Dota 2: Who Has Qualified for TI13?

Those that have already qualified this way will enjoy knowing that they have a guaranteed spot in the most prestigious Dota 2 tournament of the year. They will also have plenty of time to prepare for the competition itself, which is set to take place from September 9th to the 14th.

Qualified Teams

The list of qualified teams thus far is as follows, sorted by region:

North America: nouns

Having placed 8th at TI12 last year, it comes as no surprise that North American squad nouns find themselves in the mix yet again this year. To book their ticket to Copenhagen, team captain Tal “Fly” Aizik and the rest of his crew had to go through their perennial rivals in Shopify Rebellion — beating them soundly three games to none in the North American regional qualifier Grand Final match.

Incidentally, Fly used to play for Shopify Rebellion, as part of the same roster that used to represent Evil Geniuses. For him to get to The International ahead of them speaks volumes about his consistency as a leader and as a player — though naturally his teammates like Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos and Nicolas “Gunnar” Lopez had plenty to do with their victory in the qualifiers.

As for Shopify, we think big changes are coming sooner than later. After all, this marks the first International that Artour “Arteezy” Babaev won’t be a part of, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see the organization rebuild the entire roster around him once this season is over.

China: Team Zero & G2 x iG

The yearly bloodbath that is the Chinese TI qualifiers has come to a close, with both Team Zero and G2 x iG making it to TI13. Both teams had to go through some serious cutthroat competition just to earn the right to participate at The International, so their accomplishments are absolutely nothing to sneeze at.

Team Zero had the better of most of the field, winning every series they played in to make it to the upper bracket final. There, they went up against Azure Ray, whom they defeated two games to one. This was not an easy task, knowing that Azure Ray’s roster contained true greats such as Xu “fy” Linsen and Zhang “Faith_bian” Ruida.

But Team Zero persevered, earning themselves a chance at the Aegis of Champions at TI13. For Remus “ponlo” Goh in particular, this has been a long time coming. The Singaporean support player has been working hard since first joining the competitive scene in 2016, so to see his efforts pay off in the form of an appearance at The International is fantastic indeed.

As for G2 x iG, they had to take the hard road at the Chinese qualifiers. For one, they had to contend with the red hot Team Turtle in the lower bracket semifinal — a match that went the distance with all three games played in the series. Prior to the match, Team Turtle had just come off of a series where they eliminated the legendary LGD Gaming two games to none.

But G2 x iG would not be denied, fending Team Turtle off after dropping the first map. They would repeat this in the final match against Azure Ray, who had come down from the upper bracket after losing to Team Zero.

And to think that such a star-studded cast almost didn’t make it to The International. Players like Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang and Yap “xNova” Jian Wei are among the best and most beloved among those that play in China, and it would have been a real shame to not see them contest the Aegis this year. It just goes to show how difficult it is to qualify through this region in the first place.

South America: Heroic & beastcoast

Over on the south side of the American continent, we have both Heroic and beastcoast set to represent their region in Copenhagen. beastcoast’s success in this regard really comes as no surprise, given that they’ve been a mainstay of the South American Dota 2 scene for years now. Their victory over BOOM Esports (which interestingly was formerly a Southeast Asian team) in the lower bracket final of this regional qualifier means that they get to stake their claim to the Aegis of Champions once again.

As for Heroic, one look at their roster tells you all you need to know. Veterans like Héctor “K1” Rodriguez and Elvis “Scofield” Peña call this organization home, and certainly bring a significant amount of both talent and experience to the table. Whether or not they’ll do well at TI13 is anyone’s guess, though, so we’ll have to see how they fare against some of the bigger names at Copenhagen.

Eastern Europe: 1win

In a pretty shocking turn of events, neither Virtus.pro nor Natus Vincere will make it to The International this year coming out of the Eastern European qualifiers. Instead, this honor will go to 1win, a squad composed entirely of tier 2 players that have never played for any of the “usual” organizations in their region — with the sole exception of Georgii “swedenstrong” Zainalabidov, who once played for Na’Vi in 2022.

But as we’ve seen with Team Spirit in the past: underestimate Eastern European teams at your own peril. Though the 1win roster might be relatively unknown, they could very well surprise us all at Copenhagen if they fly under the radar enough. Of course, this isn’t likely to happen, but none of us should be too surprised if it does happen again so soon after Team Spirit’s Cinderella run at TI10.

Western Europe: Entity & Tundra Esports

With the hotly-anticipated Western European regional qualifiers now complete, we have our two WEU representatives in the form of Entity and Tundra Esports. Both of these organizations have of course been to The International before, with Tundra in particular winning the whole thing back in 2022.

Therefore, these results are hardly surprising. Between two-time International champion Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen (playing for Tundra) and multiple Dota 2 Major winner Volodymyr “No[o]ne-” Minenko, there’s plenty of talent to go around here. However, Entity in particular will want to prove themselves at Copenhagen, after their less-than-stellar performance at Seattle last year.

Either way, though, it should be entertaining to follow these two teams in their quest for a world title. Along with Gaimin Gladiators and Team Falcons, Western Europe will once again have some really strong teams going into this year’s International.

Southeast Asia: Talon Esports & Aurora

If you thought the Chinese qualifiers were a bloodbath, then you haven’t seen any of the Southeast Asia qualifier games. A yearly tradition of fierce battle, this year’s edition was no different. From mainstays like Neon Esports and Execration, to the all-too-familiar names like TNC Predator, this year’s SEA qualifiers were just as exciting as any other.

But only two teams could be given the chance to represent the region at TI13, and these two teams came in the form of Talon Esports and Aurora. Talon’s upper bracket victory was not shocking in the slightest, given that they’ve been the best team in the region this whole year. And neither was Aurora’s own qualification, knowing that players like Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon and Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong play for the organization.

It’s important to note, however, that no Southeast Asian teams were directly invited to The International this year, which speaks to the overall strength of the region relative to the rest of the world. Both Talon and Aurora will have to dig deep at Copenhagen if they want to make it out of the group stage — let alone make a deep run through the playoffs.

A Southeast Asian squad has never won an International title; could this perhaps be the year?

The International 2024 is set for September 4th, and will be hosted by Copenhagen, Denmark for the first time. Stay tuned to Hotspawn for our coverage of the Dota 2 world championship event!