Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams.
Paul "Redeye" Chaloner is a British former esports broadcaster.
Mouz, formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its CS:GO team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. MOUZ's League of Legends team currently competes in the ESL Pro Series, having formerly competed in the European Challenger Series.
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.
The ESL Gaming GmbH, doing business as ESL, is a German esports organizer and production company that produces video game competitions worldwide. ESL was the world's largest esports company in 2015, and the oldest that is still operational. Based in Cologne, Germany, ESL has eleven offices and multiple international TV studios globally. ESL is the largest esports company to broadcast on Twitch.
PSG.LGD was a professional Dota 2 team based in China. They were formed as a partnership between PSG Esports and LGD Gaming in April 2018 until the end of the partnership in September 2023. PSG.LGD has finished as the runner-up in The International 2018 and 2021.
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: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Rainbow Six Siege, PUBG Mobile, and Warface.
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.
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.
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.
Tal Aizik, better known as Fly, is an Israeli professional Dota 2 player for Shopify Rebellion. He is a former co-founder of the esports team OG. Aizik won four Dota Major Championships with team OG.
The Boston Major was a professional Dota 2 esports tournament that took place in Boston in the United States. The main event was played live at the Wang Theatre from December 7–10, 2016. Like other tournaments in the Dota 2 Major Championship series, the event featured 16 teams from around the world and had a $3,000,000 prize pool, with the victor winning $1,000,000. The event was presented and produced by PGL, who also had the same role at the previous Major in Manila.
The International 2017 (TI7) was the seventh iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 esports world championship tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament began with the online qualifier phase in June 2017, and ended after the main event at the KeyArena in Seattle in August. The Grand Finals took place between the European-based Team Liquid and Chinese-based Newbee, with Liquid defeating Newbee 3–0 in a best-of-five series, winning nearly $11 million in prize money.
The Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) was the official tournament format system of Dota 2, a competitive five-on-five video game. 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. In September 2023, Valve announced the end of the Dota Pro Circuit and that the International invites will be determined by another method moving forward.
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.
ESL One Genting 2017 was a Dota 2 esports championship tournament hosted by ESL that took place in Genting Highlands, Malaysia, in January 2017. The tournament involved eight teams, which included three directly invited teams and five teams each represented qualifying regions of Americas, China, Europe, Malaysia and Southeast Asia. In the finals, Digital Chaos defeated Newbee 3–2 to win the tournament and their first major trophy. The 3rd place of the tournament went to The International 2016 champions Wings Gaming and Virtus.pro.
List of events in 2018 in esports.
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.
Sébastien Debs, better known as Ceb, is a French professional Dota 2 player who plays for OG. He won The International 2018 and 2019, as well as the team's coach when they won four Dota Major Championships.
