Topson Confirms He Will Not Play In TI Qualifiers
The Internationals 2023 is around the corner. While most teams have qualified for the tournament, some have yet to secure their seat. However, multiple legendary players will be missing from this year’s iteration of The International. Legendary players like Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen, Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi and Anathan "Ana" Pham are yet to confirm whether they will participate in the upcoming qualifiers. Miracle has been recently active back on his account.
The International is often for the time of the year Ana came out of his anime-style training to win the tournament before returning to his cave, where he will spend another year training. However, uncertainty for Ana’s return looms in The International 2023. Moreover, his former teammate, Topson, is also missing in Ti12.
Topson Hints Potential Return
Topson is officially a retired player. However, in the 2022-2023 DPC Season, he joined forces with his other teammate, Sébastien "Ceb" Debs, to play in a team called Old G at Division II. Although his new team had a rocky road, Topias never stopped playing marvellously.
However, the team got eliminated in the Spring Tour. They had to rebuy a Division II team slot in the Summer Tour. Despite the team showing massive improvements in the Summer Tour, the players eventually went their separate ways because of team drama. Ceb and Kitrak joined OG, Volodymyr "No[o]ne-" Minenko ended up in Team SMG. Topias was nowhere to be found.
In one of his recent matches, Topson hinted at his potential return. At the start of the match, when Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev wishes him luck for his chance at The International 2022 Qualifiers, the player responds he will not partake in the upcoming qualifiers.
The Double Meaning
At first glance, this may seem that the player had returned to his retirement. However, Topson had already played this card before. Last year, he joined T1 with Ana before the start of the Ti qualifiers. Topias is still in his form, and there is no way he is returning to retirement.
Moreover, recently multiple rumours of him joining Tundra Esports as the team’s new midlaner. There is also proof of these surfaced rumours. Recently, Topson added four players of Tundra Esports on his Steam, including the team’s coach, Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling. The team’s midlaner, Leon "Nine" Kirilin, also has been practising a new role as a soft support in his pubs recently. If these rumours turn out to be correct, then Tundra’s support player, Martin "Saksa" Sazdov, will be taking a break from competitive play.
Featured Image Source: Twitter/@TopsonDota