The International 2023: South America Struggles in Phase One
The first phase of Dota 2’s The International 2023 is complete, and South America’s representatives had a tough time. Out of the four teams from SA, only two managed to move forward, joining Team SMG and PSG Quest on their journey out of Seattle.
Unfortunately, South America didn’t perform well in this year’s TI12. By the end of Phase One, all SA teams were either eliminated or at the bottom of their respective groups, leaving fans searching for answers.
Surprising Eliminations from SA
Thunder Awaken had the worst record of the group stage, going 1-7 and being the first team eliminated from TI. This is a significant decline from their fifth-place finish at TI11 last year, although they brought in a completely new roster this time.
beastcoast, considered a dark horse for a deep run in TI12, was another surprising elimination. Despite being credited with the resurgence of SA Dota, they failed to win a single series and had their worst placement since TI10.
Evil Geniuses managed to avoid elimination by defeating SMG in a tiebreaker round. Keyd Stars, the other SA qualifier team, also survived with the help of Talon Esports’ victory over Quest.
The Journey of SMG and Quest
This year, both SMG and Quest made their TI debut with different levels of experience in their rosters.SM G was an underdog but had players with a combined nine TI appearances, while Quest had no players who had attended TI before but had the confidence to challenge anyone.
However, both surviving SA teams face tough challenges in the seeding round for the playoffs. EG will face Team Liquid, and KStars will go up against LGD Gaming, while Tundra selected their opponents.
Upcoming Matches and Playoffs
Team Spirit had a dominant showing in Phase One, finishing with an 8-0 record and already securing a spot in the playoffs. The next phase begins with Spirit taking on Shopify and LGD facing KStars to determine the playoff seeding.
Phase Two of The Road to The International continues on Oct. 14, with the playoffs starting on Oct. 22.
Related: TI 2023 Schedule, Quest’s Rebuilds, Team Spirit’s Revival
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