The International 2023 - South America Qualifier: an extremely competitive battle in an emerging region
Maksym ShylovThe International 2023 regional qualification season, the main Dota 2 event of the year, has begun. The qualifiers in China and North America have already been played, with Azure Ray and nouns added to the list of World Championship participants. Next, qualifiers will come to Eastern Europe and South America.
Latin American representatives will join the regional race over the next four days. The International 2023 - South America Qualifier Long Qualifier will take place on the 22nd of August.
Within the framework of this article we will break down all the details of qualification in South America at The International 2023. We will tell you what The International qualifiers will be interesting, who has a real chance to place in the top 2 qualifiers, who can surprise and other aspects.
The main thing about The International 2023 - South America Qualifier: list of participants, format, dates of the event
South America has recently gained a lot of form and is no longer one of the weakest professional regions in Dota 2. Teams such as beastcoast and Evil Geniuses regularly play at international competitions, and sometimes even achieve decent results. Actually these teams have already secured their place at The International 2023.
It is because of South America's performance that Dota 2 developers Valve have allocated two slots in the regional qualification for local teams. There will be 11 teams competing for the coveted two spots at The International 2023. The seeding will depend on the number of DPC points earned and the final place in the first and second divisions of South America.
The International 2023 - South America Qualifier:
- Thunder Awaken
- Infinity
- AcatSuki
- Keyd Stars
- Mad Kings
- Infamous
- Universitario Esports
- Balrogs
- Lava Esports
- NoPing Esports
- Qhali
The above participants will meet in the Double-Elimination grid and will battle it out in bo3 matches. The Grand Final of Qualification is scheduled in bo5 format. The International 2023 - South America Qualifier will take place from 22nd to 26th of August this year. Among all the teams we can distinguish favourites, as well as teams that can surprise.
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Thunder Awaken and Infinity are the main candidates for a trip to Seattle for The International 2023
Among all participants, Thunder Awaken and Hokori can clearly be singled out. The TA players are consistently the third team of the region to hold their own in the DPC ranking season and perform confidently at third-party regional tournaments. To back this up, bronze medals at DPC SA 2023 Tour 2: Division I and DPC SA 2023 Tour 3: Division I are noteworthy. The team has also won the 1XPLORE LATAM series of tournaments three times. Mjz and his teammates are confident among the South American teams and with beastcoast and Evil Geniuses missing out on qualification should be heading to the World Cup.
Infinity, who recently signed the Hokori squad, are also very likely to clinch a coveted slot at The International. The team finished fourth at the DPC SA 2023 Tour 3: Division I, and also made their mark on the regional stage with a second-place finish at the EPL World Series: America Season 6, edging the aforementioned Thunder Awaken 1-3 in the tournament final. Yes, they may not make it through the top set on their first try, but they have a real chance of success at the bottom of the net.
AcatSuki's revenge: how to be without an organisation before the qualifiers and still have a good chance of success
The AcatSuki squad was originally supposed to represent Infinity at The International, but since Prada and his teammates finished sixth in DPC SA 2023 Tour 3: Division I, the team management decided to fire the squad right before The International 2023 - South America Qualifier.
The squad had a solid mid-table status in their region throughout the season. Yes, AcatSuki did not pretend to win the season, but they could cause problems. This is where the situation could repeat itself. This mix could surprise and knock a few good teams out of qualification and go far enough.
Who else could potentially surprise in qualifying?
Mad Kings and Keyd Stars can be added to the list of teams that can cause problems to other participants. The former finished fifth in the South American first division and had a similar performance to AcatSuki at the regional level, while the latter won the second division convincingly with a 6-1 record.
Conclusion
Unlike, for example, North America, qualification in South America promises to be more competitive and The International heresy, because the level of the region has increased significantly over the last year and a half. Thunder Awaken and Infinity are the clear favourites, but there are also enough players who can surprise and spoil other teams. We are talking about AcatSuki, Mad Kings and Keyd Stars. Either way, we're in for four days of intense Dota 2 action.
Maksym has been working at EGamersWorld since 2017. Joining the company during his first year at university, he worked as a translator until 2022. After that, Maksym began working as an editor. His main discipline is Dota 2, and over time, Maksym's responsibilities expanded to include CS:GO, CS2 and Valorant. Additionally, as an editor, he publishes various materials on gaming topics.