Team Secret and Liquid qualify at The International 2022 LCQ

William Davis Published 12/10/2022

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov has kept his legacy alive as the only player to attend every International by winning at The International 2022 LCQ.

Team Secret and Team Liquid have officially qualified for the main event of TI11. Both squads failed to qualify for The International 2022 through DPC standings or regional qualifiers and have instead earned admission at the on-site Last Chance Qualifier. The ten players carry lots of history into the event, especially legendary Secret captain Puppey who has attended every edition of The International.

Team Secret had a middling 6-4 game record in the LCQ group stage, but it proceeded to tear through the upper bracket of the playoffs. Veteran mid-laner Michał “Nisha” Jankowski is playing hot with 5.32 KDA and 721 XPM averages. 

Team Liquid’s run was much more treacherous, falling into the lower bracket in the second round. Virtus.pro entered the loser’s final as the clear favorite having beaten Liquid 2-1 the day before. However, Liquid took the initiative and won game one off Michael “miCKe” Vu‘s 11-0-11 Pangolier. VP responded with an aggro trilane strategy, but failed to stop Liquid’s death ball strategy in game two. The Western European team sealed the deal with a humongous Sonic Wave from miCKe. The young mid-laner went 23-0-23 in the decisive series.

Team Secret and Virtus.pro are now qualified for The International 2022 main event, which will feature a $13.5 million prize pool. TI will take a break from now until the main event starting on October 15, 2022.

Puppey remains sole Dota 2 player to attend every TI

With Team Secret qualifying for the main event at The International 2022 LCQ, Puppey has kept his streak of attending every iteration of TI.

He attended the first four Internationals with Natus Vincere before leaving to start Team Secret after TI4. Since then, the Team Secret dynasty has consistently played at the top level of Dota 2 and kickstarted the careers of several icons. Puppey is a somewhat common pick for the greatest Dota 2 player of all time, and attending every TI is a completely unique achievement. He was previously neck-and-neck with Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi, but Nigma Galaxy failed to qualify for The International 2021.

But fans should keep in mind that these records, while impressive, are a byproduct of the relative youth of esports. Puppey has spent more than a decade at the top of Dota 2 esports, but he won’t be able to attend TI forever. The International 2023, however, is still definitely on the table. After TI11, Team Secret will start in the upper division of the Western Europe DPC 2023 season.

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