Team Undying dominate their way through the NA Qualifiers to become the third team from the region to qualify to TI
While Dota is a game where anything can happen, sometimes things just turn out exactly how you'd expect. When one team is just so far ahead of the others - it's rare to see anything other than utter domination. That is what Team Undying represented for the NA region's TI10 Qualifiers.
The team formed back at the beginning of the year to compete in the NA DPC league. Consisting of old pros looking to come back up in the Dota 2 world, Undying looked poised to takeover this region from the start.
Across both seasons of the NA DPC, the team placed third both times. It seems as though the only teams that they could not beat were the top dogs of NA, Quincy Crew and Evil Geniuses. Thus, going into the TI qualifiers, their two main rivals were not there to thwart their dreams. As David "MoonMeander" Tan said in the championship interview, “No EG, No Quincy Crew…”
If the Dubu-led team was the embodiment of the hero Undying, all the other NA teams might as well have been sad melee heroes. In short - the rest of NA got completely decimated by them. Every game looked like an absolute pub stomp. Unlike the matches from their SEA counterparts which went the distance - these games were settled at a much higher pace.
Undying Outclasses The Zoomers
As the Grand Finals rolled around, they were up against the only other team that seemed to be able to go toe-to-toe with them - the 4 Zoomers. The Zoomers, just like Undying had been suppressed by the two NA giants already at TI, and were looking for their shot now that the path was clear.
The two squads had already faced off in the Winners Bracket final, where Undying defeated the Zoomers handily. That did not change in the slightest in the Grand Finals. Despite the Zoomers riding the momentum high off a win against the former Sadboys/PentAce stack, Bumble bEE's, they simply could not formulate an answer to Team Undying.
Throughout the games that followed, Undying continued to show why they are one of the new NA powerhouses. Whether it was Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek making insane plays on Timbersaw or Sand King, or Enzo "Timado" Gianoli O'Connor’s crushing performance on the carry Axe, the team brought the fight to the Zoomers and never let up.
This win and trip to TI10 is especially meaningful to MoonMeander. The veteran has been gunning for a TI shot, and has finally made it back to the prestigious event. In the post-game interview, he opened up about his journey to get to TI.
“I went from winning majors and playing with Digital Chaos… I played Tier 5 scrub Dota… played open qualifiers with random people.” For the Dota veteran, this trip has been a long time coming, and he’s ready to do his best with his team.
This marks the end of the second round of qualifiers to TI. All that’s left now are the WEU and the China Qualifiers.
For more Dota 2 news and coverage of the final two upcoming qualifiers, stick here with us at esports.gg!
Featured image via Team Undying's Twitter.