The International 11 Eastern European Qualifier preview

The International 11 is scheduled to take place between October 15-30 and 12 of the 20 teams have already been invited based on the Dota Pro Circuit rankings. Eight more need to go through regional qualifiers and one of the most important of them is the Eastern European one.

After all, the ongoing TI winners, Team Spirit, are from this region, and some of the most important teams in the history of the game are also located here. If you’d like to see Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro (Outsiders), and other excellent competitors clash, this regional qualifier will deliver exactly what you need.

TI11 EEU Qualifier details

The qualifier features 14 teams and only three of them will advance. The winner goes directly to The International 2022, while the second and third-place competitors go to the Last Chance Qualifier, a tournament that precedes TI11 and grants two more teams the chance to play at the biggest Dota 2 event of the year.

Traditionally, The International has had 18 participants. But this year, Valve decided to change the system a bit and give more teams this opportunity. This was necessary because of the DPC rules, which allow multiple teams from every region to qualify with ease simply by dominating their regional competitions.

Because of the new rules, the participants of TI11 EEU Qualifier will be fighting for the top three places, knowing that if they fail to win, it is not yet over. Although, arguably, winning regionally should be easier than winning internationally.

If Na’Vi or Outsiders can’t beat their local competition, how are they going to beat the formidable teams from China and Western Europe?

Participants

Here are the 14 teams that will compete in the tournament:

• Outsiders
• Natus Vincere
• BetBoom Team
• Mind Games
• PuckChamp
• HellRaisers
• One Move
• Pari Parni
• Nemiga Gaming
• Project Armor
• Cybercats
• Team Unique
• X3
• HYDRA

The real battle will take place between the top six teams on this list. The rest have almost no chance of qualifying, not even to the Last Chance Qualifier.

Initially, Outsiders were thought to be ranked 12th in DPC, which would have made this qualifier a bit easier for the rest of the teams. But Valve decided that Fnatic were actually half a point ahead of them and gave the Southeast Asian team the direct invite.

Competitive Format

The tournament uses the double-elimination format. However, there will be no group stage and the upper bracket starts with only eight of the 14 teams. Everyone else will need to survive a long lower bracket run to qualify.

This competitive format is almost identical to that of the playoffs of The International. Every match is best-of-three, except for the first round of lower bracket matches, which are best-of-one, and the Grand Final, which is a best-of-five series.

The competition takes place between September 3-7.

Header: Valve Corporation