Old G and IVY drop out of the TI12 qualifiers

In some regions, such as Southeast Asia, the regional qualifier for The International 12 will feature 15 teams. But in Western Europe, only 11 teams will compete for the two qualification spots offered by Valve to this region.

Initially, there were 13 participants. But Old G and IVY decided to drop out of the race after key players left.

In IVY’s case, everything went south at the end of May, when an updated and considerably weaker roster was revealed. This roster has no chance of finishing in the top two and decided to abandon the race.

In Old G’s case, the project was abandoned after Sebastian “Ceb” Debs, who initiated the whole thing at the start of the season, decided to rejoin his former team. OG struggled to get good results and ended up losing some players. Ceb was the only viable replacement, so he returned for what could be his final season in professional Dota 2.

OG’s roster

Our TI12 qualifiers lineup is now complete.

Now the quest to Seattle begins.
See you all on August 27th.#DreamOG pic.twitter.com/frmtDpLVGj

— OG (@OGesports) August 10, 2023

OG is one of the five WEU teams that could realistically qualify for TI12. The other four are Quest Esports, Entity, Nigma Galaxy, and Team Secret. At this point we don’t know how well can Level UP play, but given that they finished 1^st in Division II in Tour 3, they too could get a good result.

OG’s roster is full of really strong players but what they lacked, at least until Ceb joined, was a strong captain who knows exactly what needs to be done to win under pressure or in a difficult situation. Without that kind of leadership, even the strongest players will end up losing against an opponent that uses a superior strategy.

Other good teams

It seems that Nigma Galaxy will not be using Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf in the upcoming qualifier. Nor Amer “Miracle” Al-Barkawi. But the roster is still very strong and could easily qualify for TI. If Nigma fails, Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasmi might retire.

His friend from Team Secret, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, is still competing despite his “old” age (33). Kuro is a few years younger than him but has had a lot of bad results in the last four years. One more failure might be too much for him to handle.

The biggest favorite is no doubt Quest Esports. This team finished in the top eight at the recent Riyadh Masters and will likely win the race. The question is: who will be the other TI participant?

Header: Valve Corporation