One of the highest honours for Dota 2 players is to compete at The International. This year 22 new players will make their TI debut. 

Updated September 1

Tundra Esports confirmed that Naltakyn “9class” Edgar was unable to acquire his Visa, and thus will not be able to participate in the prestigious tournament. The would-be debutant will need to try again for his chance to play at the pinnacle of all Dota 2 events. 

  • Read Saksa returns to Tundra Esports with 9Class unable to reach The International 2024

Break-out players and teams made a splash on the international scene from around the world. This year 22 out of 80 players from across the four corners of the globe will make their International debut. One full team is full of new kids on the block and three more teams the majority of the players are making their maiden voyage to the stage. A total of nine teams out of 16 have at least one debutant on the roster – more than half!

This year's International promises to be a thrilling blend of seasoned veterans and fresh talent. With so many debutants in the lineups, the stakes are higher than ever, and the competition is set to be fierce. As we look forward to the excitement and storylines that only TI can deliver, let's take a closer look at the new faces ready to make their mark on Dota 2's biggest stage.

Without further ado, introducing The International 2024 debutants:

Eastern Europe Debutants

Formed at the end of 2023 and signed only in February this year by 1Win, the rather young line-up, made a full upper bracket run for one of the biggest upsets to secure the single ticket available in the Eastern European qualifiers for The International 2024. The year started slowly with no major qualifier victories or any notable results. When they finally clinched a ticket to a LAN tournament, a visa mishmash had their slot revoked. 

  • Read 1win respond to ESL; Its a "mere trifle measured in four hours"

The International 2024 will mark the organization’s debut at the pinnacle Dota 2 tournament and the entire roster's TI debut.

1win debutants
Nikita “Munkushi~” Chepurnykh
CHIRA_JUNIOR
ALEXANDER “cloud” ZAKHAROV
Georgii “swedenstrong” Zainalabidov
RESPECT

Southeast Asia Debutants

Talondidn't have a single appearance at any of the Tier 1 LANs this year but when it counted the most, they showed up big time. Talon flipped the narrative and secured the first SEA spot at The International 2024 after a 2:0 sweep over Aurora. Just before the TI qualifiers kicked off, Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman joined Talon on June 4th, replacing captain Ng "ChYuaN" Kee Chyuan who had been playing with the team all season – and the change seems to have worked out for them. Mikoto's experience and leadership helped bring this team to The International and now it will need to bring them through it as the only player on the team with previous TI experience as Talon are going to TI13 with players who barely breached 200 hours of official games.

Despite being just 21 years old, Akashi is not the youngest on the team. That flex is reserved for Ws, Talon’s offlaner, who is only 19 years old and regarded by all his teammates as their little brother.

  • Read TI13 Talon Esports team profile: The return of Iron Talon

Talon Esports debutants 
Eljohn “Akashi” Andales
Chung “Ws`” Wei Shen
Tri “Jhocam” Kuncoro
Pang Sze “ponyo” Xuan
 

Aurora were poised to be the favourites for the TI SEA regional qualifiers – having taken a consistent 7-9th place finish at various international events when most of the other teams struggled to even find their seat at the table for tournaments. But when Talon flipped the narrative they were forced to take the long road to get their spot at The International 2024.

Most of this team is comprised of TI veterans, but one player will make his debut – and interestingly enough he's not even from the region! Artem "lorenof" Melnick, a Ukrainian player, replaced Armel "Armel" Tabios after he had been moved to inactive status back in March. Lorenof made his first appearance with the team at DreamLeague Season 22. Before joining the SEA team, the Eastern European core player has a long list of various EEU team stints stringing back to 2020.  

In an exclusive GosuGamers interview with Ivan "Kidaro" Bondarev fromDandelions the support player said: 

"I would say that Lorenof from Aurora is standing out. I played with him at PuckChamp and I can tell you that he is a very tryhard player. He has his own way of playing the game and his mechanical skills are what makes him so special. Some say Jabz is the best player on the Aurora roster, but I would keep an eye on Lorenof. "


Aurora debutant
Artem “Lorenof” Melnick

China Debutants

Only six invites were bestowed directly to the teams. Of those, it was only Xtreme Gaming from China that received one. The rest of China was left to battle things out. Unlike last year when the region was given only one slot, this year they were bestowed two – which was a small consolation prize given how many notable teams and players were competing for a spot. 

Needless to say, it was a tremendous surprise when Team Zero delivered a big upset in China as the first team to qualify for The International 2024.Team Zero is the second Dota 2 team of Xtreme Gaming formed in May 2023. Playing in only qualifiers so far this season (except for ONE Tier 3 event), this team was barely a blip on the qualifier radar.

Yet now with some fantastic plays by the only TI veteran on the team Yang "Erika" Shaohan and TI debutant Remus "ponlo" Goh (from Singapore) grinding it out in several regions has paid off. 

Team Zero debutants 
Heming “7e” Huang
Beyond
Remus “ponlo” Goh Zhi Xian
Zzq

Guo "Xm" Hongcheng has been around the block in the professional scene since 2017. Although technically he did attend and participate in The International 2022 Last Chance Qualifiers with Vici Gaming – that wasn't really considered part of TI. 

Xm started the season playing for Azure Ray. Immediately after they claimed the trophy in Kuala Lumpur, Xm, XXs, and XinQ left the team, and regrouped under the Xtreme Gaming banner. With an incredibly successful year, Xtreme Gaming became the only Chinese team to get a direct invite to TI, ensuring that Xm will have his chance on the big stage. 

Xtreme Gaming debutant
Hongcheng “Xm” Guo

South America Debutants


 

After years of success in the South American scene, this year beastcoast revealed a team of youngsters with little to no competitive experience, led by veteran players Joel "MoOz" Ozambela (17-18th place at Ti 2021) and powered up by Pablo "Vitaly" Angulo (13-16th place at TI 2022). 

Payk, their carry,  might have just under 250 professional games played, 100 being held only this year, since he joined beastcoast.

  • Read TI13 beastcoast team profile: A youthful Savage Roar

beastcoast debutants
Yheremi Kerry “payk” Paucar Arroyo 
Luis Villarreal “Lumpy” Yausin 
Yelstin “elmisho” Verde 

The Norwegian esports organization best known for its CS:GO achievements, Heroic, made an entrance into Dota 2 by signing a South American roster for the 2024 competitive year.

For some of the players, this will be the fifth appearance at the most important tournament in the Dota 2 scene. For Belgian/American player Cedric "Davai Lama" Deckmyn it will be his first – if we aren't counting the Last Chance Qualifiers in 2022. He played for Wild Card Gaming at that time, taking 7-8th place. 

Lama had strong results in a number of regional tournaments before joining a team for the NA DPC Open Qualifiers in 2021. Since then he played for just a handful of NA teams before heading over to South America with Heroic. Speaking six languages certainly has its advantages!

  • Read Davai Lama interview: “You open a lot more opportunities for yourself by learning a new language”

Heroic debutant
Cedric “Davai Lama” Deckmyn

Western Europe Debutants

It really has become the year of the Falcon. The MENA-based team started the season strong and has maintained its momentum event after event. The team has become synonymous with championship titles. 

  • Read Team Falcons soar at the start of the season

For the most part, this is a team of veterans, some who have even won a TI trophy before. But there is one player in this group who will be stepping out on The International stage for the first time. 

For the midlane position, the group was looking at multiple options, and one of them was the Team Nemiga youngster Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak. He was the best fit as everyone who was now on the Falcons roster had previously played with Malr1ne. He stood in for Tundra when skiter and Sneyking were there and he previously played with ATF in the Creepwave stack when both of them were making their debut —so there was no question about whether he would fit or not with the rest of the team members. 

Hailing from Russia, this young player is representing Western Europe as one of only two debutants in the region. 

Team Falcons debutant
Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak

Tundra Esports had a rough year after winning TI11. The 2022-2023 Dota 2 season did not go as intended for them and the 2023-24 season has had its share of downs. With roster change after roster change, the team was able to claim the final ticket to The International 2024 after they made their final tweak. 

In stark contrast to Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen's historic two-time-back-to-back TI championship wins, Edgar "9Class" Naltakian has been competing for only two years, with Tundra being his third team. But this Russian player is definitely a clutch player who has come in for Tundra time and time again. 

Tundra Esports debutant
Naltakyan “9Class” Edgar

North America Debutants 

With only six invites handed out to teams for The International 2024, North America was left empty-handed. To top things off, they were awarded only one slot via qualifiers. In a full sweep, nouns made quick work of Shopify to claim the qualifier slot to represent North America at The International 2024. 

An underwhelming performance at BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 brought about a roster change for nouns. Adding Philipp "Copy" Bühler in place of Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau had at least yielded the results of a spot at Riyadh Masters. At 23 years old, Copy might be considered an up-and-coming player by the vast majority of Dota 2 fans. But for the German scene, he is a veteran already, despite him bluntly stating in an exclusive interview that he thinks he is “still the same noob.”

  • Read Philipp "Copy" Bühler - a new face on the TI stage

Yuma "Yuma" Langlet for nouns is also a debutant for The International. He is a Nicaraguan/Belgian/German player who started his professional career only three years ago playing for D2Hustlers. 

nouns debutants
Copy
Yuma “Yuma” Langlet

The International 2024 (TI13)

The International 2024 is set to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark in September at the Royal Arena. This will mark the second time The International is coming to Europe, but the first time when, hopefully, fans will be able to attend. The first time Valve tried to bring its most prestigious tournament to Europe was in 2020 when the pandemic hit the world. TI10 was postponed for 2021 and moved from Sweden to Romania. Although tickets were sold, a new wave of coronavirus forced Valve to refund all tickets and hold the tournament in an empty stadium in Bucharest. Since then, TI moved to Singapore in 2022 and last year it returned home, to Seattle.

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