The best Dota 2 players from all around the world are in Seattle for The International 2023, with action well underway as teams jostle for spots in the main event bracket. In addition to playing in the tournament and scrimming, pros have been queueing up for ranked matches in the North American server—something that Team Spirit’s Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov already hates after a week.
Collapse started playing ranked matches in NA on Oct. 6 according to stats site Dotabuff, losing his first three matches in the region. Though the offlaner squeezed in a win, he proceeded to lose five games in a row.
He explained his struggles in a recent Oct. 13 interview with Escorenews, with the offlaner negatively rating his experience playing ranked Dota 2 in the region and expressing empathy for players enduring this challenging environment for an entire year.
“It’s impossible to play pubs in America all day long.” Collapse said. He also added that anyone who played NA-ranked matches all day would eventually become mad at the game and the players playing it.
Before moving to Europe to join Gaimin Gladiators, Gaimin Gladiators’ Quinn Callahan played NA-ranked matches all year while also competing in the region. Collapse considered Quinn practically a “madman” before coming to Europe, as he would flame everyone and everything during ranked matches. Now, it seems, we know why—it was NA all along.
While Quinn has gradually curbed his toxic behavior throughout 2023, remnants of NA in his blood still resurfaced, causing him to receive severe backlash from the community. In a recent statement, Quinn apologized for “abhorrent actions” in Dota 2 pubs and assured fans he was working on becoming a more well-behaved player.
Fortunately for Collapse, his exposure to NA pubs will be limited to the duration of TI 2023, sparing him any lasting impact. To cope with the frustration, he plans to restrict his ranked matches to two or three games per day, prioritizing official matches and practice sessions.
Despite a poor experience on the ranked ladder, Team Spirit aced the group stage of TI 2023, winning all of their matches so far. They are heavy favorites to win out their qualifying best-of-three tomorrow, securing them a spot in the upper bracket of the playoffs.
