Somnus’ canceled Dota 2 retirement pays off with a spot secured at TI12

After a brief hiatus that left the Dota 2 community in suspense, Lu “Somnus” Yao emerged from retirement and gathered his friends under Azure Ray’s banner. Despite initial doubts stemming from his rustiness, Somnus’ eternal love for Dota 2 and hard work triumphed in the Chinese regional qualifiers, clinching the only qualifier seat available for the region at The International 2023.

With only one team making it through TI 2023 through the Dota Pro Circuit, the Chinese qualifiers were expected to be a bloodbath. The fourth-place finishers of TI11, Team Aster, Azure Ray, Invictus Gaming, and Xtreme Gaming all found themselves in the qualifiers, with only enough room for one.

Despite starting the season late, Azure Ray began the qualifiers with the second seed, which allowed them to cruise through the upper bracket. This journey was rocky at times, however, as Azure Ray found itself on the brink of elimination to the lower bracket twice.

Xu “fy” Linsen, Yang “Chalice” Shenyi, and Somnus were a part of the iconic PSG.LGD roster, which was OG’s main rival during the European organization’s two-time TI-winning stint. Since this roster fell one step short of glory one too many times, they eventually disbanded but still remained in Dota 2 fans’ hearts as crownless kings.

Related: Somnus bolsters new heavyweight Dota 2 squad with legendary coach

While the roster has been performing above expectations, a decent part of the credit also goes to the coach, Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng. LaNm started the year at Xtreme Gaming where his impact was immediately noticed in results. It was the same story after he moved to Azure Ray in May 2023, as his vision of the game allowed the team to hit the ground running.

The end of the Chinese qualifiers for TI12 also saw Azure Ray face Xtreme Gaming twice in a row. Though Xtreme was able to secure the first win against Somnus’ team, they lost two back-to-back games in the upper bracket, causing them to face Team Zero, who gave them a run for their money.

Xtreme bounced back to face Azure Ray again in the Grand Finals, but they weren’t able to crack the late bloomers of the Chinese Dota 2 season.

Dota 2 TI12 Regional Qualifiers are still live as more regions are yet to settle on their final representatives. Once the last attendees are settled, Dota 2’s The International 2023 will take place in Seattle on Oct. 14.