After accepting a controversial forfeit in the Dota Pro Circuit, Xtreme Gaming has lost its own slot at the Arlington Major.

The decision not to attend the major Dota 2 tournament comes from Xtreme Gaming management, who cited difficulties obtaining travel visas. The hardest hit player appears to be Lou “lou” Zhen, whose visa application has been denied three times. The promising team will lose a ton of potential prize money and qualifying points to The International 11. Based on the current DPC standings, the regional qualifier TI11 will be the team’s last hope.

Xtreme Gaming revealed the decision on social media. The message confirmed that Lou’s visa application had been denied three times.

“We are so sorry that we could not make it to the world major competition, we were looking forward to our performance. We understand that our fans and friends are disappointed. Thank you all for continuing to follow us,” said Xtreme, according to the digital translation.

It also comes after Xtreme accepted a forfeit from PSG.LGD for their DPC season tiebreaker, ending the final match of the tour before it even started. There is a strange wrinkle in the story in that Xtreme could still attend the event with a replacement. Losing a star carry is tough, but the Arlington Major has a big prize pool and a lot of prestige.

Xtreme would be far from the only team to play with substitutes in Arlington, Texas. Fnatic will be present with three substitutes, a first in the history of the DPC. Entity Gaming’s Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko will also be replaced by Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek. More teams may announce replacements before the event begins on August 4, 2022.

International Qualifier 11 is Xtreme’s shot at TI

Now missing the Arlington Major, Xtreme Gaming had an extremely unfortunate Dota Pro Circuit season. The team missed the first major due to travel restrictions and will not be able to attend the third. However, Xtreme still has a chance to attend The International 11 in Singapore.

Details on regional qualifiers for The International 11 are still being kept under wraps, with very little information known to the public. The dates for the TI11 qualifiers haven’t even been revealed yet. It is assumed that Valve will use a similar format to last year’s International Regional Qualifiers. One team from each region will get a last-minute ticket to TI, although Xtreme will have to take the Chinese qualifier very seriously given the fierce competition.

Based on the current DPC rankings, it’s likely that several Chinese behemoths including Vici Gaming, Team Aster, Royal Never Give Up, EHOME and many more will be battling it out in the same qualifier. With only one such slot available per region, it will be difficult for any Chinese Dota 2 team to get there.