Quincy Crew were the only unsponsored team at every Major this year. Today they announced plans to keep it that way.
North American Dota 2 stack Quincy Crew today released a statement detailing their decision to remain independent from an organization for The International 10. The TwitLonger, released on Twitter on July 15th, listed their plans for TI10.
"This time, we won't be going to TI as someone else... We are again in discussion with possible partners and sponsors (with our DMs still open!), but the name Quincy Crew will be at TI10 in one way or another."
The post continues, discussing the origins of the team: "Quincy Crew began as just a random unsponsored stack name after TI8, of the variety that gets easily discarded or recycled with each NA qualifier. It was a fun reminder of crazy times at our Quincy street team house in Brooklyn when most of us first came together at VGJ Storm, where most of us won our first LAN, made our first deep runs at DPC events and TI, and got our first tastes of team success."
Quincy Crew and Sponsorship Woes
Quincy Crew’s roster has good reason to be hesitant of sponsorship by large organizations. In 2019, much of the QC lineup was part of Forward Gaming. However, the team shuttered in July, just a month before TI9. The squad was picked up by Chinese organization Newbee. As QC mentions in their statement: "Newbee treated us like family, and we couldn't have asked for more." Regardless, the team were dropped again after the event—it was only ever a temporary deal.
In the months following TI9, the team was once again picked up by a new organization. This time Chaos EC, a mantle they played under at the start of 2020. However, they’d find themselves released in March of the same year, with a slight roster shuffle following shortly after. Since then, Quincy Crew has been the only org-less team to reach the highest peaks of the DPC system.
In 2021, as the DPC season began anew, the org-less stack would enter the North American Upper Division. This team has long been one of the most dominant in NA, and their run in 2021 showed that. The stack came incredibly close to securing first place in that first season. Only a heartbreaking best-of-one result in the tiebreaker served to keep them from a playoff spot at the Singapore Major.
Heading to their first international event in over a year, the unsponsored team narrowly missed out on an Upper Bracket playoff spot. Elimination in the first round was an unjust end to such a great performance. Even more promisingly, this wasn't even the whole squad: Arif "MSS" Anwar was forced to miss the event due to a positive covid-19 test.
The team qualified for the AniMajor after winning NA DPC Season 2 in impressive fashion. There, again, they were the only team this DPC season to compete in a Major without any kind of sponsorship. Despite being elimination during the playoffs, the squad had already qualified for The International 10. Thanks, in part, to their incredibly consistent placements during the DPC regular season.
What’s more, the team indicated that it will remain in Ukraine for an extended period following the AniMajor, participate in the ESL One Summer 2021 event. Benefiting from lower ping and some top-notch competition at the event, QC looks poised for greatness.
The full Twitlonger is available here. You can catch Quincy Crew in action from June 16th at ESL One Summer 2021.