEU is still ranking at the top consistently. Although given two spots for TI, that barely seems enough to account for all of the teams and talent that are vying for it. There is no doubt this will be a bloodbath and it is entirely to see some upsets come through. 

Former TI11 Champions, Tundra Esports went through a tumultuous 2023 year and fell from grace after placing just 13th - 16th at TI12 in Seattle. In the event’s aftermath, they lost the entire roster. They picked up the recently dropped TSM roster only to part ways with it shortly after. Then there was the debacle with Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov being kicked mid-tournament of DreamLeague Season 22. Tundra missed PGL Wallachia Season 1 due to visa issues and then finally picked up  Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev for DreamLeague Season 23. They are primed to be one of the favorites. 

Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko
Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen
Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev 
Naltakyan “9Class” Edgar
Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon

If you are an OG fan then you already know this is not an organization for the faint of heart. If you don't already have on your Dota 2 Bingo Card ‘OG to defy all expectations and light the event on fire’ then you are probably living under a rock. Despite being a two-time, back-to-back TI championship team, they have had their shares of struggles this season. OG’s long standing carry player, Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev was moved to inactive status (and then eliminated in EEU playing with Natus Vincere) and replaced by Enzo "Timado" Gianoli. 

Enzo “Timado” Gianoli 
Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov
Adrian “Wisper” Cespedes Dobles
Matthew “Ari” Walker
Sébastien “Ceb” Debs

In what looks now like an Eastern European line-up, Entity enters the new competitive season with Volodymyr "No[o]ne-" Minenko and Dmitry "DM" Dorokhin taking on the empty slots left by Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau and Kim "Gabbi" Santos departure from the mid and offlane respectively. Their only Tier 1 event appearance ended with a disappointing 11-12th place finish. 

Alimzhan “Watson” Islambekov
Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko
Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin
Vladislav “Kataomi`” Semenov
Dzmitry “Fishman” Palishchuk

Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov and Dota 2 success seems to have parted ways recently. Immediately following his first absence at TI in 2023, Team Secret took a disappointing 7-8th place finish at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023. They then failed to qualify for BetBoom Dacha 2024, took a dismal 11-12th place finish at DreamLeague Season 22, an even worse placement of 17-19th at Elite League just this last week, and failed to qualify for ESL One Birmingham 2024 and DreamLeague Season 23 — despite yet another roster change. It seems they have played almost (if not all) every event with a new lineup. Is it just delusional nostalgic hope that Puppey will qualify?

Remco “Crystallis” Arets
Teng Tjin “Kordan” Yao
Miroslav “BOOM” Bičan
Aleksey “Shishak” Ustinov
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov

• Read It's no Secret; Puppey Power left behind

Nigma Galaxy are in the same boat as Puppey and Co. A dreamteam on paper of Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi,Kuro 'KuroKy-' Salehi Takhasomi and Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan, this team has fallen short time and time again representing MENA in its own regional qualifiers for some of the biggest leagues and LAN events of the year. Can bringing GH back into the roster be a change and the results they desperately need?

Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi
Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan
Saieful “Fbz” Ilham
Maroun “GH” Merhej
Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi

• Read Nigma Galaxy; The fallen stars

PSG Quest has not had the best of seasons so far. Sometime towards the tail end of the 2022-2023 Dota 2 season, they found the perfect recipe for success, but it was short-lived. Making a change immediately following The International, trading out Tobias “Tobi” Buchner for Abdimalik “Malik” Sailau, and moving to the MENA region, they have failed to secure any events (aside from Games of the Future invite). Fair to say, it isn't entirely their fault. They have been coming in second place for all qualifiers. Of course, MENA region typically has been getting one qualifier spot and those have been all going to Team Falcons – the new team to beat worldwide. 

Aybek “TA2000” Tokayev
Tony “No!ob” Assaf
Abdimalik “Malik`” Sailau
Omar “OmaR” Moughrabi
Andrey “Dukalis” Kuropatkin

After exiting the Dota 2 scene in 2017, MOUZ maked its return in the first quarter of 2024 and signed the Team Tickles roster led by coach Daniel "ImmortalFaith" Moza. The line-up was put together mid November 2023 but has made most of their appearances in Tier 2 events and qualifiers. 

Stefan “Ulnit” Gavrila
Ondřej “Supream^” Štarha 
Nikko “Force” Bilocura
Ravdan “NARMAN” Narmandah
Lukas Jonathan “Bengan” Hansson 

It isn't that anyone is expecting anything big to come out of Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski's stack Team Bald… but just maybe? This open qualifier team is STACKED with talent and fun. 

Janne “Gorgc” Stefanovski
Kasra “Mikey” Mesbah
Jonáš “SabeRLighT-” Volek
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
NAGATO

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.

Qualifiers for The International 2024 continue through Sunday, June 23rd so stay tuned, and for more match results and updates on the go don't forget to check out our Telegram channel.