The International 2022 qualifiers; Eastern Europe to kick things off

The International 2022 qualifiers are about to commence as Eastern Europe will be the first region to compete. Here's all you need to know. 

The first region is getting ready to engage in an all-out battle to determine the final team(s) that will represent the Eastern European region at The International 2022. 

14 teams will go head-to-head between September 3rd through September 7th. Only one will claim a spot in the main event. Two more teams will fly to Singapore for the offline Last Chance Qualifier. 

DPC 2021-22 Season EEU rewind

This year's road to TI has been a rocky and rough one for the formerly-known-as CIS region. 

After the first major being canceled across the board, the Eastern European region Tour 2 was put on a season hiatus after Valve had postponed the DPC for the region due to the war in Ukraine. It returned just prior to ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 with a shortened format and fast-paced, high-stakes action with three Major slots up for grabs for the Eastern Europe region.

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.

• Read more: Outsiders disqualified after Pure draws pro-Russian invasion of Ukraine symbol

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. 

• Read Fnatic or Outsiders; Valve's DPC website paints a different picture

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. 

In the end, it was determined that Outsiders did not, in fact, secure their invite and narrowly missed the mark. 

The International 2022 EEU qualifiers

Outsiders aren't the only contenders for the regional slot. 

Now with Vladimir "RodjER" Nikogosian replacing Maksim "Forcemajor" Meretskii in BetBoom, formerly known as Winstrike, this team will no doubt be a contender for the regional spot. 

At the halfway point in the third and final tour of the 2022 DPC, NAVI is sitting at the top of Division 1 in the Eastern European league and is definitely a challenger in the qualifiers for at least one of the three slots.

They may not have gained more than a handful of points during the season but Pari Parni featuring Gleb "depressed kid" Zyryanov and Pavel "9pasha" Khvastunov shouldn't be discounted at all.

• Read Six surprising teams that will compete in The International 2022 qualifiers

Of course, there is a new, game-changing patch and that means anything goes and it's anyone's game. 

The International 2022 EEU qualifier teams

• Outsiders (DPC 1019 points)
• BetBoom Team (DPC 629 points)
• Natus Vincere (DPC 341 points)
• Mind Games (DPC 136 points)
• PuckChamp (DPC 93 points)
• HellRaisers (DPC 51 points)
• One Move (DPC 50 points)
• Pari Parni (DPC 28 points)
• Nemiga Gaming (Division II 2nd place)
• Project Armor (Division I 8th place)
• Cybercats (Division II 3rd place)
• Team Unique (Division II 5th place)
• X3 (Division II 6th place)
• HYDRA (Division II 7th place)

The International 2022 EEU first matches

Lower Bracket

• X3vsTeam Unique September 3rd at 08:00 CEST
• CybercatsvsHYDRA September 3rd at 09:00 CEST

Upper Bracket

• OutsidersvsPari Parni September 3rd at 10:00 CEST
• PuckChampvsMind Games September 3rd at 13:00 CEST
• Natus VincerevsHellRaisers Septmeber 3rd at 16:00 CEST
• One MovevsBetBoom Team Septmeber 3rd at 19:00 CEST

The International 2022 EEU brackets

The International 2022 EEU qualifier format

• Double-elimination bracket
• Grand Final is Bo5, Lower Bracket Round 1 are 1 match series, and all other series are Best-of-three
• Two teams proceed to the Last Chance Qualifier
• One team qualifies for The International 2022

The International 2022 qualifiers

At the end of the third tour, the top twelve teams by DPC points are directly qualified for The International 2022.

The remaining spots will be decided through regional qualifiers. 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.