The International 12 has only been underway for a couple of days but already, 4 teams have been eliminated. The group stage has been a wild ride to say the least. The seeding matches are yet to come but some teams have shown their teeth. Team Spirit have leaped out in front of Group B while favorites Gaimin Gladiators have trailed behind LGD Gaming in Group C.
But things have gone from bad to worse for South America. Two of the three teams representing this region have already been sent home. After Thunder Awaken went 1-7 in their first games and beastcoast went 2-6, there’s no way they’ll be able to continue.
Image credit: Valve
What went wrong for South America?
After last year’s performance, it’s no surprise that both Thunder Awaken and beastcoast made it to TI again. While beastcoast received an invitation because of their DPC points, TA and Keyd Stars fought through the regional qualifiers. What is surprising though is that they are among the first 4 teams to leave the tournament. Now, Keys Stars is the only remaining SA team.
Group B – Thunder Awaken
TA were only able to draw one series against Shopify Rebellion at The International 12. They lost every other game against Team Liquid, Betboom and Azure Ray. Despite drafting meta heroes including Bristleback, Dawnbreaker and Dazzle, their farm has been lacking coordination. Aside from their only victory against Shopify, every team they faced took an early gold advantage and kept it for the whole game.
Group C – beastcoast
Things went slightly better for beastcoast, but only slightly. They started strong in their first series against Nouns but things dropped off quickly. To be fair to beastcoast, having to fight it out with the best that China and Europe have to offer was always going to be a challenge. LGD Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators both made quick work of beastcoast. They tapped out around 30 minutes into 3 out of 4 of these games. It was always going to be an uphill battle for beastcoast in this group but that doesn’t mean it’s not disappointing for fans.
Team SMG and PSG Quest Also Eliminated
Western Europe and Southeast Asia have already felt some disappointment as Team SMG and PSG Quest have also reached the end of their road to TI.
SMG were playing with a last minute stand-in – MinD_ContRoL. That meant that the team didn’t really have enough time to synergize and make the most of their team comp. It’s not the first time that a Dota team has faced visa issues and it probably won’t be the last. Maybe the story would have been different if Masaros was able to join them in Seattle but it wasn’t to be.
Much more surprising is PSG Quests’ bottom 4 position. Despite being a fairly new team, the ex-Ooredoo Thunders have already made their mark. This year alone, they went as far as to place third in the WEU DPC tour 3 and 4th at the Bali Major. But despite a brand new partnership with PSG, Quest are still inexperienced on the international stage. Facing defending champions, Tundra and The International veterans TSM proved too much for the team.
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