TI12 North America Qualifiers: Which Team Will Take the Last Spot?
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author Zlosterr
Here’s more information about The International 12 North America Qualifiers.
Despite not being one of the most interesting regions to follow recently, North America is a place where everything is possible. TSM and Shopify Rebellion, two of the leading Dota 2 teams, have managed to collect enough DPC points to receive a direct invitation for The Internation 12. However, there is one more slot that belongs to NA, so the competition at the Dota 2 TI 12 qualifiers is fierce.
The matches here began a few days ago, and some of the teams have already lost their initial series. The good news is that the big favorites are still here, so let’s learn more about the TI12 North America qualifiers and see which teams have the biggest chances of winning.
General Information
Similar to the qualifiers in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and China, the teams here have to fight until 1 of them receives a slot in the tournament. There is a double-elimination bracket with Bo3 matches, except for the Grand Final, which is in Bo5. 13 teams will do everything they can to get the last slot for the event, so let’s learn more about the big favorites.
Nouns
When talking about the TI12 North America qualifiers and the big favorites, one team here is clearly on another level. Nouns have always been the third big name in the region, but it failed to secure a direct TI invitation. Even though the team achieved fairly good results against SR and TSM, it just did not get enough points to advance to the event’s next stage.
With that said, nouns have another chance at qualifying for the most prestigious Dota 2 tournament.
Considering the team is the favorite, it’s no surprise it started by defeating Sand King Gomzes. The latter is an interesting name among the list of potential winners. However, it seems like the team wasn’t able to do much because nouns were better and won the first map.
The next challenge for the big favorite in North America is Wildcard Gaming. The latter is also a pretty interesting name, and it already dealt with B8. However, the team is yet to face the favorite in these TI12 North America qualifiers.
Generally speaking, nouns have one of the best rosters in North America, so the team definitely deserves to attend TI. Currently, the roster has the following players:
- Héctor “K1” Rodríguez
- Nicolas “Gunnar” Lopez
- David “Moo” Hull
- Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos
- Luke “Yamsun” Wang
Sand King Gomez
SKG is one of the interesting TI12 North America qualifiers teams that some people can consider the hidden favorite. If you’ve paid attention to the 2023 DPC in NA, you’ve probably seen that SKG achieved good results, especially in Tour 3. The team’s interesting roster with many young players can impress us, and we’ve already seen it in the match against nouns.
Speaking of the devil, SKG had bad luck in the draft because it had to go up against the favorites in its first match. Even though the squad lost, it won one of the games and proved that it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Following this loss, Sand King Gomez is now in the Lower Bracket of the TI12 North America Qualifiers
In terms of SKG’s roster, you can find the following players:
- Francisco Esteban “lundd” Martínez
- SlaweE
- Luis “Luis” Echevarria
- José “N1ne” Martinez
- Jose “CHAAANNN” Diaz
Some of the players have more experience than others, which is good news for this team because it has potential. Of course, we will have to wait and see whether it can show what it’s capable of.
B8
Lately, B8 has become one of the most controversial Dota 2 team in the world. After the problems with Funn1k’s claims about Dendi and his team participating in match-fixing and not paying him enough money, the team now has to survive in the Lower Bracket of the TI12 North America qualifiers. Despite the fact that it started these quals as one of the big favorites, B8 already lost one match, so it needs to be careful.
Speaking of losing, the Dota 2 TI12 Qualifiers for B8 started with a match against Wildcard Gaming. Even though Dendi’s squad was the favorite, it wasn’t able to show what it had to offer and lost the match. Now, the team is in the Lower Bracket, where it needs to play against TitledBoys, which won the first series in the LB against GRIN Esports.
B8’s current roster is interesting and has the following players:
- Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey
- Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
- Denis “StoneBank” Korzh
- Nikolay “CTOMAHEH1” Kalchev
- Ivan “Kidaro” Bondarev
Team DogChamp
The last name that we have to talk about in these TI12 North America Qualifiers is Team DogChamp. Even though a lot of people do not take the squad seriously due to its weird name and logo, TDC has proven several times in Tour 3 that it has potential. Sure, the team wasn’t able to defeat the big names in NA like Shopify Rebellion and TSM, but it did well against the rest. That’s why we think Team DogChamp has a real chance of advancing to the event’s next stage.
The first clash for the squad was against Lucky Bird in the Upper Bracket, and as expected, it ended in favor of red2 and the rest. The victory means that this squad will now have to play against the winner from the felt vs Ravens match, followed by the winner against nouns and WC. It’s definitely going to be interesting to see what will happen, so make sure to follow us for more details.
As for the Team DogChamp roster, it has a few interesting names:
- David “dnm” Cossio
- Nicholas “nico” Martinez-Rossi
- Paul “Speeed” Bocchicchio
- Joel “MoOz” Ozambela
- Daniel “Bloody Nine” Foster
MoOz is undeniably the biggest name on the team and the player that should help the rest. He has been a part of several big names over the years, so his experience will help Team DogChamp.