Dota 2: 5 Players That Will Miss The International 12

Here are some of the players that will miss the International 12.

There is no arguing that The International 12 will be a special Dota 2 tournament because it will feature some of the world’s top-tier teams. Starting on October 12, the world’s leading names will gather in Seattle and compete for the most prestigious trophy.  We’ve already covered each region in greater detail, so check our Dota 2 articles for more information. 

Instead of going over those things, this time, we will take a look at some of the players that will miss The International 12. Most of them and their teams failed to secure a direct invitation and could not win the qualifiers. Consequently, we won’t see them on the big stage in just a few weeks. 

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov 

The first and probably the biggest name in Dota 2 that we won’t see in action in Settle is the living legend Puppey. He is one of the world's most experienced Dota 2 players and has been to every TI before that. In fact, TI12 will be the first event he will miss out on after Secret wasn’t able to secure one of the Western European slots.

There is no arguing that Puppey is one of the world’s most popular Dota 2 players. Besides the fact that he’s been active for many years, he also won the first The International with Na’Vi in 2011. Since then, he’s been to every tournament and came close to winning it the second time. Sadly, we won’t be able to see what he’s capable of this year because he is one of the players who will miss The International 12.

Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi 

The second big name in Dota 2 that many of won’t be able to see in action is none other than Miracle-. He is probably the most famous Dota 2 core player in the world because he has won many big tournaments. In fact, Miracle- also lifted the Aegis in 2017, which proved he is one of the best the game has ever seen.

Unlike Puppey, who did everything he could to reach TI, Miracle- stopped playing in late 2022. He is currently on Nigma Galaxy’s inactive roster, which means we didn’t have the chance to watch him in action.

Considering Nigma’s most recent results, we would not be surprised if Miracle- makes a comeback in 2023. He has proven himself many times, so we can only imagine what will happen with this team’s results.

Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi

Speaking of Nigma Galaxy, one of the players that will miss The International 12 is the squad’s captain – KuroKy. The living Dota 2 legend is 30 years old now and has been active for many years. Like Puppey, he has always been one of the favorites to win this tournament, but 2023 will not be the year when this will happen.

KuroKy’s peak came in 2017 when he and Team Liquid won The International 12. A few months after that, he and the rest decided to create their own organization called Nigma Galaxy. Although they had some success, the team was never able to repeat the same results as TL.

2023 was a rough year for Kuro and the rest because the team wasn’t able to do much. Besides the fact that it failed to qualify for The International, the team did not do well in the DPC. In fact, it had to play in Division II several times, proving it had problems.

Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov

OG made a drastic decision around one and a half year ago to change its roster from they ground up. The team introduced 5 new players to the competitive scene, each of whom was very young and inexperienced. However, this did not prevent OG from winning a lot of games, including a Major, and BZM was one of the main reasons for the club’s success. The bad news for the club is that 2023 was not really good, which means that bzm will be one of the players that will miss The International 12. 

Even though OG had a fairly good start, the squad wasn’t able to win anything this year. Following its mediocre performance in the Western European DPC, the team also had bad results in every tournament. In fact, OG’s best result so far was the 5th place at DreamLeague Season 19.

Bzm proved himself to be one of the best midlaners in Western Europe. He is just 18 years old, which means we expect to see a lot more from him in the future. Keep in mind he joined OG in late 2021; by the looks of it, he will continue to be a part of the team. We can imagine what’s going to happen in the future.

Du “Monet” Peng

China has numerous world-class players, but not all of them will be able to attend TI 12. Unfortunately, Monet will be one of the players that will miss The International 12, despite the fact that Aster was regarded as one of the best Chinese clubs in 2023. The team was always one of the favorites and achieved pretty good results in most competitions. However, it couldn’t do much in the Chinese qualifiers, which means that Monet and his team will not go to Seattle.

What’s interesting about this player is that he is just 23 years old but has a lot of experience on the professional scene. Monet played for Royal Never Give Up for almost 2 years, but he’s been a part of Team Aster since 2020. Although the squad added the likes of SumaiL to their roster, he wasn’t able to help them qualify for TI12.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we have to say that The International 12 will be an amazing tournament, but we won’t be seeing some of the biggest names in the game. Some of them are not active anymore, whereas others simply failed to qualify for the tournament. Regardless of the case, make sure to follow us for more information regarding TI 12, as well as any other Dota 2 event.