With the variety of unexpected teams who made it to the group stages at this year’s TI, fans have been excited to see which teams progress further into the main stage. Despite us being on the fourth day of the group stage, there are a lot of developments already happening as we speak. Of all the teams who have qualified for the upper bracket, for the first time in the history of TI, a South American team made the cut as well.
Thunder Awaken (formerly Thunder Predator) is a South American organization that has been a part of the top-level South American Dota 2 scene since its inception in 2017. Despite going through a few roster shuffles, the core members of the team have always been consistent. Their current lineup consists of Crhistian “Pakasz” Savina, Gonzalo “DarkMago” Herrera, Rafael “Sacred” Yonatan, Farith “Matthew” Puente, and Jose “Pandaboo” Padilla as their position one, two, three, four, and five respectively. As good as their players are individually, their teamwork is a beauty to behold.
Despite a good start in the group stage, Thunder Awaken faced a nasty setback at the end of day two. Matthew came down with a stomach infection in the middle of the night between day two and day three, right before their important series against Entity on the next day. Matthew went through a series of tests after being hospitalized and was discharged at 9am, just barely an hour before their series against Entity.
Displaying immense dedication and leadership worthy of his captain role, Matthew played the series despite being in pain the whole time. Even though they dropped the series 0-2 to Entity, the motivation he provided his team in those dark hours shone through and Thunder Awaken performed increasingly better with each game they played after that series.
This renewed motivation encouraged Thunder Awaken enough to push through the group stages all the way to the end, securing an upper bracket spot. This is quite an unprecedented development for SA teams because this is the first time in TI history that a team from the South American region has qualified for the upper bracket at TI.
This information was further corroborated by Dota 2 personality, analyst, and player of Arkosh Gaming, Jenkins. Thunder Awaken making it to the upper bracket is quite newsworthy in itself, but it is followed by other SA accomplishments such as beastcoast having the most TIs of any full roster at TI11 and Hokori almost qualifying for the upper brackets as well despite the majority thinking it was a fluke.
This year is truly shaping up to be one of the best years for Dota 2 at TI11. There are more stories developing as we speak, so stay tuned.
