Dota 2
Dota 2
Four Evil Geniuses players have now reached 10K MMR in Dota 2
Steven Rondina
There’s a debate to be had about who the best Dota 2 team in the world is. OG has possibly the most talented lineup, Team Secret looked dominant at the last major, but TNC Predator stands atop the Dota Pro Circuit standings. Evil Geniuses can also enter into that conversation on the merit that they likely have the highest combined MMR of any Dota 2 team in the world today. …
Dota 2
SumaiL returns to 10K MMR club after slipping down rankings
Nina Forneloza
Once again, Syed “SumaiL” Hassan is a part of the 10K MMR club. OG’s carry player reached 10,000 MMR after random picking in public games. The player is famed for his exceptional mechanical skill and consistently stellar plays. In his latest stream, he showed that his MMR value is 10,020. He clarified that this is not his first time reaching the 10,000 milestone, as he previously reached the 10,100 mark. …
Dota 2
Chinese Dota fans just got a special real-life Dota 2 battle pass
Steven Rondina
Dota 2 fans in Europe and North America have been calling for an early release to The International 2020 Battle Pass for a while now. With many locked up at home due to the spread of COVID-19, players want some sort of clear progression and reward system that doesn’t exist in Dota 2 outside the battle pass. Unfortunately, given the fact that The International 2020 is in limbo and Valve …
Dota 2
PSG.LGD, Adroit, Thunder Predator win WeSave! regional finals
Nina Forneloza
PSG.LGD dominated China’s top team Vici Gaming in the regional finals of WeSave! Charity Play. PSG.LGD’s newest roster debuted at WeSave! Charity Play and the team instantly showed its chemistry. After some underwhelming tournament results and several roster shakeups, the team looks poised to make a big comeback. The Chinese team ended the tournament without dropping a single game. PSG.LGD stomped Invictus Gaming in the semifinals and proceeded to end …
Chaos releases Dota 2 roster due to coronavirus event closures
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Unemployment is skyrocketing due to the impact of the coronavirus, and esports isn’t immune from the trend. Chaos Esports Club announced the release of its Dota 2 team, specifically citing the coronavirus as the cause for the move. Chaos’ roster competed with the following five players: Yawar “YawaR” Hassan Quinn “CCnC” Callahan Arif “MSS” Anwar Malthe “Biver” Winther Avery “SVG” Silverman “Regrettably we must make significant changes to our business …
ESL One LA Major, ESL One Birmingham coming back as online leagues
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
ESL has announced major changes in the upcoming ESL One Los Angeles Major 2020. Several tournaments were postponed and canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak and ESL One Los Angeles 2020 was among that lot. The tournament was supposed to take place on March 15 but ESL postponed the event indefinitely after the US government imposed a travel ban on Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With no end in sight …
Team Aster players quarantined after contact with COVID-19 case
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
Following an extended stay in the Ukraine, Team Aster is being forced into quarantine by government officials after coming into close contact with a person suffering from COVID-19. China has stringent precautionary measures on travelers from countries affected by the outbreak. In one of its connecting flights to China, Team Aster shared the plane with a passenger who tested positive for coronavirus. The team traveled back to its home country after …
The newest PSG.LGD roster is off to a great start
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
PSG.LGD had a small redemption after its new roster debuted at WeSave! Charity Play. PSG.LGD revealed its new squad at the online charity tournament. Its underwhelming performance in the previous tournaments translated to a major roster shakeup. The team benched newly recruited carry player Li “ASD” Zhiwen. Legendary offlaner Yang “Chalice”‘ Shenyi replaced ASD as position 1. PSG.LGD also loaned Ren “eLeVeN” Yangwei from EHOME to fill the gap in …
Dota 2 scandal erupts surrounding ForZe’s roster releases
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
ForZe dropped its Dota 2 roster after a public matchmaking scandal, but the story doesn’t end there. It all started when Egor “19teen” Lexutin trash-talked Russian Youtuber TraVoMaN in a public match. 19teen allegedly got particularly nasty with TraVoMan, which the YouTuber clipped and posted on his channel as proof. The clip made the rounds and LukOil, ForZe’s major sponsor, decided to take action by imposing a 1 million Ruble fine, …
JerAx discusses leaving OG, retiring from pro Dota 2 in video
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
After three years, two major titles, and two The International championships, Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka departed OG to retire from competitive Dota 2. The announcement came earlier this year, but OG just recently released a video featuring JerAx where he discussed his retirement and plans for the future. In OG’s January blog post, JerAx told fans that Dota 2, as a game, is an endless puzzle that offers you solutions, yet none …
TNC Predator adds ana as sub, loses anyway in WeSave! Charity Play
Nina Forneloza
News
Two-time TI champion Anathan “ana” Pham stood in for TNC Predator in WeSave! Charity Play’s southeast Asian tournament. TNC Predator tapped ana to replace Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte as its carry player. Gabbi experienced connectivity issues just before the match. The player even took to social media and asked fans if they knew anyone from the internet company who can resolve the issue. The issue was not resolved in time and TNC …
Dota 2 is posting big player numbers amidst coronavirus crisis
Nina Forneloza
News
Steam as a whole has enjoyed a swell of players since millions of people worldwide began self-isolating to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Dota 2 is no different. Dota 2 hit a peak player count of more than 700,000 early in the month of March and has had an average of over 415,000 players during the last 30 days, per Steam Charts. These are the best numbers the game …
Gabe Newell discusses Artifact 2, Valve promises update to game
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
After a year of silence, Valve is dusting off Dota 2-themed digital card game Artifact. Per Games Radar, Valve founder Gabe Newell sat down with Edge Magazine and had a frank conversation regarding what happened with Artifact. Though many assumed Valve had abandoned Artifact or simply forgotten about it, Newell stated that the studio still wants to see the game realize its full potential. “Artifact was an interesting failure in …
OG is playing with Madara and Ceb at WeSave! Charity Play
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
WeSave! Charity Play boasts a surprisingly strong lineup of teams including Team Secret, Evil Geniuses, Nigma, and Vici Gaming. OG is also competing at the event, and many fans were excited to see the star-studded roster compete. Unfortunately, the full team won’t be able to make it to the server with OG mid laner Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen and off laner Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng sitting out of the action. …
Na’Vi finalizes Dota 2 roster, coronavirus leaves future uncertain
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Natus Vincere may not be playing too much over the coming months, but fans now know the players that will be competing for the team in the immediate future. The organization has finalized its Dota 2 roster with the addition of Semion “CemaTheSlayer” Krivulya. That gives Na`Vi this lineup moving forward in the season: Vladislav “Crystallize” Krystanek Idan “MagicaL” Vardanian Pavel “9pasha” Khvastunov Semion “CemaTheSlayer” Krivulya Ilyas “illias” Ganeev Na`Vi …
WeSave! Charity Play boasts top teams including Nigma, OG, Team Secret
Nina Forneloza
Dota 2
WeSave! Charity Play boasts a star-studded group of teams including OG, Evil Geniuses, Vici Gaming, and many more. WePlay! is stepping up to host an online charity tournament for bored Dota 2 teams. WeSave! Charity Play features six four-team, single-elimination tournaments. All matches are best-of-threes. The tournament boasts a $120,000 prize pool that will be donated directly to GlobalGiving and CEPI funds. The organizers will also accept donations from viewers, and it …
Few games have proven to have the resilient popularity enjoyed by Dota 2. The multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA for short, has been among the biggest and most successful projects released by gaming giant Valve, and it continues to enjoy great popularity to this day.
That popularity has endured despite a great number of changes that have been made to both the game itself and to the communities surrounding it. The competitive title’s history reaches all the way back to another game created and published by another developer, but with Valve now leading the way, Dota 2 seems primed to last well into the future.
From Blizzard to Valve, Dota 2 continues to evolve
While know today as one of Valve’s key game properties, Dota 2 has its origins in a real-time strategy game developed and published by famed video game company Blizzard. One of the franchises that keyed Blizzard’s success and reputational growth in the games industry is WarCraft, which today is best-known for the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft.
But prior to the success of World of Warcraft, the high-fantasy franchise was experienced through a series of RTS games. The third main title in that series, WarCraft 3, provided players not only with a great experience right out of the box, but also with the opportunity to heavily modify the game and its functions, and to play modified versions of the experience as custom games online with other players.
The most popular of these custom game modes was arguably Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. This custom game mode saw two teams of players face off against each other with strong individual champion characters, as opposed to building out complex home bases and developing broad armies of diverse units.
It was an entirely different way to play the game, and it proved so popular that would eventually give birth to an entirely new genre of video games: the MOBA genre.
The continuation of the original DotA became Dota 2, a project developed under the guidance of famed developer and publisher Valve. Flush with success from online marketplace Steam and its own franchises including Half-Life and Portal, Valve was more than willing to invest in this new and innovative game type.
The International sets Dota 2 apart
While there have been many other competitive games created and released since, including other popular MOBAs such as Riot Games’ League of Legends, Dota 2 has stood apart for remaining true to its roots and for massive competitive events like The International. First held in 2011 for the purpose of bringing together disparate competitive teams from all around the world with more than $1 million on the line, the esports tournament quickly grew into the biggest such event of each calendar year.
One of the main drivers behind that immense growth was the upwards trajectory of the tournament’s prize pool. Partially funded by Dota 2 players and esports fans, the prize pool for The International began increasing in 2013 and eventually ballooned to a massive total of over $40 million by the time 2021 rolled around. For the groups of players and coaches who climbed this mountain and won its top prize, it was a truly life-changing event.
For varied reasons, Valve eventually soured on running the event itself and on the idea of having so much money filtered into one specific event. Prize winnings were dropped significantly in 2022, and even further for the 2023 and 2024 events. But despite the prizes on hand no longer being quite so astronomical, The International still boasts a prize in the low millions, and it remains the biggest event on the Dota 2 competitive calendar and arguably on the greater esports calendar across all games.
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
