The International 12 group C favorites

The International 2023 starts today and the new group stage format makes it much easier for teams to get eliminated. There are only five competitors per group and one of them will say goodbye to the tournament after just two days.

In group C, most of the competitors are relatively weak. Many would agree that this is the weakest group in the tournament. Apart from Gaimin Gladiators and perhaps LGD Gaming, everyone is an underdog.

Group C participants and favorites

Here are the five teams who will compete in group C of TI12:

• Gaimin Gladiators
• LGD Gaming
• Beastcoast
• Nouns
• Virtus.pro

If we exclude DreamLeague S21 (7^th – 8^th) and Riyadh Masters (4^th), Gaimin Gladiators have been the strongest Dota 2 team of 2023. Their victories at every single Dota Pro Circuit Major, and also at DreamLeague S19, DreamLeague S20, and BetBoom Dacha clearly demonstrate this fact.

WE’RE READY FOR THE INTERNATIONAL 2023

Want to know how the Gladiators prepared for the final DPC competition of the year? Come and find out NOW.#TI12 #AgainstAllOdds pic.twitter.com/0fQRXrdpjK

— GG | Gaimin Gladiators ⚔️ (@GaiminGladiator) October 11, 2023

The only weakness of this team is the players’ ability to deal with pressure. One of the problems that you’re dealing with when you climb so quickly in the global rankings and essentially go from being decent to being the best of the best in the world in a matter of 3-6 months is that you haven’t had the time to get used to being where you are.

You’ve climbed Mount Everest a bit too fast and your brain can’t deal with the atmosphere at that height. In Gladiators’ case, we saw this very clearly at Riyadh Masters, which was a $15 million tournament. They lost against Talon Esports, who weren’t even all that great.

Another strong team in this group is LGD Gaming. The Chinese will surely play well in this tournament. They finished the regular season in the top 12 and were 5^th – 6^th at the Bali Major. In Riyadh, they finished 9^th – 12^th. These results clearly show that they’re not a favorite at TI12, but they are a favorite in group C.

The battle to avoid elimination will take place between Virtus.pro and nouns. This is almost guaranteed. Both teams are relatively weak compared to the other three competitors, and do not stand much of a chance even if they qualify for the next stage.

Given that VP’s roster is full of relatively unknown players, I’m inclined to regard them as the weakest team in this group. But we’ll have to see what happens on day 1 of the tournament.

Header: Valve