Southeast Asia teams bow out of The International 2018
Player Images © DOTA 2 Twitter
Fans who dreamt of witnessing the rise of Southeast Asian teams at The International 2018, the grandest Dota 2 world championship of the year, woke up to a real-life nightmare after the region’s last representative, Mineski-Dota, bows out of the Aegis of Champions race.
The second day of The International 2018 main event served as the nail in the coffin for Southeast Asia’s lackluster fate. Virtus.pro, the leaders of the Dota Pro Circuit, has delivered Mineski-Dota’s inevitable doom when they swept them, 2-0, at the second round of the lower bracket.
After a hard-fought 2-0 series, Virtus Pro send Mineski home. #TI8 pic.twitter.com/3gxjCb30TQ
— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) August 22, 2018
Despite their apparent underperformance, there’s no denying that the bracket was unintentionally designed to only have one team among Mineski, Fnatic-Dota, and TNC Pro Team achieve a place higher than 7th-8th place. It started with the unfortunate coincidence of TNC Pro Team finishing their group stage at the sixth seed of their group and Mineski-Dota settling as the 7th seed of Group A. This decent group stage finish of two the region’s strongest squad opened up an opportunity for a Southeast Asian bloodbath.
Mineski ended up establishing their Kings of SEA title against TNC Pro Team, but none of them could celebrate their victory because of the bigger challenges that lie ahead—aka the champions of multiple Major tournaments of the Dota Pro Circuit.
Meanwhile, Fnatic ideally had the bigger chance of making it past the 9th-12th place given they surpass the Chinese dark horse—Team Serenity. The odds were in favor of EternaLEnVy’s squad, especially since their opponent had no prior competitive showing aside from The International 2018 regional qualifiers.
Team Serenity was believed to be the reincarnation of Wings Gaming, The International 2016 grand champions, primarily because of their uncanny resemblance of being unknowns. But at their fight against Fnatic, Team Serenity identified themselves not with formless drafts, but with flawless team fights that ultimately ended The International 2018 run of the Southeast Asian team.
TNC Pro Team and Fnatic ended their The International 2018 dreams at the 13th-16th place, going home with $125,000+ cash prize. On the other hand, Mineski-Dota secures the 9th-12th spot with $375,000+ cash prize.
The International 2018 main event resumes tomorrow, August 23, 2018, at 1:00 SGT with the elimination match between Winstrike Team and VGJ.Storm.
