
Team Spirit and 9Pandas Join TI12 Lineup
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author The News One

Team Spirit and 9Pandas have become the latest teams to occupy TI12 direct invitation slots
Eastern European sides Team Spirit and 9Pandas have accumulated sufficient Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points for The International 12, aka TI12, participation. The conclusion of July 3’s Bali Major action confirmed that the two teams will remain in TI12 qualification spots before the tournament begins in October this year.
With @ggBleed being eliminated, @9pandasgg and @Team__Spirit are both locked for TI now.
– TSM can't gain points
– @questesports_ can't catch either Spirit/9Pandas
– only 4 teams can move up, which is only enough to push Spirit down to 12th (i.e. still safe). pic.twitter.com/doPE3zh0nl— Ben Steenhuisen (@Noxville) July 3, 2023
9Pandas and Team Spirit have both earned Bali Major qualification spots, which puts their DPC points tally to 1096 and 1020, respectively. Team Spirit grinded out a 1-1 draw against Execration in their final group stage series, which proved enough for their Bali Major survival. 9Pandas, on the other hand, sent Bleed Esports to the tiebreakers with a commanding 2-0 win to conclude their Bali Major Group Stage campaign.
Bleed Esports and TSM were the closest teams in the DPC Leaderboard to Team Spirit and 9Pandas. TSM could not catch a flight to Bali as they finished third in the DPC NA 2023 Tour 3: Division I, narrowly missing out on a top-two finish, which would have granted them access to the showpiece event in Indonesia. The North Americans, therefore, were not a genuine threat to Team Spirit and 9Pandas’ TI12 prospects.
Bleed Esports, however, had the chance to leapfrog them both since they arrived in Bali. The SEA outfit, nonetheless, failed to make it to the playoffs after falling short against Chinese outfit Azure Ray in the tiebreakers.
With Team Spirit and 9Pandas joining the mix, eight out of the twelve direct invitation slots at TI12 have been filled. Other than the twelve direct invitees, six other teams will qualify for the tournament via qualifiers.
TI12 Confirmed Participants
- Team Liquid (Western Europe)
- Gaimin Gladiators (Western Europe)
- Evil Geniuses (South America)
- Shopify Rebellion (North America)
- Tundra Esports (Western Europe)
- Talon Esports (South East Asia)
- 9Pandas (East Europe)
- Team Spirit (East Europe)