Two of the three Southeast Asian teams that made it into the PGL Arlington Major will use substitute players.
Talon Esports has also announced a stand-in joining them in Arlington in the wake of Fnatic’s terrible US visa predicament. To replace Worawit “Q” Mekchai, whose application for a US visa was repeatedly rejected, Talon will send Kenny “Xepher” Deo, the position 4 support for T1.
In a tweet from TALON’s official twitter page:
TALON
@Talon_esports
“HERE IS YOUR TEAM FOR THE ARLINGTON MAJOR!
[🇹🇭] @23savageDotA
[🇮🇩] @Mikoto347
[🇦🇺] @kpiidota
[🇮🇩] @KennyXepher
[🇮🇩] @hydedota2
Unfortunately due to Visa restrictions, Q will be unable to play with us in Arlington.
#DotA2 #ArlingtonMajor #SOARWITHTALON”
Kim Do-hoon, Chief Gaming Officer for Talon Esports, claims that the company began the visa application process for each of its players as soon as they were promoted to Division 1 in the Dota Pro Circuit, but they never received any assistance. It would be reasonable to assume that neither Valve nor PGL have helped the squad, despite the fact that Talon’s CGO doesn’t specifically list any of the organizations that might have facilitated the visa procedure by providing additional documentation.
In a quote tweet from Dohoon:
Dohoon
@hooondo
“We have been trying to get Qs visa since the day we made Div1. Talon has tried everything in our power but without any support it wasnt enough. Q and Brando have been on the road since our last DPC game and has been playing in lan cafes for the ESL tourney. Give them some claps.”
The PGL Arlington Major will be the group’s first appearance at a LAN competition for Dota 2 that has been authorized by Valve. They only entered the Dota 2 professional scene at the beginning of the DPC this year, and they had to begin in Division 2. There, they battled for promotion for two consecutive seasons and through multiple squad changes until discovering the winning recipe to sweep the SEA region.
After dropping a tiebreaker match to BOOM Esports at the conclusion of the Summer Tour regional competition, Talon Esports will enter the PGL Arlington Major as the second seed team from Southeast Asia. However, due to the two Tours they spent in Division 2, they lack the DPC points necessary to believe that a strong performance in Arlington would guarantee them a spot in The International 11. They now have only 300 DPC, and the 820 DPC they could obtain by winning the final Major before TI 11 may not be sufficient to maintain them in the top 12 DPC rankings.
Talon Esports roster for PGL Arlington Major
[Thailand] Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon
[Indonesia] Rafli Fathur “Mikoto” Rahman
[Australia] Damien “kpii” Chok
[Indonesia] Kenny “Xepher” Deo (stand-in)
[Indonesia] Brizio Adi “Hyde” Putra
coach: [South Korea] Sang-Don “Forev” Lee
