The first region to choose all of its representative teams for the PGL Arlington Major is Southeast Asia.
The three SEA teams that will travel to the US in August for the final Major of the year before The International 2022 were chosen without the need for tiebreakers. However, Talon Esports’ performance in SEA Division 1 of the third Dota Pro Circuit Tour did produce a fairly significant tale.
Talon, one of the two teams promoted to Division 1 at the conclusion of the previous Tour, dominated Division 1 and ended the regular season with 6 wins and just 1 loss to earn a spot in Arlington.
In a tweet by Talon’s official twitter page:
TALON
@Talon_esports
“From DIV II to DIV I to Arlington Major, thank you so much for all your support. We’ll make y’all proud ❤️
#DotA2 #SOARWITHTALON”
Fnatic, which ended the season 5-2 and qualified for their second consecutive Major this year, was the only team to defeat Talon throughout the entire Summer Tour.
The third and final spot at the Major was up for grabs, and T1 needed to defeat Fnatic in their final match of the season to avoid a tiebreaker. The opening game of the series was decisively won by Fnatic, who came out firing and controlled both the gold and experience advantage for the entire 33-minute battle. In the second game, Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte of T1 carried Pudge, which put a lot of pressure on Fnatic’s laning stage. By forcing early skirmishes throughout the entire map with their Pudge, T1 managed to maintain a modest gold advantage, but all of that advantage was lost after a few crucial items for Fnatic went online. At the 30-minute mark, Daedalus for Marc “Raven” Fausto’s safe lane Templar Assassin and Blink-BkB on Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong Beastmaster turned the tide of the match and allowed Fnatic to win the series 2-0.
In a tweet from Fnatic’s official twitter page:
FNATIC
@FNATIC
“Arlington Bound! A huge congrats to our DOTA squad for qualifying for the PGL Major! ✈️”
BOOM Esports and Talon Esports, who tied for first place in the league with a 6-1 series record, will face off once more to determine which one will finish first and earn 500 DPC points for this Tour and which one will have to settle for second place and 300 DPC points. The three Major slots for SEA will not be decided by a tiebreaker series. On July 16 at 12:00 CEST, BOOM Esports and Talon Esports will face off in the first-place tiebreaker.
