Nouns will compete in The International 12

The North American qualifier for The International 12 looked predetermined. Although there were some important names involved apart from nouns, they weren’t even close to being strong enough to contest them.

The most famous man who tried and failed was Daniil “Dendi” Ishutin, who won the first edition of The International with Natus Vincere. Now, at 33 years old, he probably wanted to compete one more time in this great event before retiring. Unfortunately for him and his team, B8 lost the Grand Final without scoring a single point.

Our foundational goal was to reach The International, and we finally achieved it.

Let’s celebrate the success of the community members who make Nouns Esports possible!

Get involved in your favorite esports community and you can make a difference ⌐◨-◨ pic.twitter.com/aAKZQHmQJi

— Nouns Esports ⌐◨-◨ (@nounsesports) August 23, 2023

Nouns path to victory

After Shopify Rebellion and TSM secured top 12 spots in the Dota Pro Circuit, nouns were left without any real opponent in the regional qualifiers for The International 2023. Online Wildcard Gaming and B8 looked capable of posing a challenge but during the tournament, it quickly became obvious that the skill difference was too great.

Nouns began their journey having a stable roster that included a former TI Finalist and other highly experienced players. In the Dota Pro Circuit, they scored 464 points this year, which was enough to help them finish in the top 20 (17^th to be precise). In the NA region, their closest competitor, felt, had 104 points and was ranked 29^th.

The first match played by nouns was against Sand King Gomez and was a bit harder than it should have been. The final score was 2-1 after Gomez managed to win game 2 using a Wraith King draft.

In the semifinals of the upper bracket, nouns defeated Wildcard Gaming (2-1). The match was won using Terrorblade, Medusa, and other powerful heroes that are currently dominating the meta at the professional level. Game 2 went badly for them, mainly because their Sven died seven times.

The upper bracket Final was really hard. Team DogChamp fought well and forced nouns to play two long games. The first one lasted 75 minutes and the second one lasted 60 minutes. In both cases, DogChamp used Terrorblade.

The Grand Final finished after just three games. But two of them were quite challenging. The third was the most exciting one to watch. B8 had two ways of setting up an epic combo, using Mars or Faceless Void. The two damage dealers that were supposed to assist were Phoenix and Witch Doctor.

After 56 minutes, nouns won thanks to their clever tactics and map movements.

Header: Valve Corporation