TSM and Shopify Rebellion completely controlled North American Dota 2 division in 2023, including the region’s two Major seats, but the cycle is about to break this season. This is because TSM flinched against nouns, losing their most important series of the season.
Despite performing poorly in LAN events, TSM has been the king in NA. Having SR’s number and defeating them in the winter and spring seasons allowed TSM to accumulate 800 DPC points. Everything started to fall apart in the summer season, however, and TSM lost the tour opener to SR.
Losing to SR in the first week meant that a first-place finish was out of the question for TSM. Many expected TSM to complete their run without any other setbacks and take second place, but David “MoonMeander” Tan’s students were defeated in an unexpected match-up vs. a roaring nouns squad.
Though TSM had a 1-0 lead in the series, nouns turned it around with their consistent Keeper of the Light—Techies draft, potentially securing a seat at the Bali Major.
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Attending a Valve Major is the dream of every Dota 2 player, but nouns may have also made a dire error and hurt their chances of making it to The International 2023 in the process. If TSM were to make it to the Bali Major, the team could directly qualify for TI12, making nouns the most powerful team in TI qualifiers.
Nouns can’t directly qualify for TI12 even if they were to win the Major, so they must go through the qualifiers. With TSM missing out on the Bali Major, nouns will be forced to face them again in the regionals.
