Their backs were against the wall from day one, but after two sound defeats at the hands of Team Aster, Thunder Predator is the first team eliminated from Dota 2’s The International 10 with a 0-7 record on day three.
TP was one of South America’s best Dota 2 teams all year, but it looked like the Peruvian squad was losing steam as the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit dragged on.
They went from surprising everyone with a fifth-place run at the ONE Esports Singapore Major and beating Alliance, PSG.LGD, and Team Liquid, to missing the second Major and recording middling results heading into TI10. TP did qualify for TI directly thanks to their first Major and high-regional league placements giving them enough DPC points. By the end of the regular season, however, there were some serious question marks surrounding the team.
As soon as TP started playing from their practice room in Bucharest, it became clear that they were outclassed in certain matchups, losing their opening series 0-2 to OG. But the struggles continued, with Alliance stealing back a close game one win and then crushing TP’s hopes in game two, dropping them to 0-2 in the overall standings.
Those early losses compounded on day two as Invictus Gaming routed TP 2-0. Even Undying, a team perceived in a similar vein to TP heading into TI10 as a smaller team from the Americas, managed to sweep them, and it didn’t look like much of a contest in game two.
Day three was TP’s last chance to mount a comeback, having three matches to play and an opportunity to leapfrog Alliance in the standings if the situation broke the right way. However, Virtus.pro and Evil Geniuses put those hopes in question—followed by Team Aster crushing them completely.
At the end of day three matches, TP had gone 0-3, bringing their total record to 0-7 or 0-14 overall. Statistically, they are now the first team eliminated from TI10, with only one series remaining against T1 before their competition is over.
“Tomorrow, it’s up to us, evicted, to play another series against T1… and we’ll be there watching our boys compete because they need us at this moment,” a loose translation of TP’s statement reads. “We hope you can also be with us, providing the support needed by them, us, and everyone who has contributed to this long journey.”
Even though the team showed flashes early in the season and during some of the matches on Dota’s biggest stage, TP will be going home in joint 17th place, taking home $100,000 of the $40 million prize pool.
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