South American Dota 2 groups have been achieved soiled at The Worldwide 2026

Valve has revealed the direct invites and slot allocations for The Worldwide 2026, and there are already a number of speaking factors surrounding the large announcement. For the primary time in current reminiscence, they’ve solely invited seven groups as an alternative of eight, however the largest controversy lies in South America being handed only a single slot within the 16-team event. 

It’s protected to say the area, together with its gamers, coaches, and followers, are usually not very comfortable. 

For these dwelling beneath a rock, Valve just lately revealed the seven groups instantly invited to The Worldwide, with six European groups and one Chinese language crew receiving the decision.

The remaining 9 slots undergo regional qualifiers. China will get two, Europe will get 4, and South America, Southeast Asia, and North America every get simply one. That leaves the regional cut up for TI trying like this:

The thought of getting 10 European representatives sounds weird at first, but it surely’s tough to argue towards it when Europe has comfortably been the strongest area all through the season. Six of these groups additionally earned their locations via direct invites truthful and sq.. 

Nevertheless, the remainder of the allocation has left a big portion of the Dota neighborhood in fairly an uproar, as just one crew from every of SA, SEA, and NA will make it out of the regional qualifiers alive. 

The most important injustice surrounds South America receiving solely a single slot. Two of the area’s representatives – LGD Gaming (previously Heroic) and PlayTime (previously South American Rejects) – have clearly proven all through the season that they will grasp with the large boys. 

The previous Heroic roster has been a constant playoff contender all 12 months lengthy. They kicked off the season by successful FISSURE Universe: Episode 7 and went on to safe six top-eight finishes throughout the 9 S-tier tournaments they attended. 

When you ask me, that’s a reasonably good success fee and strongly suggests they’ve constantly been hovering across the international high 10 for many of the season. 

Extra just lately, we’ve additionally seen the rise of PlayTime, a squad that started off because the South American Rejects. They solely actually began getting the ball rolling in early 2026, however they’ve been getting higher with each event and have confirmed they belong at this stage. 

Certain, they’re slightly late to the get together, however they managed to say an EWC invite in such a short while, which actually says lots – you possibly can’t actually fluke your method via the EPT Leaderboards. 

So, why are folks complaining in regards to the slot distribution? The primary outlier right here is China receiving three slots – one for the instantly invited Xtreme Gaming, and two extra coming via the regional qualifiers.

Certain, TI will likely be held in China this 12 months, and the regional fanbase makes up an honest chunk of the Dota 2 playerbase. Nevertheless, many, together with myself, consider three slots is a step too far. 

Group stats knowledgeable and Workforce Liquid Technical Director Ben “Noxville” Steenhuisen just lately posted a screenshot of DatDota’s Glicko 2 rankings for the highest Dota 2 groups.

From the info, it’s clear to see Xtreme Gaming sit comfortably inside the highest ten, with Vici Gaming – the one different aggressive Chinese language crew this season – trailing at round fifteenth place. On paper, these two groups are utterly justified to play at TI – I’ve completely no points right here. 

The priority comes with the third consultant. China’s third-best crew – Yakult Brothers – sits all the best way down in twenty fourth place. In a 16-team event of TI’s scale, it’s fairly tough to justify that slot based mostly on what we’ve seen this 12 months. 

Whereas stats don’t inform the complete story, Yakult Brothers have certified for seven S-tier tournaments this 12 months and completed backside 5 in each single one. If that is the likeliest candidate to take that third slot, it naturally raises questions on how aggressive that slot will likely be on the precise event. 

If Valve had already selected three Chinese language slots properly upfront, you possibly can’t actually argue with that. Nevertheless, a compromise was nonetheless on the desk that would have provided a greater resolution.

This 12 months, Valve merged Western and Japanese Europe right into a single qualifier bracket for 4 slots, however South and North America stay separate. 

This has successfully handed GamerLegion – a crew that hasn’t made a single playoff look this season – an virtually assured path to The Worldwide, just because they’re the one crew of their area. A crimson carpet was laid out for them to say that sole slot. 

What Valve might have achieved as an alternative was merge the 2 areas right into a single “Americas” qualifier and allocate two TI slots to it. That may have made for a way more attention-grabbing bracket, with LGD Gaming, PlayTime, and GamerLegion duking it out for 2 slots. Whoever comes out on high would have absolutely earned their spots, and no person might argue in any other case.

On the finish of the day, it was all the time going to be unimaginable for TI’s slot allocation to make everybody comfortable. However man, do I really feel for South America. Again then, Valve awarded the area two TI slots though it had just one aggressive crew. Now, simply as they lastly have two robust squads, that chance has been scaled again to a single consultant. That’s simply extremely unfortunate timing. 

It additionally sucks that PlayTime and LGD Gaming as organizations have each invested into these rosters, and considered one of them received’t even see the sunshine of the TI stage. Contemplating what each squads have proven this season, it feels actually unlucky that they’re being pressured right into a gladiator combat for a single spot.