The Road to the Aegis
Tundra Esports is the Grand Champion of The International 2022. They delivered a dominant performance, dropping only one game during the entire Main Stage before winning the Grand Finals 3-0 to claim the Aegis.
Tundra began their journey with an impressive 14-4 run through the Group Stage, earning no less than series splits, and then simply upped their game at the Main Event. OG were their first opponents in the Upper Bracket. They dispatched the two-time TI champions in two games. This began a pattern for Tundra that was only broken once. Their next opponents were Team Aster, who had just won 2-0 themselves. But the Tundra veterans were undeterred. They also won that series in only two games.
Tundra then prepared for the Upper Bracket Finals against Team Secret. The first game lasted 67 minutes. Secret pushed hard early on, but the tide turned as the game progressed, and Tundra pushed back. Harder. Secret was forced to defend their base for the final twenty minutes before succumbing to an onslaught from all directions. Tundra’s only loss of the Finals came in game two, when they succumbed to Resolut1on’s Dawnbreaker, but they came back in game three. Tundra scored a team wipe 15 minutes in. Secret returned for more, and despite having key abilities on cooldown, Tundra was victorious once more, securing a strong advantage in the midgame. Secret succumbed to the push faster this time, advancing to the Lower Bracket Finals, while Tundra advanced to the Grand Finals on the highs of a convincing victory.
Secret won a close 2-1 series to earn a rematch, and the two teams met again — this time in the best-of-five Grand Finals for the Aegis of Champions. Tundra completely dominated their final series with Secret, winning 3-0. Tundra brought back skiter’s fearsome Naga Siren in the first game and eventually built an untouchable lead. Tundra drafted Arc Warden for Nine in Game 2, marking the hero’s first appearance in a TI final. Secret appeared to be in control early on, but Tundra’s cores came online, and the soon-to-be champions pulled ahead to end game two without losing a single barracks.
Game three presented an opportunity to create a new legacy, and Tundra’s players delivered in spades. The unexpected selection of Medusa as skier drew gasps, but Tundra’s dominance was felt throughout the team. Tundra was able to weather Secret’s attacks with that pick, as well as 33’s Beastmaster and Nine’s Pangolier, who were heavily bolstered by Saksa’s favoured Tiny and Sneyking’s Mirana. They took advantage of a near-teamwipe to push all the way to the Ancient for the win and sweep, securing the Aegis and their place in history.
These names will be inscribed on the Aegis of Champions forever as bearers of the ultimate symbol of victory:
2022 – Tundra Esports
- Oliver “skiter” Lepko
- Leon “Nine” Kirilin
- Neta “33” Shapira
- Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
- Wu “Sneyking” Jingjun
We’d like to thank all of the players, talent, and everyone in the Dota community for their contributions to making this celebration a reality. The International is the pinnacle of the competitive season, and none of this would be possible without everyone’s help. We hope you had as much fun as we did at this year’s tournament.
