Talon Esports heads to the International, T1 and Polaris to LCQ

Talon Esports is the third team to seed for Southeast Asia through Dota 2’s Regional qualifiers. The road has been a long and winding one, but Talon will soon be on the flight to Singapore to attend Ti11. Polaris Esports and T1 are still in with a shot through the last-chance qualifiers.

Considering that Talon made their Dota 2 debut only toward the end of last year, they’ve achieved quite a lot in the last ten months.

Talon’s rough path to TI 2022

When Talon joined the Dota 2 circuit last year, they had quite a different squad to the one they do today. Tal “Fly” Aizik was their in-game leader,and that experiment not going too well. Fly was ousted from the setup within a matter of months, followed by a like-for-like swap with T1. 23savage was handed over Fly; Why T1 would want to let go of a player of his calibre is a question that still mystifies many, but it was the best thing that could’ve ever happened for Talon.

In the Regional Qualifiers, they qualified to the upper bracket along with five other teams, and faced Lilgun in the quarterfinals. Talon took their time, extending their games for well over 40 minutes, but affected a 2-0 cleansweep in the end. 23savage went on the heavy offensive in game one, scoring 12 kills while My Desired Prison and Q chipped in with seven each.

They faced against Polaris Esports in the semi-finals and pulled off another calm, clinical 2-0 sweep. The stage was set for an epic brawl against the star studded T1..

Though they put up a hell of a fight, T1 were dealt the same result in the upper bracket final.  Though the final result read 2-0, the actual contest was far tougher than portrayed by an initial glance at the scoreboard. Mikoto and 23savage were unstoppable forces of nature in both games, the first extending for 56 minute and the second for 46. They both scored 15 and 11 kills respectively in game one, and gained close to 15k gold between them. In the next, 23savage picked up 11 kills and mikoto seven, despite an almost superhuman effort from Ana and Topson to try and bring the game to T1, Talon edged through in the end.

Talon had not lost a single match up until the Grand Final. They came up against Polaris, who they’d already beaten before quite comfortably, 2-0. Polaris had managed to beat the underperforming T1 in the lower bracket final, sending them to the last chance qualifiers.

T1 and Polaris seek greener pastures in LCQ

T1’s run in the Southeast Asian qualifiers has come as a shock to many. As expected they beat Execration and RSG up front, sweeping past them comfortably with 2-0 wins, but encountered a far more difficult challenge against Talon and Polaris. They dropped two consecutive series, 2-0 first in the upper-bracket semis against T1 and then 1-2 to Polaris in the lower bracket.

The last chances kick off in the second week of October between 8th to 12th, with the only top two qualifying for the Internationals. It’s a tough pool, where T1 will be up against some big talent like Team Liquid, Team Secret, Outsiders, and Xtreme Gaming.

Twelve teams have already qualified for the International Groups through the Dota Pro Circuit, and Talon have become the latest from the Regional Qualifiers to join them. Now there are only two spots left for the groups, and the last chances will decide who makes it.