SabeRLight- Gives His Predictions for TI11 WEU Qualifiers

The International 2022 (TI11) regional qualifiers continue to provide entertainment as the second set of qualifiers featuring China and North America regions are currently ongoing. However, many personalities are beginning to give their predictions for the upcoming Western Europe (WEU) regional qualifiers.

In a recent podcast with OG’s CEO JMR Luna, TSM offlaner Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek talked about the top three finishes in the WEU region in his opinion. While SabeRLight- had two out of three teams confirmed, he pondered on his final decision before deciding that Nigma Galaxy will secure the third and final ticket to Singapore.

SabeRLight- predicted that Liquid will miss out on a TI11 slot over Nigma Galaxy

SabeRLight- was recently invited as a guest on OG’s Monkey Business Podcast Episode 37, hosted by OG’s CEO JMR Luna. During the podcast, both of them talked about SabeRLight- journey with Entity during the PGL Arlington Major and the backstory of his last minute invitation to play with Entity for the Major.

After SabeRLight- finished explaining his stories about Entity, JMR Luna then proceeded to ask him about his top three teams that will be traveling to Singapore from the WEU region. At first, SabeRLight- noted that either Team Secret or Entity will be facing each other in the Grand Finals for the direct invite before jokingly saying that Alliance will make a miracle run to secure the final ticket to Singapore for the Last Chance Qualifiers.

He seriously hoped that Team Liquid would make it to TI11 despite its underwhelming results at the last three LAN events that they attended as he knows the players and the manager of the team on a personal level. “I hope Liquid makes it [to TI11] because I know some of the players and Blitz [team manager] is a super nice guy so I really hope that Liquid makes it to TI because they missed TI10 last year.”

However, he also has doubts regarding Liquid, as he worries that Liquid’s recent bad runs in multiple tournaments might affect the team’s mentality going into the qualifiers. JMR Luna then asked for his final choices for the WEU region on who will be in the Grand Finals and the last team to obtain a ticket to Singapore. SabeRLight- responded by saying that Secret will come out on top, as Entity and Nigma Galaxy will be moving on to the Last Chance Qualifiers.

“I think it’s gonna be Secret [that receives the direct invite] since their experience within the team is gonna pull through. Entity will be in second place, fighting Secret in the Grand Finals and then it’s going to be Nigma Galaxy. I think I would not be surprised if Liquid or Nigma Galaxy makes roster changes after TI11 if either one of them don’t qualify as it will be a second time for the organization.”

[Relevant section begins at 37:37]

The top team of each regional qualifier will earn a direct entry into TI11’s Group stage, along with the other twelve teams that have already earned their places based on the DPC points ranking.

However, replacing the Wildcard format that was last seen during The International 2016 (TI6) will be the Last Chance Qualifiers, where the second and third teams from each region will compete against each other for the final two slots in the group stage, which will ultimately consist of 20 teams.

The WEU regional qualifiers will begin on the 13th September alongside the South East Asian (SEA) qualifiers, following the conclusion of both the China and North American qualifiers.