TI12 SEA Qualifier favorites

Along with Western Europe and China, Southeast Asia will be one of the most exciting regions to watch during the qualifiers for The International 12. So far, only Talon Esports have qualified for the tournament from this region, but one more team will receive the chance to compete.

The SEA Qualifier is scheduled to take place between August 27-31 and will feature 15 teams. Many of these teams are either highly accomplished, full of superstar players, or in excellent form.

Based on their performance in 2023, Execration, Bleed Esports, Blacklist International and Team SMG are the biggest favorites. Other teams that could cause some upsets are Geek Fam, Army Geniuses, and BOOM Esports. Despite having well-known names, Neon Esports and Polaris Esports are hard to take seriously at this point.

A few years ago, both of them were doing impressive things in the region. But now they’re just mediocre. In a competition that offers a single ticket to The International 12, their odds of succeeding are close to zero.

Geomancer? That’s a name we haven’t heard in a long time. 😲

It’s @DjardelJicko vs @erikailar_ for the third episode of our Dota 2 Hero Alphabet! Who do you think will win? 🤔 #GOBLEED #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/m2naLsG9Hm

— Bleed Esports (@ggBleed) July 28, 2023

The favorites

Execration are the team to beat in this qualifier. Or perhaps Bleed Esports. In Execration’s case, what they bring is a mixture of hard work and experience. Nobody is an accomplished superstar. All of the players’ names look very unfamiliar. And yet, this team scored 592 points this Dota Pro Circuit.

For Bleed Esports, who scored 500 but could have done much better, the odds of success look even brighter. With Rasmus “MISERY” Filipsen as the team’s coach, Bleed have the potential to do well in this tournament. Most of the players have vast experience and are either pushing 30 or well over 30.

Daryl “iceiceice” Xiang is probably the most famous member of the crew. But Djardel “DJ” Mampusti and Kim “DuBu” Doo-young are also well-known. Both of them have had beautiful careers full of spectacular results.

Success is certainly no stranger to them and they might just taste it again if they manage to beat Execration and a few other teams that will compete in the race. Let’s not forget that Bleed are the winners of Tour 3 in the region. At the Bali Major they only finished 13^th – 14^th, but regionally they are quite strong.

For Blacklist and SMG, their rosters are fully capable of winning, but we haven’t seen them performing to their maximum potential this season. Both teams are represented by players who used to compete at the highest level.

Header: Valve Corporation