Issue 20: The Standington Major approaches
Visa issues abound, ESL One Genting, and... The Great Confluence?
Here’s your 30-second summary for this issue of Ancient Tidings:
More than a few teams have been hobbled by visa issues as the Arlington Major approaches… potentially affecting their TI chances
The roster of teams participating at ESL One Genting (fresh after the conclusion of the Major!) has been finalized after a series of grueling qualifiers
A former, iconic pro announces their return
Visa issues. So. Many. Visa issues.
The US is notorious for having arbitrarily strict visa regulations, with more than a few people saying that sometimes your likelihood of entering the land of the free depends on the mood of the officer looking at your case.
People have been pointing fingers at the length of the DPC resulting in shorter time frames for teams (and orgs) to get their paperwork in order, they’ve been blaming PGL for potentially filing for a type of visa that’s more likely to get rejected, they’ve been haplessly waving about and blaming the war in Ukraine… but the fact is, a lot of teams won’t be at their full potential at Arlington. This is the last Major before TI, and for a lot of teams, a high placement here could result in them avoiding the absolute bloodbath that is the TI qualifiers.
It is what it is, now. Here’s what we know of the teams who’ve been impacted by visas (or lack thereof) so far:
Fnatic:
Fnatic will be allowed to participate at PGL Arlington Major 2022 with three substitutes as the main roster players encountered difficulties obtaining US visas. #PGLMajor
DJ and Jabz managed to secure their visas… the others, not so much. Rather surprising, since both Raven and Armel have travelled to more than a few international LANs before.
At the time of writing, Fnatic hasn’t announced their standins… although, rumour has it that Timado will be standing in for them. As for the other 2, well, only time will tell.Entity:
DEBUT MAJOR LET'S GOOOO! 🔥🔥🔥 Here's our squad for the event! 1. @jonas_volek 2. @StormingStorm 3. @TobiDotes 4. @Kataomi__ 5. @FishmanDota2 (C) We might not be at full strength, but we will give our best fight at Arlington! #OneEntityHailing from a country that started the largest full-scale military operation on European soil after World War 2, while also publicly supporting said military operation… Pure’s visa being rejected is hardly surprising.
Despite this, though, you’d be hard-pressed to deny that Pure’s absence is sure to be felt. Entity have been on fire after his addition, with his vast hero pool enabling everything from carry Sniper to carry Windranger. Not always with the greatest success, but I can’t remember a player who’s caused more rampages than Pure, in recent memory.
Saberlight- is… an interesting replacement, to say the least. Dual-offlane core, lets go!
Xtreme Gaming:
Xtreme Gaming withdrew from PGL Arlington Major 2022. One player's USA visa was denied several times, and the team decided not to attend the Major. No other team will take Xtreme's slot. #PGLMajor
Ah, were you itching to see the likes of Paparazzi go up against Abed? Well, too bad. US’ ICE has something to say about that.
XG needed a top-3 placement at Arlington to guarantee themselves a TI invite. With a standin, chances of that happening are impacted, understandably. Instead of going through the hassle of international travel (not to mention the chances of quarantine for them upon their return back in China, impacting their ability to actually travel to TI)… XG took the call to focus on the TI quals.
A bummer, for sure. No replacement as well, so one group will have a team less than the other.Talon:
HERE IS YOUR TEAM FOR THE ARLINGTON MAJOR! 🇹🇭 @23savageDotA 🇮🇩 @mikoto347 🇦🇺 @kpiidota 🇮🇩 @KennyXepher 🇮🇩 @hydedota2 Unfortunately due to Visa restrictions, Q will be unable to play with us in Arlington. #DotA2 #ArlingtonMajor #SOARWITHTALON
Long-time former teammates 23Savage and Xepher reunite, although I’m sure Talon would’ve preferred this reunion to be happening under happier circumstances.
Q, their in-game leader and drafter instantly lifted up the team after he joined Talon. Xepher, while of course being one of the top pos 4s from SEA, has a markedly different playstyle. It’ll be interesting to see how Talon utilizes Xepher’s playstyle.OG:
We have once more asked old man @Ceb to dust off his keyboard and get ready for another adventure with the younglings. > Player 6 rejoins the lobby. #DreamOG
Because of course.
Jokes aside… this is probably terrible for the likes of Misha and Chu. Misha was given full reign to build this squad from the ground up, and he hasn’t been able to make it physically on the big stage with them, due to factors not within his control.
We can talk about Ceb’s WR all we want but… I just feel bad for Misha and Chu. At least they went to Riyadh, and hopefully, they make it to Genting, too.
Speaking of OG…RNG:
Yes, you read that right. Ana will be standing in for RNG’s Ghost, whose visa got denied. Ironic, considering he’ll be teaming up with 3 other fellow TI8 grand finalists. Ana and Somnus is a killer combo, if one of them is on form…
The Arlington Major begins on the 4th of August. One can only hope the quality of Dota is untarnished by these logistical issues.Do you think the quality of the Major will be compromised? Which standin are you excited to see? Who do you think will standin for Fnatic? Let me know!
ESL One Genting 2022
Fans of high-level Dota, fret not! You’ll have less than 10 days before your appetite for pro-Dota 2 is once again sated. ESL returns with a non-DPC LAN at none other than the Genting Highlands, Malaysia… after 4 years! The last time this took place, a banned org ended up getting the trophy. I’ll leave it up to you, my dear reader, to figure this one out.
The length of the DPC hasn’t left a lot of room for third-party tournaments, so any tournament like this is a welcome sight. A precursor to a SEA TI, yes please.
Some good practice for teams like Secret, Nigma Galaxy and Alliance who aren’t making it to Arlington.
Gamers Galaxy Thailand
What, you thought only Malaysia and Singapore can have fun in SEA? What’s more, this event is free to the public. Bring on the Dota 2!
Alliance roster update
After a disappointing, win-less DPC Tour Alliance clearly needed some things to change. They read the hints and decided to tweak a few things. Here’s their new roster:
Dukalis was part of the lightning-in-a-bottle Puckchamp squad that nearly topped the first DPC Tour this Season, a result that would’ve sent them to a Major that unfortunately ended up being cancelled. The ramshackle format of the next DPC Tour for EEU resulted in favourites PuckChamp and Hellraisers dropping to Div 2… a shocker given their calibre.
PuckChamp couldn’t make it back up, but Hellraisers did.
With former-HR offlaner Limitless on the team, perhaps Alliance can find it in themselves to once again make the climb to Div 1. A tough ask, given ITB’s great form as of late.
Quincy Crew are now Soniq
Well well well. What do we have here.
Seemed odd that one of the top teams of NA was left unsponsored for so long. We’ve seen what the backing of an org can do to a previously unsponsored stack, just look at what happened to both the previous 4Zoomers and Undying stacks.
This team has the potential to reign atop of NA, and with an org behind them… they are well set.
Topson, LFT
Quite possibly one of the most unique, meta-breaking players to play the game at this level. His growth from shy, quirky midlaner to the absolute monster that he is today has been nothing short of meteoric. No other player today personifies the “I play what I want, when I want” attitude than Topson, 2-time TI winner.
His streams are entertaining and almost always high-level, but clearly this wasn’t enough for Topson.
As of now we do not know under what tag Topson will be playing, especially since open qualifiers aren’t a thing anymore.
But given his calibre, and his current form… ooof.
iceiceice out of Team Secret
As a massive fan of iceiceice over the years… this hurts. Especially more so because Reso’s standin performance almost instantly propped up the team.
Singapore TI needs its best representative to be playing.
Hello Secret.Resolution
Copium perhaps but if he played as well as he did at Riyadh without much practice…
Always liked him, supremely talented. Hasn’t shone much on the offlane unfortunately but if anyone can bring out the best in him… it is Puppey.
I vaguely remember a WeSayThings episode in which they mention that Resolution has the highest average KDA of all Dota 2 players (I think, could be wrong here).
He only pushed the metric in his favour at Riyadh! Fingers crossed this move works out because the one and only all-time competitor at TI needs to maintain his streak.
That’s it for this issue of Ancient Tidings! A bit of a different issue this time, I haven’t spoken much about matches because we really didn’t have too many apart from the qualifiers for ESL One Malaysia 2022.
This issue was supposed to be published on the 1st but hey, this delay proved fortuitous because I got to tell folks about news like Topson’s comeback and Soniq!
See you in the next one, and good luck, have fun.
I love being unemployed around Major time. Lets me just die a death on the couch while I watch EG disappoint me yet again (jokes).