TI11 enters the wasteland with Tundra Esports, Team Secret putting on a show

With hell breaking loose in Group A today and Evil Geniuses becoming the first team to qualify for The International 2022’s main event, it was a comparatively calm day in Group B. Unlike in its sister group, the race for the top seed is still on and anything below that could shift dramatically depending on the final day of matches taking place tomorrow. 

Leading up to TI11, Tundra Esports transitioned into one of the best Dota 2 teams in Europe and were looking to carry that excellent form into an explosive start at TI11. But it took the team some extra time to hit their stride and find a window to really shine against some of the best teams in the world.

Starting out with a series of draws wasn’t ideal, but Tundra turned things around after a slow opening with multiple big wins yesterday and a sweep of the defending TI champions today. 

Team Spirit entered the third day looking to turn around their own slow start, but Tundra weren’t the easy prey that the TI10 winners may have been expecting.

Spirit were entirely shut down by Tundra, but they dragged both matches past the 30-minute mark thanks to a few teamfight-centric spells that had Tundra playing as carefully as possible despite their gigantic leads. In the end, Spirit’s lineup lacked the damage to stop Tundra’s unstoppable stampede.

Tundra also split games with Thunder Awaken, who are fighting for top seeding at TI11 despite one player dealing with hospitalization. Farith “Matthew” Puente underwent multiple tests before day three even started due to a stomach infection but still returned in time to play.

Tundra weren’t the only WEU team that improved their seeding, either. Team Secret continued to build on a strong group stage run on day three with an early draw against Spirit before entering a highly-anticipated matchup against Entity. 

Throughout the last DPC season, Entity had Secret’s number on multiple occasions, even snatching a Major spot from Puppey’s vanguard and eliminating them from the WEU regional qualifiers. With both team’s power levels in mind, most fans expected an even series. But Secret were on another level and looked to avenge their previous losses. 

Crystallis and Zayac were out of control in the first game, scoring 22 kills of Secret’s 30 in total. Secret kept up the high tempo all around the map, pushing Entity’s backs against the wall that was their Ancient. Despite small glimmers of hope, Entity failed to score game-swinging kills on Secret’s cores and tapped out at the 32-minute mark.

Entity came into the second match with a rather similar draft, which brought an even more crushing defeat down upon them. Crystallis treated the fans to a shining Lifestealer performance. The position one player had 10 kills to his name and Secret outpaced one of the fastest teams in the game.

With this sweep in the bag, Secret now look to challenge both Team Aster, who had a poor day three showing against Fnatic and TA, and Tundra for Group B’s top seed heading into the fourth and final day of the groups. Meanwhile, Spirit and beastcoast will clash in a series that could potentially put one of them dangerously close to elimination from TI11.