The Internationals 2023 Visa Issues Haunt DreamLeague Season 21

The Internationals 2023, the most anticipated Dota 2 tournament of the year, will be hosted at the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit and Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington, USA.

The playoffs will be at the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit. The finals week will be at Climate Pledge Arena.

Multiple teams expressed their Visa concerns as the International returns to the US. Most teams consist of players from different nationalities, and it is hard for some nationalities to secure a US Visa.

The Impact 

Recently, Gaimin Gladiators’ safelaner expressed concerns about one of his teammates' attempts to secure a US Visa. Gaimin Gladiators’s VISA issue could have a potentially favorable outcome as their player is from Europe.

Unlike Gaimin Gladiators, the two teams competing in the current DreamLeague Season 21 are playing with stand-ins for the early stages of the tournament. They played with stand-ins to have their full roster available for The International.

Quest Esports at The International 2023 Western Europe Open Qualifiers Credit: Quest Esports

Quest Esports, one of the emerging talents from Western Europe, took to Twitter to announce Indji “Shad” Lub will be standing in for them at DreamLeague Season 21.

In an attempt to secure a US visa for TI, the team’s safelaner, Aybek "TA2000" Tokayev, traveled to Indonesia, a country with a lower denial rate. An unexpectedly prolonged process caused the player to remain in the country for a longer duration.

Missing their safelaner, Quest Esports did not have a terrific debut on the first day. They lost their opening series against BetBoom Team and tied their series against Evil Geniuses.

There are speculations that Shad will be standing in for the team for the entire duration of the group stages. The team’s upcoming series is up against OG and Team Spirit.

Same Issue, Different Outcome

Likewise, Entity also had to handle their US Visa issues. The team’s latest addition, Kim “Gabbi” Santos, could miss the tournament because of it.

Gabbi played a crucial role in the team’s victorious run at The International 2023 Qualifiers. It is hard to find a replacement for a player who’d have Gabbi’s impact.

ATF standing in for Entity at DreamLeague Season 21 Credit: Twitter/ https://twitter.com/EntityDota/status/1703804273459593250

For now, Entity has assigned Gabbi’s role to Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf. ATF will be Gabbi’s substitute during the team’s DreamLeague Season 21 run. Unlike Quest Esports, Entity and ATF did well on their first day.

The team tied their debut series against Shopify Rebellion and defeated Team Liquid. The team’s upcoming series is against Tundra Esports.

Recently, the team updated the fans by posting a discord message from Gabbi stating ATF should play the entire DreamLeague tournament in his stead.

After resolving their Visa issues, both players will return to their roles in the team. Teams are prioritising having their full roster available as the date for The Internationals 2023 is getting closer. It would be nice to see Valve stepping in to ensure no player gets left for the prestigious tournament they are hosting.

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Image Source: Twitter/@questesports_