A new dark horse story in the making!
It feels like yesterday when BOOM Esports beat Gaimin Gladiators by 2-0 during PGL Wallachia. But after many roster changes and poor results, it's now Beastcoast joining HEROIC after the end of The International 2024: South America Closed Qualifier (TI 2024 SA Qualifiers): A team that only got to play the controverted Games of the Future tournament this year, ended 9th-12th place, but decided to stick together until now.
However, this Cinderella story wasn't a surprise for the South American fans. Just days ago, Beastcoast defeated BOOM in the Riyadh Masters 2024 qualifiers. The best-of-three (Bo3) lower bracket finals saw the newcomers beat the wolves by 2-0 with a surprising 13-minute stomp in Game 2.
As exciting as it is, this is not only the story of how Beastcoast beat BOOM during the TI 2024 SA Qualifiers. It's also about the consistency of HEROIC, a team that didn't drop a single game during the whole bracket.
HEROIC's road to TI: A flawless run
The TI 2024 SA Qualifiers finished early for HEROIC. The team didn't make a single change after they formed back in January. Adding to that, their performance this year has been consistent and showed improvement through every tournament. This got them a direct invite to the closed qualifiers through the upper bracket.
Surprisingly enough, their longest series was against Leviatán. After that, meeting Beastcoast in the upper bracket finals was a smooth ride for the Norwegian organization. Draft-wise, the team didn't repeat any formula in particular. Their strength relied on their map movement, which made heroes with strong pick-off capabilities and late-game transitioning their favorite recipe for the TI 2024 SA Qualifiers.
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Beastcoast: The story of a captain who didn't give up
Joel "MoOz" Ozambela's last TI was in the year 2021. The young support competitor tried playing with different stacks without finding much success. He played for North American stacks like DogChamp and Danil "Dendi" Ishutin's B8; but he shortly after returned to South America.
After years of grinding, he finally joined the team that would dominate Riyadh Masters and the TI 2024 SA Qualifiers. The organization is attending TI for the fourth time in a row, but it's a first for three of their young players: Yheremi "payk" Arroyo, Luis "Lumpy" Yausin and Yelsthin "Elmisho" Hurtado.
People say that losing teaches you more than winning, so I had to learn a lot. Humble myself, start from the beginning. Took me two or three years, maybe. But I'm happy I'm back. Sometimes, I thought I'd never make it, but yeah.
The road to TI 2024 is only on its qualifier stage, but a lot of emotional stories are already starting. Beastcoast and Heroic joined Team Zero, G2xiG, Nouns, and 1win Esports as the teams going to TI through closed qualifiers.
Four more teams will make it to TI this year! Get to know them all by following esports.gg's Dota 2 coverage.
