Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a powerful character known as a "hero" that all have unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match players collect experience points and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team's heroes in player versus player combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's "Ancient", a large structure located within their base.
The International (TI) is an annual esports world championship for the five-on-five video game Dota 2. Produced by the game's developer Valve, the International is the final event of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) and consists of 20 teams: 12 based on final results from the DPC; six from North America, South America, Southeast Asia, China, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe regional leagues; and two from last-chance qualifiers. The International was first held at Gamescom in 2011 to promote the game's release. It was then held annually in Seattle, where Valve is headquartered, until it began to be hosted internationally again starting with The International 2018.
Invictus Gaming is a Chinese multi-game esports organization founded in 2011 by businessman Wang Sicong. They are primarily known for their Dota 2, League of Legends, and StarCraft II teams. IG's Dota team won The International 2012, and its League of Legends team won the 2018 World Championship.
Luo Feichi, known by the gamer tag Ferrari_430, is a Chinese professional Dota 2 player from Hubei. He won The International 2012 with Invictus Gaming (iG).
Free to Play is a 2014 documentary film by American video game company Valve. The film takes a critical look at the lives of Benedict "hyhy" Lim, Danil "Dendi" Ishutin and Clinton "Fear" Loomis, three professional Defense of the Ancients(DotA) players who participated in the first International, the most lucrative esports tournament at the time. The central focus of the film is how their commitment to DotA had affected their lives and how this debut tournament for the sequel, Dota 2, would bring more meaning to their struggles.
Wang Jiao, known by his tag Banana, is a Chinese Dota 2 player who is currently the coach for Newbee. He was part of the Newbee team that won what was then the single largest money prize in video game history, a US$5,028,308 payout at The International 4 (TI4) at the KeyArena, in Seattle, Washington. Newbee defeated ViCi Gaming three game to one. e-Sports Earnings estimates that Banana has won a total of US$1,192,049.89 individually from tournaments. As of April 14, 2015, after TI4 Wang "Banana" Jiao was the highest ranking player in terms of prize money won across all competitive video games. Banana joined Newbee in March 2014.
Xu Zhilei, known by his in-game tag BurNIng, is a Chinese professional gamer. He has played both Defense of the Ancients and Dota 2 professionally, and he is considered one of the best carry players in the history of Dota. In 2012, IceFrog, the developer of DotA and Dota 2, honored BurNIng by naming his signature hero Anti-Mage after him in the original Dota game. In September 2018, he founded a new team called "Team Aster".
Vici Gaming (VG) is a Chinese professional esports organization based in Shanghai. It has teams competing in Dota 2, League of Legends, StarCraft II, WarCraft III, FIFA, Hearthstone and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Vici Gaming's Dota 2 team has been a top contender in numerous tournaments, most notably as runners-up of The International 2014.
Team Malaysia was a professional Dota 2 team based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Gustav Magnusson, better known as s4, is a Swedish professional Dota 2 player. As a member of Alliance, s4 won The International 2013.
Virtus.pro (VP) is an international esports organization founded in 2003 in Russia and acquired by Armenian investors in 2022. The organization has players competing in such games as Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Warface and EFT: Arena.
Team Secret is an esports team based in Europe formed in 2014, best known for their Dota 2 team.
The Shanghai Major was a Dota 2 tournament that took place in Shanghai from March 2–6, 2016, and was the second Major of the 2015–2016 Dota 2 season. 16 teams competed in the tournament; eight were given direct invitations and the other eight qualified through various qualifying tournament around the world. The Major was won by Team Secret, who defeated Team Liquid in a best of five series 3–1.
Artour Babaev, better known as Arteezy, is a Canadian professional Dota 2 player for Shopify Rebellion. He is also one of the most popular streamers among the community.
The Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015, also known as DAC 2015, was a professional Dota 2 tournament that occurred in Shanghai, China from January 5-February 9, 2015 at the Shanghai Grand Stage. It was organized and hosted by Perfect World. The tournament resembled The International, in that there were a number of teams directly invited and that there was a compendium released which contributed to the tournament's prize purse.
Peter Dager, better known as ppd, is an American former professional Dota 2 player. He was the former CEO of the esports organization Evil Geniuses, where he also won The International 2015 as a player-captain, later playing for OpTic Gaming and Ninjas in Pyjamas.
The International 2016 (TI6) was the sixth iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 esports championship tournament. Hosted by Valve Corporation, the game's developer, the tournament began in June 2016 with the qualifier phase and ended after the main event at the KeyArena in Seattle in August. The tournament awarded the biggest prize pool in esports history at over $20 million, surpassing the record set at the previous International, with the champion team, Wings Gaming, winning over $9 million.
Wings Gaming was a Chinese Dota 2 esports team based in Chongqing. They were best known for winning over US$9 million at The International 2016 (TI6), which was one of the most lucrative esports tournaments in history. Wings were founded in the aftermath of post-The International 2014 roster shuffles in China, with the TI6 winning roster being put together in August 2015.
The Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) was the professional league used in Dota 2, a competitive five-on-five video game. Active between 2017 and 2023, the DPC was organized by the game's developer, Valve and consisted of seasonal "Major" tournaments and Regional Leagues from North America, South America, Southeast Asia, China, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe. Points were earned by the top six teams playing in the upper division of a Regional League as well as those finishing in the top eight of a Major. The top 12 teams with the most points at the season's conclusion earned invites to The International, the premier tournament for Dota 2. The DPC was introduced in 2017 as a replacement for the Dota Major Championship series (2015–2016), which was criticized due to Valve's non-transparent process for sending out International invites. The DPC ended following the 2023 season.
LGD Gaming is a Chinese professional esports organization based in Hangzhou. It is one of the oldest esports organizations in China and currently has players competing in Dota 2, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Overwatch, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
