ESL One Bangkok 2024 will feature 12 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world fighting for their cut of a $1 million prize pool from December 9 to 15 in Thailand.
The field has now been set for Dota 2 ESL One Bangkok 2024 with the conclusion of the tournament’s regional qualifiers on Monday (November 18). Team Liquid, AVULUS, PuckChamp, Gaozu, BOOM Esports, Shopify Rebellion, beastcoast, and Nigma Galaxy have punched their tickets to Bangkok and will be joining directly-invited teams Team Falcons, BetBoom Team, Team Spirit, and PARIVISION.
Western Europe: Team Liquid and AVULUS
Western Europe was the only regional qualifier that granted two slots in ESL One Bangkok due to the region’s position as the best in the scene as well as the fact that three Eastern European teams were among the four directly-invited teams.
Reigning The International champions Team Liquid were quick to bag the first slot with a perfect run that saw them score three straight 2-0 sweeps over MOUZ, Gaimin Gladiators, and AVULUS. Having defeated Paliantysia and scoring an upset over Tundra Esports in their previous two matches, AVULUS still had a chance to grab the second slot for Western Europe in the lower bracket.
AVULUS ended up facing OG for that second slot. OG were dropped to the lower bracket after getting swept by Gaimin Gladiators in the first round of the upper bracket. However, they went on a furious lower bracket run that saw them knock out MOUZ, Tundra, and Gaimin Gladiators to get within touching distance of a spot in Bangkok.
Unfortunately for OG, their run fell short at the final hurdle as they were soundly swept by AVULUS, who will be joining Liquid as the winners of ESL One Bangkok’s Western European qualifier.
Eastern Europe: PuckChamp
PuckChamp won ESL One Bangkok’s Eastern European qualifier over a formidable field that included the likes of 1win Team, Virtus.pro, and L1GA TEAM. PuckChamp started their campaign by defeating One Move, 2-1, before falling to 1win in three games in the upper bracket semifinals and getting knocked down to the lower bracket.
PuckChamp then bounced back by scoring three-straight 2-0 sweeps over NAVI Junior, PuckChamp, and L1GA TEAM to earn a rematch with 1win for a spot in ESL One Bangkok.
PuckChamp opened the best-of-five qualifier finals with a one-sided 40-minute win before pulling off a 51-minute comeback in game two to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. With all the momentum on PuckChamp’s side, they routed 1win in 42 minutes to close out the 3-0 series sweep and punch their tickets to Bangkok.
China: Gaozu
The Chinese regional qualifier was an interesting one, for all the wrong reasons. With many esports organisations pulling out of Dota 2 in the country due to the stagnation of the playerbase there, only Xtreme Gaming ended up participating as a fully-fledged organisation.
Most of the competitors ended up being informal stacks of veterans. These included TEAM TURTLE with Du “Monet” Peng, Lu “Somnus” Yao, and Xu “fy” Linsen; Yakult’s Brothers with Zhou “Emo” Yi and Ye “BoBoKa” Zhibiao; and Gaozu with Wang “Ame” Chunyu, Zhang “Paparazi灬” Chengjun, and Zhao “XinQ” Zixing.
Gaozu emerged victorious to become China’s sole representative in Bangkok. Gaozu swept Spiky Gaming and Titan in the first two rounds before falling to Xtreme in the upper bracket finals. They then bounced back with a 2-0 sweep over Yakult’s Brothers to earn a rematch with Xtreme in the grand finals. There, both teams traded wins until Gaozu stomped Xtreme in a 29-minute game five to punch their tickets to Bangkok.
Southeast Asia: BOOM Esports
BOOM Esports will be the home team for ESL One Bangkok after winning the Southeast Asian regional qualifier. They made their way to the grand finals by sweeping Teamless in the first round, defeating Aurora Gaming in three games in the second, and sweeping Team Kukuys in the upper bracket finals.
BOOM ended up facing Aurora once again for the spot in Bangkok, with the latter coming off a lower bracket run that saw them knock out Ivory, Talon Esports, and Team Kukuys. Aurora looked like they would avenge their previous loss after building up a commanding 2-0 series lead, only for a resilient BOOM squad to pull off an incredible 3-2 reverse sweep that they capped off with a thrilling 88-minute ultra late game victory in game five.
North America: Shopify Rebellion
Shopify Rebellion have made their way back to relevance by winning ESL One Bangkok’s North American regional qualifier over Atlantic City, a squad formed by the former Nouns Esports roster that have dominated them all year.
Shopify Rebellion started their campaign by sweeping Zone Academy and defeating Apex Genesis in the first two rounds to advance to the upper bracket finals against Atlantic City. While Shopify Rebellion won the first game, Atlantic City bounced back to win the next two and advanced to the grand finals. Shopify Rebellion had to defeat Zone Academy for a second time to earn a rematch with their regional rivals for a spot in Bangkok.
In stark contrast to all their previous showdowns this year, Shopify Rebellion soundly swept Atlantic City – with all three games lasting just 32 minutes or less – to become North America’s representative in ESL One Bangkok. Shopify Rebellion’s two Filipino players, Erin “Yopaj” Ferrer and Andrei “skem” Ong, will notably get to compete in their home region once again with this victory.
South America: beastcoast
The South American regional qualifier saw another team defeat a regional rival that dominated them this year to earn a spot in Bangkok. This time, it was beastcoast that emerged victorious over HEROIC.
Beastcoast hit the ground running in the qualifier, as they swept Hokori in the first round before defeating HEROIC in three games in their first encounter at the upper bracket semifinals. Beastcoast then took down FUSION to become the first team in the grand finals. Meanwhile, HEROIC went on a lower bracket run that saw them dispatch Infinity, Team Waska, and FUSION to earn a rematch with beastcoat.
It looked as if HEROIC would be the ones going to Bangkok as they held a 2-1 series lead after the first three games of the series. However, beastcoast outlasted them in back-to-back late game thrillers in games four and five, to instead be the ones heading over to Thailand to represent South America.
MESWA: Nigma Galaxy
Nigma Galaxy had by far the easiest path to Bangkok of any team in all seven regional qualifiers, as their only real competition in the MESWA regional qualifier was the Iranian-Pakistani stack Winter Bear.
Nigma Galaxy scored three-straight 2-0 sweeps over Ethereal Edge, Winter Bear, and Team Mansaf to advance to the grand finals. Winter Bear would then do the same in the lower bracket by knocking out Rogue Squad, Advance Esports, and Team Mansaf to earn a rematch with Nigma Galaxy for a spot in ESL One Bangkok.
Winter Bear gave their heavily-favoured opponents a bit of a scare by winning game one, but Nigma Galaxy still looked a clear level above as they stomped the next three games to win the MESWA qualifier and punch their tickets to Bangkok.
