Tundra Esports has been declared the champions of TI11, this year’s iteration of Dota 2’s annual world championship tournament. They soundly swept Team Secret 3-0 in the best-of-five grand finals on 30. October.
Tundra’s map-splitting strategy was so strong that they only lost four games during the Group Stage and just one in the Main Event.
In the finals, they simply outclassed Secret to secure a sweep in the TI grand finals. This is the second time this has happened at TI and it was Team Liquid that last achieved it.
Tundra won in the first game with their signature Naga Siren pick, and they beat TNC again in game two with an unexpected Arc Warden pick.
Tundra decided to take an audacious risk by putting Arc Warden in game two.
But while this hero took the spotlight, it was Neta “33” Shapira’s Beastmaster that ensured victory for Tundra. He created havoc all around the map and helped carry the game for Tundra.
“Nisha” attempted to win Ember Spirit for Secret and put up a fight, but couldn’t stop the Tundra juggernaut. They conceded at 44 minutes.
After their victory, Tundra claimed the Aegis of Champions as well as the prize pool of over US$8.5 million US$.
Tundra’s victory makes coach Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling the first two-time TI champion since OG won back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017. He won his first championship with Evil Geniuses at TI5. Ling is also the first to win as both a player and a coach.
This sentence needs a better verb.
Tundra carries, Nine and skiter will also become players who have taken the TI royal road by winning the world championship tournament in their first time playing in it.
For the first time since TI6, Martin “Saksa” Sazdov has won the Aegis. Additionally, Jingjun Wu is the first North American player to win a TI championship since Evil Geniuses won in TI5.
To finish out the event, Secret fell short of their goal with a little over US$2.4 million in consolation. Given that they came from the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ), it was nothing short of remarkable to get this far.
The TI has proven that this is a great organisation, placing third in last year’s tournament.
In the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit, Tundra and Secret have clashed multiple times. This was demonstrated by their final meeting in TI11.
Tundra was one of the best teams in the region, so they were invited to The International. Secret had to go through the LCQ tournament.
Tundra had a strong performance in TI11 Group Stage having finished as the top seed of Group B with a 14-4 record. They were the only team to win all best-of-two matches, and they didn’t lose any series either.
However, they lost 0-2 to Tundra in the first round of Group B stage of TI11.
Both teams then went on undefeated runs in the upper bracket of the main event to make it to TI11’s finals weekend. Secret swept through Chinese favorites PSG.LGD and South American hopefuls Thunder Awaken while Tundra cruised past regional rivals OG and Chinese powerhouse Team Aster.
The day before the grand finals, Tundra pulled off an epic comeback and beat Secret to win the upper bracket finals in two games.
The day began with Secret taking on Team Liquid in the lower bracket finals and came out on top, earning a rematch with Tundra in the championship match.