What to expect from the qualifiers for The International 11 in Eastern Europe

The next stop on the professional Dota 2 scene after the end of ESL One Malaysia 2022 is the regional qualifiers for the main event of the year, The International 11. All the main details are already known, so in this article we will understand what to expect from the participants of The International 2022: Eastern Europe Qualifier, which will be held from 3rd to 7th September this year.

Format

The qualification will take place in the Double-Elimination bracket. The first matches of the lower bracket will be played in bo1 format. All other matches, except for the grand final, will be bo3 series. The owner of the slot at The International 11 will be determined based on the results of the bo5 match. The tournament will feature the top 14 teams in the region that did not qualify for the World Championship based on DPC points earned.

Teams that are unlikely to be able to surprise

Eastern Europe has never been particularly competitive. Of the 14 participants, a number of teams can be distinguished, which with a high probability will not qualify for prizes. These clubs did not show the best game during the season, they did not have any significant changes in their lineups so that they could compete with the strongest representatives of the region.

List of teams that are unlikely to be able to surprise:

• Hydra
• X3
• Team Unique
• cybercats
• Project Armor
• Pari Parni
• One Move
• HellRaisers
• mind games

Team Empire was supposed to join them, but the organization disbanded the Dota 2 roster.

Underdogs from which you can expect surprises

There are 2 teams in this category. The Belarusian club Nemiga Gaming this season managed to go through an extremely entertaining way, which most likely would not want to go through any organization.

Nemiga started the game season from 6th place at DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 1: Division II, after which they took 7th-8th place at DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 2: Division II Playoffs and left the season. The summer part of the DPC 2021/2022 Nemiga Gaming season started with a new roster. The club went through open qualifiers, then closed qualifiers, and again found itself in the second division. So bad and his teammates had a great DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 3: Division II, finishing in 2nd place, which guaranteed them a place in the first division. The team was qualitatively different from other representatives of the lower division, so it will be interesting to see how they play against teams of a higher level.

The second team that may surprise you is PuckChamp. Representatives of Eastern Europe started the season from the first division, then went down to the second. DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 3: Division II ended for the team in 4th place.

To participate in the qualifications, the team's management reassembled the line-up. It was replenished with players from Ukraine, namely Crystallize and Lil, as well as an esportsman from Belarus, young G. Lil can be called a veteran of the Dota 2 scene. Ilya Ilyuk has been performing at a professional level since 2014 and has already managed to go to The International 2 times. An experienced player intends to once again get to the World Cup. The updated roster will either fail or be able to create a sensation by pushing one of the candidates into the top 3 qualifiers.

BetBoom Team

The young club shows a fairly good game both during the season and at the local level. SoNNeikO and the team won the DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 2: Division I Playoffs, finished in 7-8th place at ESL One Stockholm 2022, and finished the final part of the DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 3: Division I season in 4- th line. In addition, BetBoom took part in tournaments of the Dota 2 Champions League series, where they won Season 9, 13 and 14. The team tried to get to ESL One Malaysia 2022, but lost to Entity in the grand final of the qualification with a score of 0:3. It is unlikely that BetBoom Team will be able to overtake Outsiders and Natus Vincere, but they can compete for the third place.

Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere is not very stable this season. The Ukrainian team spent the first two parts of the rating season in the middle of the standings, namely in 5-6th place. After the line-up change, the Born to Win improved their performance. The Ukrainian club finished DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 3: Division I on the 2nd line. But at PGL Arlington Major 2022, the team failed to pass the group stage and took 13th-14th place. It was evident from the game that despite the excellent individual performance of the players, especially No[o]ne-, NaVi failed at the draft stage. The team needs a coach and preparation of strategies for picking and banning heroes. If they do everything right, then the slot at The International 11 could be in their hands.

Outsiders

Due to the full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Russian esports club Virtus.pro is forced to play under the Outsiders tag. Outsiders took the upper hand in the DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 3: Division I, which allowed the team to go to the Major. At PGL Arlington Major 2022, gpk and their teammates finished in 7-8th place and earned 360 DPC points and $12,500.

The team was sure that they would go to The International 11 directly. At first, it seemed to everyone. However, then Valve recalculated all points and placed the representatives of Southeast Asia from Fnatic above Outsiders by 1 line. Thus, the Russian team took 13th place at the end of the season and must play the qualification, while Fnatic will go to Singapore directly. The difference between the teams was 1 DPC point. The Outsiders showed good performance both in the DPC league and in the Major. They must place in the top 3 qualifiers and continue to fight for a slot in The International 11.

Prize distribution

It is important for the participants of the qualifiers to get at least in the top 3, then they can count on a reward. The winner of the qualifier receives a seat in the main stage of The International 11. Teams that take 2nd and 3rd place will go to the Last Chance Qualifier, where they will fight for the last 2 slots in the main event of the year.

Recall that The International 11 will be held from 15 to 30 October this year. This time the tournament will be held in Singapore. The top 20 teams from around the world will compete for the biggest prize pool of the year. Its amount is determined by the sales of the Battle Pass.

We continue to follow the events of The International 2022: Eastern Europe Qualifier with EGW!