Valve announced the dates and the location for The International 2023 on May 7 without any mention of the highly acclaimed Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ). This initiated a wave of disappointment among Dota 2 fans who fell in love with the thrilling concept during the previous season.
As the Dota 2 community banded together to lobby for LCQ, Team Liquid’s coach William “Blitz” Lee chimed into the discussion with a compelling argument, stating Liquid’s current Dota 2 roster wouldn’t be together if it wasn’t for 2022’s LCQ for TI11.
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Despite having a solid roster, Liquid found themselves out of the invite zone for TI11 last season, and the team had to go through the open qualifiers alongside Team Secret. After qualifying through the LCQ, both Secret and Liquid locked in upper bracket positions at TI11.
This was a showcase of strength for these two teams since many doubted their potential at the tournament just because they came in at the last minute.
While many professional players agree that the LCQ should be a permanent part of the TI experience, fans are also in the same boat as them. The Dota 2 community enjoyed the LCQ format last season, and it also fits in perfectly to the competitive calendar since there aren’t many tournaments after the Bali Major until TI12.
At time of writing, Valve hasn’t released an official statement on the matter, and also hasn’t officially stated that LCQ was off the table. Last year’s LCQ was announced alongside TI’s location, and since that wasn’t the case this year, Dota 2 fans assumed Valve might be looking to scrap it for good.
