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This performance from a team that came through qualifiers isn’t out of the ordinary, besides a few exceptions like TNC’s run to last year’s International. Even within the Kiev qualifiers, several teams remain winless in other regions, including Alternate aTTaX, Wheel Whreck, Cavalry and Young Elite (at the time of writing).

The hope for most teams is that making it into the regional qualifiers will be a stepping stone, a chance to compete against great teams and improve, to stand a better chance in a year. The Imperial, which now competes under the Cloud9 banner, and Elements Pro, are previous open qualifiers that now receive direct bids to regionals and are legitimate contenders to make it into the major.

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While Prestige may have paid a great deal for this learning opportunity, The International 7—and its associated qualifiers—is just a few short months away. Plenty of time to practice up, or maybe find another region that’s less difficult to play in through.