When the Stockholm Major took place two months ago, Thunder Awaken and Beastcoast made history for the South American area. As the PGL Arlington Major approaches, they may repeat that feat.

The first Valve-sanctioned event where two SA teams made the top six was the inaugural Major of the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit. That was a Major, though, and there were no Chinese teams competing. If the visa problem doesn’t recur, things should be very different in Arlington.

Thunder Awaken and beastcoast are not vying for The International 11 qualifying spots thanks to their great performances throughout all three DPC Tours, so they can travel to Arlington stress-free, especially the former.

What is meta in Thunder Awaken?

Thunder Predator are now in first place in the DPC rankings ahead of PGL Arlington Major, the final major before TI11. Along with PSG.LGD, TSM.FTX, and OG, they have a total of 1540 points, making them one of the four teams who have already qualified for the year’s largest event. They therefore have two goals in Arlington: to increase their top six finish from the Stockholm Major and to gain as much experience as they can playing against teams from other regions.

In a tweet from GosuGamers:

GosuGamers

@GosuGamers

“Here are the teams that reached the minimum qualifying points so far. 👀

#GosuGamers #Gosu20 #PassionON #Dota2 #TI11”

*tweet includes a photo*

Contents of photo:

“The Internaational Dota2 Championships

Thunder Awaken – 1540

PSG.LGD – 1500

TSM – 1380 

OG – 1340 

(minimum qualifying points:1296)

First four teams qualified for TI 11”

Thunder Awaken roster

• [Peru] Christian “Pakazs” Savina
• [Peru] Darkmago♥
• [Peru] Rafael “Sacred” Yonatan
• [Peru] Farith “Matthew ” Puente
• [Peru] Pandaboo

Despite patch 7.31d introducing a few adjustments that nearly all teams adopted right away in their drafts, nothing has changed between the two Majors for Thunder Awaken in terms of preferred heroes and general play style.

In other areas, Marci became first pick/first ban material as soon as she was added to Captain’s Mode prior to the Summer Tour, but not for Thunder Awaken, who selected her just once throughout the entire league season and lost that match. They also avoided touching Dawnbreaker, who has been heavily used by every other team in every one of the six regions this season, including SA.

With his hero pool and stellar performances on Chaos Knight, Spectre, TA, and even safe lane Kunkka, Cristian “Pakazs” Casanova made an impression in Stockholm. Due to the fact that they have a variety of heroes that they can use in any of the core slots or even support roles, Thunder Awaken thrive at causing confusion throughout the drafting phase. Being played in both core positions as well as the support 4 role by TA sets Tiny apart in terms of flex selections for them, but they can also switch around Mars, Snapfire, Venomancer, Kunkka, Templar Assassin, Alchemist, Weaver, and a few others, which always provides them an advantage. By ignoring the meta, they won the SA Summer Tour league and advanced to the top six at the Stockholm Major. It wouldn’t come as a surprise to see them maintain this strategy in Arlington and continue their historic run.

beastcoast just one point away from TI 11

If Thunder Awaken are now in first place in the DPC standings, then beastcoast is first in the list of teams that have earned enough points to qualify for TI 11. They have 1295 points overall, which is less than the 1296 points required to qualify for the year’s most significant tournament. Even if they don’t place in the top eight, that almost certainly secures Beastcoast a seat at TI 11 after the Arlington Major.

With that in mind, beastcoast should arrive in Texas with little pressure, similar to their regional competitors.

beastcoast roster

• [Peru] Hector Antonio “K1” Rodriguez
• [Peru] Jean Pierre “Chris Luck” Gonzales
• [Bolivia] Adrian “Wisper” Cespedes Dobles
• [Peru] Elvis “Scofield” De la Cruz Peña
• [Peru] Steven “StingeR” Vargas Mamani

Beastcoast experienced a bit of a rollercoaster throughout the Summer Tour; they began league play with two defeats and ultimately had to compete with Infamous in a tiebreaker in order to secure the final Major spot for their area. To be honest, their DPC year was characterized by a range of outcomes. But regardless of the situation, one thing can be said about South American teams: they are motivated by passion and strong feelings. The previous Major is the best example of how they start off on LANs.

Beastcoast didn’t fully embrace the new meta, similar to Thunder Awaken. Additionally, they gave Marci a single try, lost the game, and never chose her again. The same was done with Warlock, as they continued to draft some of their mainstay heroes.

Beastcoast, on the other hand, is a squad that enjoys forcing skirmishes and launching a few pickoffs on the enemy cores. Clockwerk and Earth Spirit, who are both outstanding roamers, are their most popular and effective support heroes. They have included Dawnbreaker in their hyper-aggressive playstyle for this Tour and boast a 100% victory percentage while using it, whether it is used in mid-lane or off-lane situations.

Beastcoast’s mid lane, off lane, and position 5 players, who this Tour worked on increasing their hero pool even more, are mostly responsible for their diversity. In the 20 games of the DPC SA regional league, Jean “Chris Luck” Salazar used 15 different heroes, followed by Steven “StingeR” Mamani with 14 and Adrián “Wisper” Dobles with 13. With heroes like Pangolier, Void Spirit, Puck, and the recently acquired Dwanbreaker in their arsenal to play either mid or offlane to accomplish this, in addition to the Cock and Earth Spirit, they always try to have a pair of picks that can chase the enemy all over the map.

Beastcoast, like the majority of the teams competing in the Arlington Major, has a higher victory percentage when playing on the Dire side of the map (71.43%), and because of their aggressive play style, they typically end games around the 30-minute mark without relying heavily on push beginnings. Throughout the six-week regional league, Death Prophet, Venomancer, or Leshrac were all selected just once, despite the fact that they never touched Nature’s Prophet and primarily played Tiny in the support 4 position.

It is difficult to think that they will soften their position on aggression or that they will lose the direct invite to TI 11 due to that one point that would have locked them in even before the Major, regardless of how they might modify their drafts in Arlington. The two SA delegates’ sole remaining concern is whether they will be able to set a new regional record and propel themselves into the top 4 at PGL Arlington Major.