BetBoom has become the 12th and final Dota 2 team to qualify for The International 12 through Dota Pro Circuit points, despite having a player disqualified from the Bali Major for cheating and earning no points from the tournament.
Earlier this week it appeared that BetBoom had already secured a direct qualification to TI12 by beating Tundra Esports 2-0 in the upper bracket quarter-final at the Bali Major. This result would guarantee them at least a top-six finish and another 400 DPC points, taking them above the total needed to qualify.
However, the next day that result was overturned as it was discovered that BetBoom player Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko had a Twitch stream open during the game, which was spotted by cameras during a pause. This was a clear breach of the rules, as players are not allowed to have any browser open during a game, and watching a stream of the match would give them information they would otherwise not know.
Pure was then disqualified from the tournament and banned from playing any more matches in Bali, however, the rest of the BetBoom team were allowed to continue in the competition if they found a stand-in. Fortunately, Roman “Resolut1on” Fomynok, a veteran pro player, was in Bali as broadcast talent for the English stream and stood in for BetBoom. But as the win vs Tundra was overturned, BetBoom needed to play in the lower bracket, where a loss would see them eliminated with no points and potentially leave them at risk of not qualifying for TI.
BetBoom, somewhat unsurprisingly, then lost to Azure Ray in the lower bracket, eliminating them in 9th-12th place and with no DPC points. This left them on 760 DPC points, putting them in 12th position on the rankings, with the potential for two teams to overtake them. Aster, who was one of the teams in contention for the final spot, also dropped out in 9th-12th place, meaning only Quest Esports had the potential to eliminate BetBoom. But to do that, they would need to reach the grand final.
Quest, who had looked strong throughout the tournament, lost to Gaimin Gladiators in the upper bracket semi-final, knocking them down to the lower bracket and giving them the challenging task of winning three games in a row to secure a place in the final and at TI. They took down PSG.LGD, but then came up against Team Liquid, where they lost 2-1. This meant they exited the tournament in fourth place, leaving them with 682 DPC points and putting them just short of beating BetBoom.
The full list of teams qualified directly to The International 12 features, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, Tundra Esports, 9Pandas, Evil Geniuses, PSG.LGD, Shopify Rebellion, Talon Esports, beastcoast, Team Spirit, TSM and BetBoom. Now only eight spots at the biggest tournament of the year remain, with teams having to go through regional qualifiers to make it to Seattle later this year.
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