The Dota Pro Circuit competition is currently underway in Southeast Asia as players here vie for a spot in the upcoming The International 11.
This year’s competitive scene looks different from others after Valve cancelled the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit Winter Tour Major earlier in 2022 – a move which saw massive backlash.
Valve eventually announced its move to host six iterations of the Winter Tour Regional Finals, as well as rework the TI11 qualifiers to include a new LAN tournament, but this also means the base roster of teams at the event now stands at 20 (from 18 since 2017), with the group stage split into two groups of 10.
Valve said TI11 will see four teams eliminated from the group stages while the main event remains unchanged.
Talon Esports’ captain Damien “kpii” Chok thinks this move is a step in the right direction.
In an email interview, he told TechStorm the change will allow more teams to go to TI and “next is to shorten the duration of the tour, allowing for more third-party tournaments.”
The 29-year-old Australian got his start with oceanic teams like AkmA before switching to Can’t Say Wips AU where his team would take second place in the Defense of the Australians Spring 2014 – the region’s then-largest ongoing Dota 2 tournament.
kpii would move teams over the next few years – joining MVP Phoenix, then EHOME.K, before finding himself with Newbee, previously TI4 champions.
The team earned a place at TI7 where they fought their way to the Grand Finals, only to falter to eventual champions Team Liquid.
kpii eventually joined Talon Esports last year as an offlaner and as the oldest player in the team (the average age of Talon Esports is 24), he sets an example for his teammates by “being disciplined in every aspect both in and out of games, focusing on logic and facts rather than emotions during discussions.”
And he has high expectations for this team.
“We expect to do well in the future, (we are) improving fast. We (will) definitely aim to make it to TI(11) and do well there.”
(This post is done in affiliation with Talon Esports.)
*Featured image from Talon Esports PH
By Samantha Chan \ 10:15, 8 July 2022