Southeast Asia had a lot of changes and odd circumstances impact how its qualifiers for The International 2022 looked, but in the end, fans will get to see Talon Esports make its TI debut in the organization’s first season after they made a 3-2 comeback against Polaris Esports.
Talon entered Dota 2 for the first time last November, and even though it needed to make some changes to its roster to provide some flexibility after its initial lineup failed to perform, the team is now packing its bags for a trip to Singapore.
Even though Talon didn’t lose a single game until that final series against Polaris, the qualifiers were not an easy road for them. Up until the grand finals, Talon did not have a game that ended before the 40-minute mark, meaning every team from Lilgun and Polaris (the first time around) to T1 gave them trouble.
It is a testament to the fundamentals and strength of Talon that they could withstand some of those games and pull things back in the closing minutes. Especially against T1, where they had to fend off both ana and Topson, it looked like Talon’s backline was more than capable of stabilizing itself in rough moments until 23savage was able to come in and clean things up.
T1 was the favorite throughout the entire qualifier, having brought in the former OG powerhouse frontline pairing of ana and Topson before the qualifier began. However, after dropping consecutive series to Talon and Polaris, their run ended prematurely at third.
That is still enough to punch their ticket to the TI11 Last Chance Qualifier, where T1 and Polaris will compete with the second and third-place finishers from other regions for the two final spots on the main stage. And even after acknowledging that Polaris was likely their tougher opponent, Talon’s most experienced player kpii noted that T1 is who he and everyone else will want to see make it through qualifiers.
“I really want to see T1. No flames but I really want to see T1 at TI Because you know, what’s a TI without ana and Topson right?” kpii said.
The TI11 LCQ will run from Oct. 8 to 12 before The International kicks off in full, featuring 12 teams fighting for those final two spots. T1 likely enters as a top six roster in a field of talent that includes Team Liquid, Team Secret, Outsiders, and Xtreme Gaming—but fans will have to wait and see just who shows up in their best form for their last shot at TI.
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