The International 2022 qualifiers; China's crusade begins

Chinese teams head into The International 2022 qualifiers hungry to gain a spot at the main event and be the team to claim the Aegis for the region once again. 

It has been six years since China won The International. 

In 2016 Wings Gaming rose from the Chinese qualifiers to bringing the Aegis of Champions back to China following a spectacular 3:1 victory over Digital Chaos. 

Dominating the Upper Brackets of TI6, the Chinese sensations overpowered the world’s best with relative ease. Their immense hero pool, unconventional strategies and drafts, mechanical prowess, communication, rotation, synergy, and teamwork were superior and on point, leaving little room for opponents to find openings and knock down their high spirits and flow.

They were later nominated for the prestigious Laureus Awards, alongside well-known athletes and sports teams from across the world, and also received a certificate from the Guinness World Records for winning the largest single prize in esports (at that time) – $9,139,002.

In 2017 the region came close, with Newbee claiming a spot in the grand finals, but fell short as Team Liquid (now Nigma) took a convincing 3:0 sweep over them. 

In 2018 PSG.LGD came painfully close with a heartbreaking 2:3 loss to OG. Their crushing loss was followed up by a third-place finish by LGD on their home turf at TI9 in Shanghai, only for more salt to be added to their wound in 2021 with a 2:3 loss in the grand finals of The International to Team Spirit.

More than hungry, this region is famished for redemption and a TI win, and every organization in China is clamoring to be the ones to claim it. 

The International 2022 China qualifiers

13 teams will go head-to-head between September 8thd through September 12th. Only one will claim a spot in the main event to join LGD.PSG and Team Aster. Two more teams will fly to Singapore for the offline Last Chance Qualifier. 

At the forefront? Two teams stand out. 

Royal Never Give Up started out the DPC 2021-22 season with a commendable 3rd-place finish in the first tour that yielded a second-place finish in the regional finals. This gave them a whopping 250 points to kick off the season. 

For the second tour, they were able to clinch a spot for the Stockholm Major when they finished league play in fourth place. However, unable to travel to the Major, the top four teams from China dueled it out for a share of the 750 Dota Pro Circuit points available in the format of the regional finals. It was here, that they took a disappointing fourth place and failed to secure more points. 

Four months ago RNG took fans by surprise by removing their long-standing Malaysian support player Chong “FelixCiaoBa” Wei Lun from the roster in the Spring Tour regional league aftermath.  Hu "kaka" Liangzhi was officially welcomed to the team as a replacement. 

The change seemed to inject the team with more life and they took an impressive first-place finish in the summer tour league play, granting them 500 points and a place in Arlington. 

Unfortunately, Daniel "Ghost" Chan Kok Hong's visa for the United States got denied in “multiple attempts" and  Anathan "ana" Pham was recruited as a stand-in. Despite having such a ringer for the team, it wasn't enough for RNG to secure any extra points. Their run ended in 9-12th place, being eliminated by Outsiders 2:0 in the first round of the lower brackets. 

They were unable to secure any additional points and ended the season in rank 15th overall. 

RNG is the top contender to take the allotted slot for TI2022, but Xtreme Gaming has already proven that they will be a strong challenger. 

As one of the four Chinese teams that should have attended the Arlington Major in the US, the team decided to withdraw after encountering visa issues and other potential logistical problems. Well outside of the top 12 in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings and needing a top 3 finish in Arlington to secure themselves a spot at The International 2022 based on DPC points, the team decided to not take any risks by traveling during a pandemic and focus on preparing for the qualifiers.

 

The International 2022 China qualifier teams

•  Royal Never Give Up (DPC 738 points)
•  Xtreme Gaming (DPC 440 points)
•  EHOME (DPC 51 points)
•  Aster.Aries (DPC 42 points)
•  Vici Gaming (DPC 42 points)
•  CDEC Gaming (Division II 1st place)
•  Invictus Gaming (Division II 2nd place)
•  Ybb Gaming (Division I 8th place)
•  Team MagMa (Division II 3rd place)
•  LBZS (Division II 4th place)
•  ShenZhen (Division II 5th place)
•  Team Fusion (Division II 6th place)
• Team Saiyan (Division II 8th place)

The International 2022 China first matches

Lower Bracket

• Team FusionvsTeam Saiyan September 8th at 03:00 CEST

Upper Bracket

•  Royal Never Give UpvsYbb Gaming September 8th at 04:00 CEST
•  Vici GamingvsAster.Aries September 8th at 07:00 CEST
•  EHOMEvsCDEC Gaming September 8th at 10:00 CEST
•  Invictus GamingvsXtreme Gaming September 8th at 13:00 CEST

The International 2022 China brackets

 

The International 2022 China qualifier format

• Double-elimination bracket
• Lower Bracket Round 1 is a 1 match series
•  All other series are Best-of-three
• Grand Final is Best-of-five
• 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) to October 30th with the grand finals.