Hokori were one of the biggest surprises to come out of the last month for the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit, bringing back arguably their strongest lineup ahead of the regional qualifiers and making it all the way to The International 2022. But, despite showing the world they were able to compete with some of the best teams during the group stage, the South American underdog sealed their own fate in the playoffs.
Since they managed to secure the fifth seed in Group A on the final day of the group stage, Hokori got to pick their opponent out of the lowest-finishing teams in Group B. And, instead of picking a struggling Entity squad, the SA team wanted to cause an inter-region incident by selecting beastcoast.
That decision would be the less experienced team’s downfall, as this is beastcoast’s third trip to TI and they are no strangers to high-pressure situations. In a devastating showing of how comfortable they can be with their backs against the wall, K1, Whisper, and crew played to their mid-game timings before rushing Hokori to the airport.
It was all about spacing, angles, and style for beastcoast, as they put themselves in solid positions to engage Hokori on their terms while also keeping a level head and focusing on their win conditions. This included plenty of pressure being applied by K1’s Phantom Lancer and Whisper showing that win rate doesn’t mean anything if you can play a hero like he does Batrider.
That Batrider was more than just a deciding factor—it was a win condition in and of itself. Whisper had 18 kills total and didn’t die a single time. Seven of those kills were locked down in less than 10 minutes, which gave beastcoast a strong grasp on the map early.
As Stinger noted in a post-game interview, bc were surprised when Hokori selected them over Entity for the elimination stage. That little bit of SA betrayal motivated them to play even better to prove that it was the wrong decision, however.
Hokori is headed home from their first TI appearance in a tie for 13th place and more than $250,000 as a reward for an incredible run. Meanwhile, bc move on to place Evil Geniuses in the next round of the lower bracket where they will look to hand the North American team a back-to-back loss against SA opponents.
