Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota Underlords update changes odds for high tier units
William Davis
A new Dota Underlords update went live on Sunday. The most recent update of the game introduces a hotfix to the update from August 23. The hotfix changes completely the odds of getting Tier 4 and Tier 5 units at while higher levels. In the previous patch, the Tier 5 units were available starting at level eight with a 5% chance of appearing. In the recent patch, that number went …
Dota 2
OG roster become five top earners in esports history after TI9 win
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
With back-to-back wins at The International, OG’s Dota 2 players now stand as the five highest-earning esports players in history. The European squad beat Team Liquid 3-1 in the grand finals of The International 2019, taking the Aegis of Champions and a cash prize worth over $15.6 million. This is the second year in a row the team has won Dota’s most prestigious event. When they were crowned world champions …
Dota 2
OG wins The International 2019, becomes first repeat TI champion
Steven Rondina
OG are the champions of The International 2019. The European squad completed its second Cinderella run at the world’s largest Dota 2 tournament, defeating Team Liquid in the event’s grand finals. The victory caps a dominant run at the event and nets the team $15,578,510 from the record-breaking prize pool. OG took the Aegis of Champions with a strong 3-1 victory, overcoming some early adversity before closing out the event in …
Dota 2
The International 2020 will take place in Stockholm, Sweden
Steven Rondina
The International 2020 is heading to Stockholm, Sweden. The reveal was made during a special announcement ahead of the grand finals to The International 2019. “Next year, Stockholm is excited to host this global celebration by welcoming the tenth International Dota 2 Championship to our wonderful city. Stockholm is bursting with creativity, and the passion for Dota runs deep,” Stockholm mayor Anna Konig Jerlmyr said in a short video. “We …
OG and Team Liquid set for The International 2019 grand finals
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The grand finals to The International 2019 are now set. Upper bracket winners OG will take on Team Liquid for the Aegis of Champions and the top prize of $15,578,100. The two teams started this Dota 2 season in the same spot, but landed where they are by taking very different paths. OG had a rocky 2018-2019 season. Despite coming in hot off a win at The International 2018, the …
Team Liquid advances to TI9 grand finals after beating PSG.LGD
Steven Rondina
News
The participants for the grand finals of The International 2019 have been decided. In a hardfought three-game series, PSG.LGD was dispatched by Team Liquid. The squad led by Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi will face upper bracket winner OG for the largest prize in esports history. Liquid are now poised to complete one of the most surprising runs in The International history, playing their way to the finals despite starting in the lower bracket. …
OG defeat PSG.LGD in TI rematch to qualify for grand finals
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Once again, the TI8 champions have proved that they can break a TI curse and potentially become the first two-time holders of the Aegis. History repeated itself as OG knocked down PSG.LGD to the lower bracket finals. The best-of-three series was a tight one that came down to the wire. The first game brought much hype, especially for the Chinese Dota 2 fans watching in the arena. Their home team …
Team Liquid advance to TI9 top three, eliminate Team Secret
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi seems to have Clement “Puppey” Ivanov’s number. In the lower bracket semifinals of The International 2019, Team Liquid eliminated Team Secret 2-0 in quick fashion. It is the third year in a row that Secret has been eliminated from TI by Liquid. Game one was a signature performance from KuroKy. The Liquid captain helped his team win The International 2017 with crafty drafts that were defined by …
Team Secret run over Vici Gaming, move to TI9 lower semifinals
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Team Secret have finally hit their stride. Facing Vici Gaming in the lower bracket, the two-time major winners scored one of the most lopsided series wins of The International 2019 to this point. Though Vici Gaming was held up as one of the favorites to win the tournament, Secret steamrolled them for a 2-0 victory. Secret took a page out of OG’s book in game one, putting carry player Michał …
Void Spirit is the new Dota 2 hero at The International 2019
Jared Wynne
Dota 2
Another new Dota 2 hero is premiered at the biggest esports tournament of the year. Dota 2 developer Valve showed off the second of two new heroes making their debut at this year’s edition of The International. This latest hero is named Void Spirit, and he brings with him clear links to a few existing heroes already in the game. Three spirit heroes have long been present in Dota 2: …
OG vs. PSG.LGD set for The International 2019 upper bracket finals
gabhernandez
Dota 2
PSG.LGD has a chance for revenge at The International 2019. Shanghai’s favorite team scored a 2-0 victory over Chinese rival Vici Gaming. The win sets PSG.LGD up with a spot in the upper bracket finals. Vici Gaming started the best-of-three series with an early aggression that quickly translated to three kills. PSG.LGD avoided early team fights as best they could from there, looking to make space for Wang “Ame” Chunyu …
TNC Predator eliminated by Team Liquid on day 2 of TI9 main event
gabhernandez
Dota 2
After a strong group stage run, TNC Predator fell short in the main event of The International 2019. The team dominated Team Liquid in the group stage with a clean 2-0 sweep and denied the former champions an upper bracket slot. However, TNC Predator found itself in a rematch against Liquid in an elimination series at TI9. This time, the tables turned. The Filipino team looked strong as it kicked …
New Dota 2 hero Snapfire revealed at The International 2019
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
A new Dota 2 hero is coming. During day four of The International 2019’s main event, Snapfire was revealed. The new hero was unveiled in a lengthy cinematic trailer. Snapfire has the appearance and voice of an elderly woman. She has bright red skin similar to Axe and Disruptor, but wears relatively normal clothing, including a leather bomber jacket. During the trailer she is shown in two separate battles, which …
Team Liquid quickly eliminate EG from The International 2019
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Evil Geniuses are out of The International 2019. The North American squad was sent home from the event with a 2-0 loss to Team Liquid. That sends them home in fifth place with a prize worth nearly $1.2 million. The opening was a rocky one for Team Liquid. EG cores Syed “SumaiL” Hassan and Artour “Arteezy” Babaev jumped out to an early lead in farm and experience, largely coming at …
Ogre Magi wins The International 2019 Arcana vote
gabhernandez
Dota 2
The two-headed hero won the Dota 2 community’s Arcana vote. After a few months of voting warfare, Ogre Magi was the last hero standing. The hero dominated the quarterfinals Arcana vote and received 76% of the votes against Necrophos. It then squared off against fans favorite Faceless Void. The hero managed to come out of top just to face Windranger in the final voting process. Dota 2 fans surely …
Dota 2 caster Cap hurls bottle, breaks monitor during TI9 game
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Team Secret vs. Mineski was one of the best Dota 2 series in recent memory. The stakes were high given the series took place in the lower bracket of The International 2019. The games themselves were amazing as Team Secret scored a stunning comeback in game one, then nearly did the same in game two. It was a series that was easy to get excited over, but nobody can touch …
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
