The International 2024 or TI13 is the thirteenth annual iteration of the International Championship. What differentiates this edition from its predecessors is that Valve allocated direct invites without their abolished Dota Pro Circuit. Instead, while not explicitly stated, the direct invites seem to be in line with the third-party leaderboard by ESL Pro Tour (EPT), more on that in the TI13 Participants section.
On top of the six direct invites, there are another ten slots up for grabs distributed across the regional qualifiers.
This year, the Aegis of Champions resides at Copenhagen, Denmark for the first time throughout the tournament series. Specifically, TI13 will be held live at Royal Arena during the finals weekend from September 13-15. While yet to be announced, the rest of the group stage and main event will likely be in the comfort of each team’s dedicated lobbies.
Image Credits: Valve
Valve’s official announcement of the six TI13 direct invites include:
The upcoming TI13 Regional Qualifiers on June 9-23, 2024, will crown another ten teams as qualified TI13 teams via their respective regions:
TBA
TBA
Valve’s allocation of regional slots is more generous this year, with four regions enjoying two slots, except for Eastern Europe and North America. While it may seem unfair on paper, there may be good reasons why EEU and NA don’t get the extra slot. In NA, the only notable teams are Shopify Rebellion and nouns while EEU region has Virtus.pro and Navi based on their more recent participations in major tournaments.
We can also say the same got SEA and SA, whereby Aurora and HEROIC were the only teams to put up much fight at the recent DreamLeague S23, but there are more contestants in these regions to have a more difficult qualifier.
Whereas WEU is arguably the only region that deserved the two slots, if anything, even three slots for that matter. Both Tundra Esports and Team OG, which qualified for Riyadh Masters 2024 and even placed higher than Team Spirit on the EPT Leaderboard, will be competing in this region when they should have gotten the direct invites instead.
With Valve’s transition to a less cosmetic-oriented Battle Pass after their “Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future” announcement, we can expect similar Battle Pass 2024 content as last year’s. This means the Battle Pass 2024 will likely have lower sales and lead to a less impressive prize pool too.
Nevertheless, the TI13 prize pool will still be mostly crowdfunded by purchasing exclusive features and legendary rewards available through the Battle Pass 2024. With each Battle Pass sale, 25% of the sale price is added to The International 2024 prize pool. Let’s hope that we could keep up with Riyadh Masters’ $5M prize pool.
To put things into perspective, TI12 prize pool was an underwhelming $3.4M while more impressively were the prize pool of TI8, which was $25.5M, TI9 was $34.3M and the highest we had was during TI10’s prize pool at a whopping $40,018,195, which is still the highest TI Championship prize pool to-date.
The International 2023 or TI12 is the holy grail of the Dota Pro Circuit 2022-2023 season. The Dota Pro Circuit Format forms the basis of the DPC Leaderboards, where the top twelve teams with highest DPC points will determine the twelve invites to The International. Additionally, eight more teams will qualify for the event through regional qualifiers.
This year, the Aegis of Champions returns to its home ground in Seattle, USA, after five years since the International 2017. TI12 is scheduled for Oct 12, 2023 through Oct 29, 2023 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
© Valve Corporation
The completion of the Dota Pro Circuit 2023 season gives us the twelve Dota 2 International 2023 teams that earned a direct invite:
The upcoming TI12 Regional Qualifiers on Aug 17-31, 2023, will crown another eight teams as qualified TI12 teams via their respective regions:
With only PSG.LGD being the only Chinese team to qualify for the International 12, this region’s best teams need a powerful winner out of the China Regional Qualifier. The competitive Chinese Dota 2 scene has been in a steady decline since the last Dota Pro Circuit season, with many prominent players leaving the scene. Let’s just say even they had to resort to recruiting the King’s help.
For the uninitiated, one of the only relevant Chinese powerhouses currently employs Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan as their power forward. Team Aster was highly anticipated to be a top contender in Bali Major 2023 but was unfortunately eliminated prematurely by 9Pandas.
With all the hype surrounding SumaiL, Team Aster is the fan favorite to win TI12 China Regional Qualifier. They did not break a sweat against Team Zero, quickly winning the series in merely an hour. This is a testament to how strong Aster is, at least in their own region.
It wouldn’t be a notable TI12 regional qualifier if there weren’t any worthy rivals to compete against. One of those teams that fit that criteria is Azure Ray. Dubbed the remnants of TI8 PSG.LGD, this team rocks three returning pro players that once gave even prime OG a run for their money. Lu “Somnus” Yao, Yang “Chalice” Shenyi and Xu “fy” Linsen make up this all-star team for their returning debut into the competitive scene.
In a region with a crippling case of insufficient young blood, this is a sight for sore eyes. On the same day as well, Azure Ray took out Team Bright in a close 2-1 victory, which is concerning. There were instances in the last two matches, where Azure gave up a strong lead and almost lost their match.
With both teams steadily advancing via the upper bracket, the two teams will face Xtreme Gaming and Invictus Gaming respectively. Xtreme recently let go of Zhang “Paparazi灬” Chengjun, one of the most respectable carry player of his time as he’s retiring. Hence, that’s a cause for concern going up against a team as prominent as Team Aster.
Whereas Invictus Gaming, which is a staple as a Chinese representative in recent majors, would likely falter against Azure. For one, IG’s track record at Bali Major was underwhelming when they exited the tournament with last-place finish. On the contrary, Azure placed seventh and eliminated a TI12 direct invite team, BetBoom Team.
When it eventually boils down to the decisive Team Aster versus Azure Ray series, however, expect things not to be smooth sailing. Aster had a rough run at Bali Major, having faced Quest Esports and 9Pandas before sending them out. However, fans still have high hopes for SumaiL to be Aster’s x-factor.
Yet, Azure just seems like a more well-rounded team with Somnus being the seasoned mid-laner he’s renowned for. We see Chalice contributing just as much by being an offlaner that holds his own in his lane, which doesn’t get commented on much, despite his significance. And all that synergy runs on fy’s drafting expertise.
Frankly, Azure gives off the same vibe TI8 PSG.LGD once emitted, which is something that fans truly missed after they missed out on becoming TI Champions. If only the young prodigy of TI8 PSG.LGD, Wang “Ame” Chunyu had decided to return to competitive play alongside his former teammates, then there’s no doubt that Aster won’t stand a chance.
For now, it’s still anyone’s guess on which team will win TI12 China regional qualifier between Team Aster, Azure Ray or even the two other candidates we featured.
The North American Dota 2 scene surely isn’t the most exciting International 12 (TI12) qualifier to watch, but that doesn’t stop nouns from their goal of qualifying for their first TI.
Having successfully debut in their first major, the Bali Major 2023, fans have high hopes for the DAO community-funded team to compete at TI12 too.
On paper, there really isn’t much competition for nouns to go up against. Sure, there’s Wildcard Gaming, which Samuel “Sammyboy” Anderson picked up Tommy “Taiga” Le just last week. But besides that, there might not be anyone else to stand in their way.
For that, nouns must thank Shopify Rebellion and TeamSoloMid for this smooth sailing into TI12.
On a more serious note, does Wildcard really stand a chance against a more seasoned team like nouns?
After all, anything goes in the current state of Dota 2 meta, and Wildcard is already boasting their versatile hero pool in their earlier match against B8. Despite the draft variety, it seems like Wildcard has one playstyle they use as a staple. Teamfight-oriented drafts are relatively straightforward, just pull off the right fights enough times, whereby the opponent doesn’t have space to regain their pace.
Yet, such tactics require flawless synergy among the players, which will be a challenge for Wildcard, which has two players, who are only two weeks old. Sure, Taiga and Jacob “Husky” Fifik are seasoned players in their own rights, but they will fulfil the role of the support duo, a crucial responsibility for team fight-heavy drafts.
Another Division 1 staple that has improved recently is Team DogChamp. After four of their players left for Wildcard after the second Tour, this new line-up secured a commendable fourth place in DPC Tour 3. Additionally, this new squad even managed to snatch a win off SR and TSM, two NA heavy-hitters, making them a potential threat to nouns.
All in all, nouns still looks really good in Dota Pro Circuit 2023 (DPC 2023), which is an understatement, considering their players are top-notch. The most notable of them all is David “Moo” Hull, who once led Digital Chaos to become a TI6 Grand Finalist. With Moo being the veteran player in the team and overlooked prodigies like Nicolas “Gunnar” Lopez and Héctor “K1” Rodríguez as their power-forward. It’s difficult to bet against a team of such calibre.
Still, we have seen fan favorites flop when victory is within their grasp. And if there’s one team we could give an honorable mention, it’s team B8. They gave Wildcard a run for their money with a close 1-2 loss, but their new roster of Eastern European talents truly put them in the running to win TI12 NA regional qualifier as the underdogs.
The team that Danil “Dendi” Ishutin has always led only had himself and one other player until last week. When out of the blue, a full stack of Ukrainian players are now competing in TI12 NA regional qualifier. Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey as B8’s hard carry player, could potentially be a considerable force to be reckoned of. Hence, we won’t put B8 out of the running just yet.
Valve has opted to scrap the Last Chance Qualifiers that was introduced at TI11, offering an additional slot to South America and Western Europe regions. While the other regions offer only one qualifying slot. While this decision is mutually accepted by most Dota 2 players, there’s still a debate on whether SA deserved the extra slot.
Two SA teams, namely Evil Geniuses and beastcoast, already secured TI12 direct invites. Moreover, Thunder Awaken, which will likely be the most favorable candidate to qualify via SA region is ranked 23rd on the DPC Leaderboards. Hence, allocating two extra regional slots to SA might just yield an underwhelming team at TI12.
As of the recent “Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future” announcement by Valve, expect major changes in the Battle Pass 2023. Historically, the annual Battle Pass sales contribute to the TI prize pool. However, based on the announcement, the Dota 2 dev team will move towards adding general features for the entire playerbase instead of purely cosmetics fiesta. Considering how the Battle Pass sales derived from its exclusive cosmetics and pay-to-use levelling system, rumors say that TI12 prize pool might not be as high as its predecessors.
In fact, TI11 prize pool was the first among other TI Championships to not surpass its predecessor’s prize pool at a mere $18.9M. Albeit, that was due to the TI11 prize pool contribution period being shorter than other years.
Nevertheless, the TI12 prize pool will still be mostly crowdfunded by purchasing exclusive features and legendary rewards available through the Battle Pass 2023. With each Battle Pass sale, 25% of the sale price is added to The International 2023 prize pool.
The prize pool of TI8 was $25.5M, while TI9 boasted a whopping $34.3M in prize funds. Ti10’s prize pool was a whopping $40,018,195, which is still the highest TI Championship prize pool to-date.
The International (or TI) is a Dota 2 world championship organized each year in Seattle by the company that owns the game, namely Valve Corporation. The event takes place at the end of summer (in August), lasts around 10 days, and brings together the best Dota 2 teams in the world.
The International has a great history behind it, being at its 8th edition this year. The first TI took place in 2011, after a shocking announcement from Valve: 16 of the world’s best teams were going to be invited at a massive Dota 2 event with a prize pool that exceeded everyone’s imagination: 1.6 million dollars.
At the time, League of Legends was becoming more and more popular and had the first-mover advantage. To level the playing field (at least to some degree), Valve needed to do something spectacular. And being a highly successful company with a billionaire founder, what better publicity stunt could they pull off other than a tournament with a massive prize pool? Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) went home with 1 million dollars after that event, tripling Ukraine’s GDP for 2011 (just kidding).
The very first edition of The International was held in Cologne, Germany, but all the others took place in the United States. And, with the exception of the second TI (which had the same prize pool as the first), every edition of The International had a prize pool considerably higher than its predecessor.
A fascinating aspect regarding The International is that it has never been won twice by the same team. We’ve had 7 different winners in 7 editions so far, which is a testament to the game’s complexity. With somewhere around 750 notions and mechanics that need to be grasped in order to understand the game even at its most basic level, Dota 2 is without a doubt one of the most challenging journeys that you can embark on as an esports enthusiast.
In chronological order, these are the teams that managed to win The International”:
Team OG winning TI9
Past editions of The International brought together either 16 or 18 teams. Some of these teams were directly invited based on their performance throughout the season, while the others were required to qualify.
Starting with the 2017-2018 competitive season, things have become a lot more transparent, as a professional circuit (called the Dota Pro Circuit) with tournaments and qualification points was created. At the end of the season, the top 12 (8) teams from the Dota Pro Circuit rankings will receive a direct invite to The International. The other 8 (6) teams will have to qualify.
The International is usually played in 2 stages. The first of these stages is called the Group Stage and it divides participants into 2 groups. Based the Group Stage results, the teams are paired up for the second stage, called the Playoffs. This second stage is played in a GLS format (double elimination bracket). This is particularly advantageous for teams that don’t manage to get the best start but are very good at adapting as they go along, because one loss doesn’t imply immediate elimination.
In 2017 for instance, Team Liquid got sent to the lower bracket rather quickly, after losing their first upper bracket match against Invictus Gaming (score 1 – 2). However, thanks to their capacity to adapt to the tournament’s meta, they ended up winning the whole event with 6 wins in a row.
Being the most important Dota 2 event of each competitive season, The International is viewed by millions of fans around the world. And since people love winners and players who display tremendous skill on the digital battlefield, it’s easy to understand why some of the people involved in this esport have attained star-like status.
Here are just a few of the names that are easily recognized by Dota 2 fans across the globe:
The 7 editions of The International we’ve had so far created some very memorable moments. Among them, I would list the following:
Besides these great in-game moments, The International also offered people some excellent cosplays and other cool events. In 2017, several people from OpenAI, one of Elon Musk’s companies, featured their unbeatable (at the time) AI Bot in a 1v1 match against Dendi. The Bot destroyed Dendi in that Shadow Fiend vs. Shadow Fiend series, leaving the audience in a state of shock.
The International 2020 was slated to be held in Stockholm, Sweden. Valve announced they would cancel the event, as soon as the global COVID pandemic flared up across the globe. The decision put a stop the 2020 DPC season and also caused the traditional way of counting TIs and aligning them with the year to cease. TI10 was held in 2021 instead, and as a result all future events will only hold a number instead of a year next to them.
The International 2022 or TI11 is the final event of the Dota Pro Circuit 2021-2022 season. This year, we finally have an event with all regions and teams in attendance, and last chance qualifiers taking place. The new regional Dota Pro Circuit Format is be used to determine the twelve invites to The International. Additionally, six teams instead of eight will qualify for the event through regional qualifiers and another two from the Last Chance Qualifier.
Ti11 is currently scheduled for Oct 15, 2022 through Oct 30, 2022 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
The completion of the Dota Pro Circuit 2022 season gives us the twelve Dota 2 International 2022 teams that earned a spot at the final event:
The conclusion of the Regional Qualifiers gave us the remaining teams that earned an invite.
You can read about the Regional Qualifiers in the togglebox below.
For a breakdown of regional qualifiers, refer to the following news articles:
EN Global 
JP 日本語
BR Português