The main event of the Dota 2 International – the largest eSports tournament in history – will begin tomorrow, but the trash talk has started today. Infamous, the first South American team to make it to The International is ready to make a big splash.
Speaking with GameRevolution through a Spanish translator, Infamous support player Christian “Accel” Cruz said of his first opponents “OG is worried.”
For context, OG is oft-considered one of the best, if not the best team in all of Dota 2, and their record doesn’t lie, with OG winning four out of five Dota 2 “Major” tournaments with combined winnings of more than $4 million at those tournaments, alone.
Meanwhile, Infamous is a Peruvian team competing in an official Valve LAN event for the first time, representing a region that, until Valve added a guaranteed spot for a South American team, had never qualified for The International. That said, Infamous was not simply given a spot by being the best among a poor crop of teams. They still had to make it through the group stage, as the bottom team from each group was eliminated yesterday.
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And now the real competition begins, with Infamous’ first game coming against OG, who was placed in the lower bracket following surprisingly lackluster performance. But, Accel feels that the format of the lower bracket matches favors Infamous. While the upper bracket games are played in a best-of-three, lower bracket matches are best-of-one.
“In a best-of-one, anything can happen,” Accel said. “So, OG is worried.”
Accel said Infamous was inspired by SG e-Sports big upset at the Kiev Major.
It may seem brazen, but anyone familiar with South American Dota 2 knows that bold swagger is part of their equation. This was on display most when SG e-Sports, a Brazilian team, eliminated the No. 1-seeded Team Secret. During the match, SG e-Sports taunted Team Secret early and often, well before the game was won.
Indeed, SG e-Sports are really the reason for Infamous’s presence at the Dota 2 International. After SG e-Sports’ upset of Team Secret at the Kiev Major, Infamous realized that they could do it, too.
“Right then, we started training really hard, with a goal to qualify for the International,” Accel said. Of course, Infamous would go on to upset SG e-Sports during the South American qualifier, advancing to the International.
While it seems Infamous is ready to bring South American braggadocios style to the Dota 2, they also had a warning to other South American teams that may vie for future International tournaments:
“They can try, but they have to be the best,” Accel said. “There is only one slot, and they’ll have to go through us.”
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