Issue 22: Your champions of the Arlington Major...
Visa and production issues aside, what a showcase of the best Dota has to offer
Here’s your 30-second summary for this issue of Ancient Tidings:
Fan favorites return for the TI qualifiers
PSG.LGD vs Team Spirit is the new El Clasico
The direct invitees to TI11 have been decided… but not without some controversy
Truesight has finally been announced
Saberchad is the freshest thing to happen to Dota in years
The Arlington Major playoffs
After the conclusion of the group stages, it was clear that PSG.LGD was the final boss any potential Major champion worth their salt had to beat. At that point in time, they’d only dropped a single game to Soniqs, a team that ended up being eliminated from groups, much to the relief of PSG.LGD.
The playoffs featured some truly spectacular Dota, featuring everything from heavy sustain-based lineups revolving around Dazzles and Chens to wacky picks like pos 4 Svens. Oh, and XXS Brewmaster, who consistently proved himself to be amongst the best Brews in the world.
Without spoiling anything, I must say Entity was one of the most interesting teams to follow in the tournament, with their dual-offlane core strats paying off in spades. Saberlight- showed his versatility (as well as his charisma) in his gameplay, empowering Entity to play at a really high level, dashing everybody’s power rankings for this Major in the process.
Here are the games to watch from the playoffs:
Team Spirit vs Outsiders
If you guys don’t remember the dominance of the 2017-2018 Virtus.Pro squad… this series might help you remember just how scary a Ramzes on form could look like. The reigning TI champs facing off against an org that had, until recently, always been their kryptonite. Featuring two almost 60-minute games. Fun!
OG vs Entity
An offlaner-turned-support vs an offlaner-turned-carry. Three games, winner secures top 6, just like that.
Entity vs EG
The best of NA Dota vs… the 4th best WEU team that had to struggle to even make it to the Major, without one of their more impactful players. Also featuring an offlaner-turned-carry facing off against a carry-turned-offlaner.
If EG lose this, their TI invite would no longer be in their hands.
Beastcoast vs Fnatic
Sometimes incredibly valiant efforts end up falling short. Fnatic with 3 NA players facing off against SA’s best. Beastcoast Dota is always entertaining to watch, with frequent off-meta picks (and positions, remember Chris Luck (now C.Smile)’s Slark at TI9?) and this series proved just why SA Dota is on the rise.
PSG.LGD vs OG
Win or lose… you gotta say, the squad Misha built from the ground up is truly gifted. Firmly believe that Yuragi, BZM and ATF are amongst the best tricores in the world today, which is incredible considering their age and lack of experience.
Turns out even Titans can bleed.
BOOM vs Entity
Two stomps in a row followed by a hype decider game. Entity was playing this tournament with nothing to lose; even the championship wouldn’t secure them an invite to TI (screwed up, I know). BOOM, too, had nothing to lose since they already had secured their slot to TI by this point in time.
Crisp, decisive Dota from both sides.
Entity vs Aster
You simply don’t mess with Monet’s Faceless Void and XXS’ Brewmaster. You just don’t.
Memes aside, Aster hadn’t won a mainstage LAN series since… forever, until the Arlington Major. A surprisingly rare occurrence, given the teams consistently strong performances in a remarkably strong region.
Either team could be satisfied with their performances this series.
Beastcoast vs OG
Spicy all chat aside… this series was so damn fun to watch. Two aggressive teams duking it out in a series that went the distance and could’ve gone any which way.
SA Dota is here to stay, and the scene is better for it.
Also… quite possibly amongst the best single player performances you’ll ever see, in that third game.
OG vs Aster
Again. XXS Brew. You do not mess with this hero-player combo.
Can Aster break their LAN curse (they already have by this point, but still), or will the reigning Major champions prove too big a hurdle?
The conclusion of this series features one of the best examples of trashtalk in recent memory. Simple, but… well deserved.
Team Spirit vs PSG.LGD
Yes yes lets cut to the chase here, the grand finals of Arlington was essentially a rematch of the TI10 grand finals… minus Collapse’s Magnus, much to the crowd’s disappointment, I’m sure.
Could PSG.LGD conquer their underdog (yes, Team Spirit were the underdogs leading up to this match despite them, you know, being the current TI champs) foes, or would Team Spirit’s Cinderella story prove to be a fairy tale PSG.LGD did not want to be a part of again?
The 2nd game of this grand finals was the longest game of the Major, clocking in at over 75 minutes. The tricast of Lyrical, Trent and Gunnar was a breath of fresh air, and I hope to see more of this form of casting.
The Grand finals themselves featured off-meta picks, including heroes that weren’t doing so hot in the Major being first phased and simply winning. Brilliant stuff.
With that being said… here are your champions.
Team Spirit are your Arlington Major champions!
Never bet against them in a high-stakes match. This team has immense amounts of mental fortitude, enabling them to turn around desperate situations with the best spellcasting and teamfighting in the world, period. Individually perhaps all of them can’t make a claim to be the best in the world, but as a team?
Absolutely.
Well-deserved, cannot wait to see this rematch inevitably happen at TI.
Speaking of TI…
True Sight 2021
The best esports content of the year finally has a glimpse for fans of the scene, and what a glimpse it turned out to be.
Stay tuned on the 24th of September this year.
The Direct Invites to the International 2022
We have our first 12 teams who’ll be vying for the Aegis of Champions in Singapore later this year. It is surprising to see the same number of teams from regions like China as well as South America. It is even more surprising to see EG, a team that made a grand total of 0 DPC points across 2 Majors make it.
This list wasn’t without its controversies, however. While the Major was progressing, talent and spectators alike were using Liquipedia’s system of points calculation to determine who was going to be invited, resulting in a list much the same as the above, except… the last slot was taken by Outsiders.
Valve decided to ruin Outsiders’ Tuesday morning by saying, well… this.
Yeah. What they say, goes.
For a more detailed breakdown of the math involved, check out this in-depth Reddit post here. To sum up, Valve gives no partial points, they only round down point totals. The EEU quals were a wash between Navi and BetBoom, but now with a strong team suddenly in the mix… who knows?
On the other hand, the SEA quals perhaps became a bit easier. With Fnatic out of the way, a team traditionally known as “the gatekeepers of SEA”, Talon, RSG, SMG and the newly revamped T1 would be vying for the TI slot.
Oh wait, scratch that. The SEA quals could potentially be incredibly spicy because, well…
T1.Topson and T1.Ana
Yes. One of the most legendary duos in all of Dota 2 history unites… in a region neither of them have played competitively in before. Can Kuku and March utilize their immense talent and potential to make a run for the Aegis?
The qualifiers begin on the 3rd of September. Teams like T1, Talon, Nigma Galaxy, Team Secret, Team Liquid, Entity, Soniqs, Nouns and more will be battling it out across a grueling set of matches within their respective regions to decide who’ll be filling out those precious few last slots at TI.
What do you think? Who’ll be attending TI from each region this year?
That’s it for this issue of Ancient Tidings! Thank you for sticking around, and as always, I’ll see you in the next issue!
Note: The next issue might be a bit delayed due to some life stuff, but rest assured I will strive my hardest to be on time.