Team Secret are out of The International 2023 regional qualifiers and Dota 2 no longer has an all-time TI attendee.
The International 2023 (TI12) could have marked Clement "Puppey" Ivanov’s twelfth consecutive appearance on the TI stage. Instead, it will be the first he will be missing. Much like last year, Team Secret had to take the qualifiers road to the most important tournament of the year. But, unfortunately for them, this year’s edition doesn’t have a Last Change Qualifier leg anymore and a turbulent year ends with a big disappointment.
From runners up at TI11, Team Secret fell from grace right from the start of the new competitive season and no roster adjustment yielded the result Puppey was looking for. A last attempt at salvaging the year was made just a month before the Western European qualifiers, when Saieful "Fbz" Ilham was brought on loan from BOOM Esports. However, with little time to sort out the synergy inside the team, Secret ended up out drafted and outplayed when it mattered the most.
Entity, who are the first team to claim a qualifier spot in the WEU battle, knocked them down to the lower bracket and Quest Esports delivered the final blow.
Game one showcased incredible discipline and capacity to identify the winning condition from Quest Esports. They found themselves in a game where Secret demolished the early and mid game with a Razor-Pangolier-Dawnbreaker core line-up. By the 20-minute mark, Secret were leading 20 to 5 on the kill score, but their gold advantage was barely at 1k.
From that point on, Quest played a perfect defensive game, avoiding any engagements on the map and focusing on farming key items that would allow them to take a game-changing fight. The key moment came 43 minutes into the game when Oleh "kaori" Medvedok on Phoenix was ready to fight with Scythe of Vyse and Refresher Orb in his inventory.
Nonetheless, game two was a different story as Secret identified the issues and made sure that their early lead could be easily translated into a victory.
With the series reduced to a bo1 affair, Quest brought a Sven draft to stand against Secret’s carry Drow Ranger and went on dominating all the lanes and ending Puppey's remarkable TI streak.
For Quest, the battle for a ticket to Seattle is not over yet. They are now one series away from fulfilling their dream. The last battle will be against Luna Galaxy, who knocked them down in the lower bracket rounds in the first place. The series is the last on the regional qualifiers schedule and by the end of today, all 20 teams qualified for The International 2023 will be known.
The International 2023 Teams
(DPC Rank #1) WEU
(DPC Rank #2) WEU
(DPC Rank #3) WEU
(DPC Rank #4) EEU
(DPC Rank #5) SA
(DPC Rank #6) CN
(DPC Rank #7) NA
(DPC Rank #8) SEA
(DPC Rank #9) SA
(DPC Rank #10) EEU
(DPC Rank #11) NA
(DPC Rank #12) EEU
(Regional Qualifier) CN
(Regional Qualifier) NA
(Regional Qualifier) EEU
(Regional Qualifier) SA
(Regional Qualifier) SA
(Regional Qualifier) SEA
(Regional Qualifier) WEU
TBD (Regional Qualifier) WEU
