Talon Esports is joining The International 2022 in Singapore. It was a hard-fought battle, with the team beating Polaris Esports 3–2 at the Qualifier for Southeast Asia. This is a big break for Talon, which just joined the Dota 2 competitive scene in November 2021.
When Talon came up with their own Dota 2 team, the team was able to get Tal “Fly” Aizik as Team Captain. That “experiment” didn’t really end well, with Fly eventually leaving the team. Kim “Gabii” Villafuerte also parted ways with the team.
Fortunately, a Southeast Asia team let go of Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon, and Talon immediately signed him up. What was that team that let 23savage go? It was T1.
Regular DPC Season
During Tour 1, Talon was only able to finish in fifth place in Division II. That meant they won’t be able to join Majors, ending without DPC points. It didn’t trouble the team much and with 23savage, Talon finished in second place for Tour 2. That meant a promotion to Division I for Tour 3.
The team was on a roll and finished in second place for Tour 3 and joined the Arlington Major. While the team didn’t do so well during the Arlington Major, it might have been enough guarantee to join the Qualifier for TI.
The SEA Qualifier
In the Qualifier, Talon didn’t have problems against their initial opponents. The team swept teams Lilgun, Polaris Esports, and T1 2–0 and earned a spot in the Grand Final. In the Grand Final, it was a rematch between Talon and Polaris.
While Talon swept Polaris in a previous match, the Grand Final was a different story. Polaris stunned Talon in the first game getting a total of 22 team kills. Talon was able to limit 23savage to only two kills despite being on Morphling. In the second game, Talon was able to rally and tie the series with 23savage on Slark and Rafli “Mikoto” Rahman on Pangolier.
In the third game, it was again Polaris who grabbed the victory with a 2–1 lead. However, once again Talon came back and won the fourth game to tie the series 2–2.
In the fifth and deciding game, Polaris took an early lead and got the advantage in the early to mid-game. A team fight at around 26 minutes gave the advantage to Talon and they immediately went for Roshan to grab the Aegis. With this, Talon was able to slowly take the lead and was now ready to proceed to high ground. Polaris fought back, but it became too much, and had to call GG.
As Talon secured a spot to TI, Polaris joined T1 in the Last Chance Qualifier.
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