Fnatic qualify for The International instead of Outsiders due to Valve’s quickmath

Valve has a headache, a math headache. Due to the way they calculated DPC points, they had to eliminate one team in favor of another. If everything went down do the decimal, Outsiders would be the 10th team heading into The International this year. However, simple rounding out of points and a bit of lazyness means Fnatic will get to go in their stead.

Here’s how the story goes.

Outsiders lose 1.5 points and a direct invite to TI11

The direct invites for TI2022 have all been lapped up. Among the last to do were Evil Geniuses, Outsiders and Gaimin Gladiators. Well, Outsiders only for an hour, before realizing Valve’s math is off. Valve’s standings have Outsiders at 1019 points, while Liqupedia has them at 1020.5. That 1.5 points make all the difference, with Fnatic standing at 1020 points.

So how did they lose a point and a half?

Turns out, when Valve tallies up DPC points, they do not get bothered with decimal places, and instead round out the points. Points are mostly deducted when teams swap players around, and it was never the case that a point would make such a big difference.

In Outsiders case, they lost points for Xakoda standing in during CIS Regional Finals, and the transfers of Illias “illias” Ganeev and Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko (after the Virtus.pro Z sign fiasco). At this stage, Liquipedia had Outsiders at 160.055 points while Valve had them at 159. Following a first-place finish in the DPC Tour 3 (500 points) and Top 8 at PGL Arlington Major (360 points) the team had two different point standings of 1019 and 1020.055.

With Fnatic earning exactly 1020 points, we have the first case where “quickmath” ruined a teams chances to qualify for The International. The closest we had teams in previous seasons was 10 points, and making distinctions for qualifying was easy. Next season, it will be either Valve or Liquipedia tweaking the calculations to either do it properly or without counting decimals.

Ultimately, Outsiders are heading into the CIS regional qualifiers, while Fnatic evades having to fight a revamped T1 and Talon for SEA’s spot at Ti11.