The International 11 is the most significant and important tournament of the year. TI11 will take place in Southeast Asia for the first time in Dota 2 history and will feature a total of 30 teams competing in a new format. Dota Pro Circuit points allowed 12 teams to qualify for TI11, and they will be joined in Singapore by the champions of six regional qualifiers.
After Team Spirit’s historic run at The International 10 last 2021, The International 11 is almost here. Here are the things that you need to know for the biggest Dota 2 event this year.
Tournament Format
TI11 features a new and revamped format and a longer schedule.
Unlike past editions of TI, which lasted around 10 days, TI11 will take place over 23 days from 8 to October 30, with longer breaks between the different stages of the tournament.
TI11 is split into four distinct stages: the Regional Qualifiers, Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ), Group Stage, and the Main Event.
Regional Qualifiers (3 to September 17)
The TI11 Regional Qualifiers will be held from 3 to September 17 across the DPC’s six regions: Western Europe, China, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America.
The teams in each qualifier are comprised of the teams that participated in the Summer Tour of the 2021-2022 DPC season but did not finish in the Top 12 of the DPC leaderboard at the end of the season.
The qualifiers will follow a double-elimination format featuring best-of-three matches except for the grand finals, which will be a best-of-five series.
Three teams from each regional qualifier will fly to Singapore. The winner of each qualifier will start TI11 in the Group Stage, while the second and third-placed teams will start in the LCQ.
For more details on TI11’s regional qualifiers, check here.
Last Chance Qualifiers (8 to October 12)
The TI11 LCQ will take place from 8 to October 12 and feature the 12 runners-up from the regional qualifiers fighting for the last two spots in the Group Stage. Dota 2 developer Valve Software has yet to announce the format for the LCQ.
Group Stage (15 to October 18)
The TI11 Group Stage will feature the 20 qualified teams divided into two groups of ten teams each.
The Top 8 teams will advance to the Main Event, while the bottom two will be eliminated.
Valve has yet to reveal the full details for the Group Stage.
Main Event (20 to October 30)
The TI11 Main Event will feature the 16 teams that qualified for the Group Stage battling it out in front of a live audience. The final stage of the tournament has been divided into two phases, which will be held in different venues.
TI11’s preliminary Playoff phase will take place from 20 to October 23 at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre. Once the competition has been narrowed down at Suntec, there will be a five-day break before the Final Playoff phase, which will be held from 29 to October 30 in the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Participating Teams
The 30 teams going to Singapore for TI11 are split between the directly-invited and qualifier teams.
The Top 12 teams on the DPC point leaderboard at the end of the 2021-2022 DPC season earned direct invites to TI11 and will start in the Group Stage. These teams garnered points by placing highly in the DPC’s regional leagues, Regional Finals, and Majors.
Meanwhile, the 18 qualifier teams were determined through the regional qualifiers.
The winners of the six regional qualifiers for Western Europe, China, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America will start in the Group Stage. The second and third-placed teams from each qualifier will begin in the LCQ, fighting for the last two spots in the Group Stage.
Here’s the complete list of teams participating in TI11:
Direct Invite teams
- PSG.LGD (China)
- OG (Western Europe)
- Team Spirit (Eastern Europe)
- Beastcoast (South America)
- Team Aster (China)
- Thunder Awaken (South America)
- BOOM Esports (Southeast Asia)
- TSM (North America)
- Tundra Esports (Western Europe)
- Gaimin Gladiators (Western Europe)
- Evil Geniuses (North America)
- Fnatic (Southeast Asia)
Regional Qualifier teams
- Western Europe: Entity
- China: Royal Never Give Up
- Eastern Europe: BetBoom Team
- Southeast Asia: Talon Esports
- North America: Soniqs Esports
- South America: Hokori
Last Chance Qualifier teams
- Western Europe: Team Secret, Team Liquid
- China: Xtreme Gaming, Vici Gaming
- Eastern Europe: Outsiders, Natus Vincere
- Southeast Asia: Polaris Esports, T1
- North America: Nouns Esports, Wildcard Gaming
- South America: Infamous, Tempest
The Voices Of The Tournament
This year’s The International Talents are composed of veteran analysts and new talents that proved themselves throughout this DPC Season.
The Battle Pass 2022
The annual Dota 2 Battle Pass also has a new format. The Battle Pass has split the duration into two halves, the first part running from September 1 to November 2 and the second part stretching from November 3 to January 12, 2023. While the first part focuses massively on The International 11, the second focuses more on keeping players hooked to the game.
As was previously explained by Valve, this year’s Battle Pass aims at keeping the hype and excitement alive even after The International concludes. It has been evident over the years that the release of the Battle Pass brings a resurgence of returning players to the game. For this purpose, the reworked timeline aims to keep the returning players hooked to Dota 2 for longer.
The new Battle Pass features two parts that are spread out over the course of 17 weeks. The first part of the Battle Pass focuses on The International and will run until November 2. On the other hand, the second part of the Battle Pass will feature the iconic Diretide event with a touch of winter festivities and run until January 12, 2023.
However, this year’s Battle Pass caused major disappointment among fans. Causing it to become one of the lowest accumulated prize pools in years (only 13,000,000 USD) as of making this article.
The Immortal III chest is absent, there is no terrain, and there is one fewer Arcana than in the last TI battle pass from 2020.
The levels for the Battle Passes have also seen a hike in price, and the levels required for prizes have been pushed back further. As a result, reaching those levels is now more challenging and there are also fewer routes there.
Valve subtly eliminated two significant methods for getting free levels. Both the diggable Portals, which provided a few levels based on chance, and wagering as a system are no longer accessible. Though two weeks after its release, Valve makes up by putting an additional 2-level limit every week for playing and a free week of Dota Plus subscription.
Even for massive whales, not having a physical Baby Roshan for Battle Pass owners who reach level 2,000 will be a blow to collectors.
Worse still, this is the first time when the Battle Pass will be released in two parts. That means that anybody buying the BP upon release will only immediately get access to one Arcana out of the five exclusive cosmetics—Faceless Void’s Claszian Apostasy.
Aside from that, this year’s battle pass still has its past features such as Fantasy Roster, Tournament Prediction, and the Cavern Crawl, a map quest to get exclusive items for Juggernaut, Slardar, and Crystal Maiden.
Phantom Assasin’s persona the Exile Unveiled also released, two weeks after the battle pass’ initial release, and many thought it was underwhelming since Phantom Assassin has one of the best-looking Arcana in the game and there’s really no place for a mediocre persona. Razor’s Arcana and Crystal Maiden’s persona will be released in Part II after The International 11 has concluded.
So, what do you think about the upcoming TI11? Which teams will win the Last Chance Qualifier and take the last 2 spots on the main stage?
Let us know what you think.
Comment down below.