The South America region is about to take a big stride in the Dota 2 league with the upcoming 2023 The International slated for October as four teams have secured their slots at the tournament.
Keys Stars and Thunder Awaken have both joined Evil Geniuses and Beastcoast on the trip to Seattle for the TI12. It’s an incredible history-making feat as it’s the first time the region will have four teams at Dota’s biggest event.
Evil Geniuses and Beastcoast secured their slots on DPC points during the regular season, which gave way for Valve to allocate two more slots to SA, giving Keyd Stars and Thunder Awaken the opportunity.
It’s a testament to the growth of Dota 2 in the SA region, and what’s more applaudable is that Evil Geniuses entered Dota this year with an entirely new roster for the 2023 season. It didn’t matter, and it even performed better than beastcoast, who had to go through some rough patches and swapped out another star player mid-season.
Nevertheless, the duo got ahead of other teams like Thunder Awaken, who also put up strong performances throughout the year. Keyd Stars only re-entered Dota 2 for the first time since 2016 this year, and the legacy organization was the first to take their spot at TI12.
In Keyd’s lineup are regional veterans while also signing former Hokori standout João “4nalog” Giannini and newcomer Gustavo “fcr” Ribeiro. The veterans weren’t exactly exceptional during the season, but the new additions proved to be enough to help them finish first in Division II during the Summer Tour.
After Thunder Awaken dropped into the lower bracket despite being favorites, thanks to Keyd beating them, they used the lower bracket to secure their invite, although it was not without a scare on two different occasions when they were close to elimination.
It’s Thunder Awaken’s third straight TI appearance for Thunder Awaken, this time with a completely different roster from the one that finished fifth last season. Keyd’s qualification is their first time and the same as Evil Geniuses, albeit as a non-team.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
