How Tundra Esports Has Prepared For The International 11 ‘Dota 2’ Tournament

After finding some incredible form right at the end of the regular season last year, Tundra Esports narrowly missed out on a place at The International 10, the largest Dota 2 tournament ever. Had they won just one more game in the qualifier they would have made it, and given their late season form, many had them down as a team expected to place highly. It was a crushing blow, but the core of the roster stuck together, determined to make it to The International 11.

Tundra bounced back from the disappointment with an impressive season in the Dota Pro Circuit and now the team enters The International 11 as one of the top contenders. While there is a lot of pressure on them to perform in their first appearance at The International, the players are confident that their preparation over the last few months will give them the edge they need.

“The preparation we have done for this TI has been one of the best bootcamp we have had,” says team captain Wu “Sneyking” Jingjun. “We mainly focused on ourselves in both strategies and mental fortitude. Dota is as much a mechanically skilled game as it is a mental game. Without one or the other, you will not be able to go very far in the tournament as it is a very stressful tournament with all the best teams in the world competing against you.”

The mental side of things has been a big focus for Tundra over the past few months. No one can question their mechanical skill, but improving their mental game and teamwork has been a major part of their preparations for TI, and one of the key reasons that former TI winner Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling was bought in late last year as the team’s coach.

“Our main historic weaknesses have been our mental game and team cohesion and I think we worked on those a lot,” says Ling. “Our bootcamp went as smoothly as one can hope for and hopefully the preparation leads to good results.”

Both Jingjun and Ling identified Chinese team PSG.LGD and reigning TI champions Team Spirit as the two teams they really want to face in the tournament. Both were finalists at the tournament last year, and have continued to look strong throughout the year, making them the teams to beat for most other participants.

A win against either team would be a major confidence boost for any roster, but taking down Team Spirit, who are in the same group as Tundra, would be extra sweet, as Ling revealed they have been the main scrim partner for Tundra over the last couple of years.

“I think most teams at this tournament look forward to challenging Team Spirit and PSG.LGD the most,” says Ling. “Spirit has been a main scrim partner of the team over the past two years and the team also has some history playing against PSG.LGD. Coming out of Riyadh and the Arlington Major, these two teams also just seem the strongest, but honestly the overall level of competition for this TI should be very high.”

Being able to scrim consistently with the reigning TI champions is certainly a strong way to prepare for the biggest tournament of the year, and the Tundra roster is feeling confident heading into the tournament.

They have recently arrived in Singapore, ready to kick off their tournament in just a few hours with a match against North American team TSM. While a lot of the fans back home have been complaining about many aspects of the tournament so far, Tundra are not worried that any potential issues with the tournament and its organisation will impact them or their chances of winning.

“TI regardless of what happens with the community will always be the most prestigious tournament in Dota and I am excited to be a part of it,” says Jingjun. “There are definitely some quality concerns with PGL, but Valve has been quick to rectify any problems we have had so far.”

Now all that is left to do is to show up in the game. While many of the players have played at TI before, this is the first time this roster will compete on the biggest stage of them all and regardless of how well you prepare there’s bound to be some surprises.

That being said, Tundra are confident, and given their success throughout the year you certainly wouldn’t count them out of a top finish. If that does happen, and Tundra walks away with a serious sum of money then the first thing Jingjun will do is buy gifts for his family, to thank them for their support over the years.