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.
Complexity Gaming, formerly stylized as compLexity, is an American esports franchise headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The franchise was founded in 2003 by Jason Lake and is co-owned by Lake, real estate investor John Goff, and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Complexity operates out of the Legion by Lenovo Esports Center, an esports training facility in The Star. The franchise competes in Apex Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, FIFA, Fortnite, Hearthstone, Madden, Magic: The Gathering Arena, Rocket League, and Valorant. Complexity formerly competed in several other games, including Call of Duty, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, and League of Legends. In addition to competitive teams, Complexity also streams gaming sessions over Twitch. Complexity formerly maintained Limit, a World of Warcraft guild, until the end of their sponsorship deal with the guild in early 2022.
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.
PSG.LGD is a professional Dota 2 team based in China. They were formed as a partnership between PSG Esports and LGD Gaming in April 2018. PSG.LGD has finished as the runner-up in The International 2018 and 2021.
Clement Ivanov, better known as Puppey, is an Estonian professional Dota 2 player for Team Secret. He is the founding member of Team Secret. Together with Natus Vincere, Puppey won The International 2011 in August 2011 for a one million dollar first place prize. They also took runner-up for the next two Internationals.
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.
Saahil Arora, better known as Universe, is an American former professional Dota 2 player. He was a member of the Evil Geniuses team that won The International 2015.
OG is a professional esports organisation based in Europe. Formed in 2015, they are best known for their Dota 2 team who won The International 2018 and 2019 tournaments. They also have a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team.
eGG Network was a Malaysian pay television channel that was launched on 7 June 2016. It is a joint venture of Rocketfuel Entertainment Sdn Bhd. This channel focused on esports and broadcast electronic gaming tournaments live around the world. Its first tournament broadcast was the International Dota 2 Championships 2015.
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) is the official tournament format system of Dota 2, a competitive five-on-five video game. The DPC is organized by the game's developer, Valve, and consists of seasonal "Major" tournaments and Regional Leagues from North America, South America, Southeast Asia, China, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe. Points are earned by the top six teams playing in the upper division of a Regional League as well as finishing in the top eight of a Major. The top 12 teams with the most points at the season's conclusion earn 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.
ESL One Hamburg 2017 was a Dota 2 eSports championship tournament hosted by ESL. It took place in Hamburg, Germany in October 2017. This is the first ESL One event held in Hamburg, after three previous ESL One events in Germany were held in Frankfurt. In accordance with the new Dota 2 competitive season format set by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament will be the first Dota 2 Major tournament of the 2017 Dota Pro Circuit season.
The International 2018 (TI8) was the eighth iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, TI8 followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying points, known as the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), with the top eight ranking teams being directly invited to the tournament. In addition, ten more teams earned invites through qualifiers that were held in June 2018, with the group stage and main event played at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver in August. The best-of-five grand finals took place between OG and PSG.LGD, with OG winning the series 3–2. Their victory was considered a Cinderella and underdog success story, as they had come from the open qualifiers and were not favored to win throughout the competition.
The International 2019 (TI9) was the ninth iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament followed a year-long series of awarding qualifying points, known as the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), with the top 12 ranking teams being directly invited to the tournament, which took place in August 2019 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. In addition, six more teams earned invites through regional qualifiers played in July 2019. The grand finals took place between Team Liquid and OG, who had respectively won the International's 2017 and 2018 events. There, OG defeated Team Liquid 3–1 in the best-of-five series to become the first-ever repeat champion of an International.
Anathan Pham, better known as ana, is an Australian professional Dota 2 player. As a member of OG, he has played in three iterations of The International, winning in 2018 and 2019, and has also won two Major championships tournaments.
List of esports events in 2019.
The International 2021, also known as The International 10 (TI10), was the tenth iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying points, known as the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), with the top 12 ranking teams being directly invited to the tournament. In addition, six more teams earned invites through regional qualifiers held earlier in 2021. The tournament took place in Bucharest, Romania, with the main event held behind closed doors at the Arena Națională due to restrictions on gatherings in the city.
Mineski Global, commonly known as Mineski, is an esports organization established in December 2009 in the Philippines. It is an offshoot of Mineski-DOTA team which was founded in 2004.
The Philippines national esports team represents the Philippines in international esports tournaments. It is organized under the Philippine Esports Organization.
