Dota 2
Dota 2
Former LGD.Forever Young players form new team
Steven Rondina
Though LGD Gaming’s primary Dota 2 team, PSG.LGD, seems poised to remain intact heading into the new season, its secondary team might be gone. A new organization has formed around former LGD Forever Young players: Team Root. The news was revealed on Weibo and later confirmed by CDEC Gaming on Twitter. https://twitter.com/CDECgaming/status/1039597617280364545 Team Root brings together a number of experienced members of the Chinese Dota 2 scene, with most having …
Dota 2
Dota superstar Dendi is leaving Na`Vi
Steven Rondina
After eight long years with the organization, Danil “Dendi” Ishutin is no longer a member of Natus Vincere’s active roster. The news was announced over the weekend as part of a first wave of roster shakeups that follow each year’s installment of The International. It comes as part of a larger retooling of the Na`Vi Dota 2 roster, which struggled in 2018. Dendi has been the star of Na`Vi’s Dota …
Dota 2
Odium reveal new roster full of CIS talent
Steven Rondina
The CIS region was already set to be a competitive one, and it’s about to get even tougher. Longtime Virtus.Pro support player Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk announced the formation of new team Odium. The full roster was revealed on Twitter. https://twitter.com/inmyodium/status/1038847867996266497 Most members of the new Odium squad are established veterans of the CIS scene. Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini joins Lil in departing Natus Vincere following two years with the team, a …
Dota 2
Mineski shake things up with new roster
Steven Rondina
Despite a strong Dota Pro Circuit season, Mineski struggled to perform at The International and will now shake up the team’s roster. The new roster for Southeast Asia’s top team has been revealed, and it features an almost complete overhaul. https://twitter.com/wykrhm/status/1038997152947527681 Just two players are set to return to Mineski from the previous roster. Kam “Moon” Boon Seng, who played mid for the team throughout the last year, will continue …
OG sitting out the Kuala Lumper Major
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The list of teams set to compete in the regional qualifiers for the Kuala Lumpur Major has been announced with a very big name missing. While most of the usual suspects are accounted for in their respective regions, the winners of The International 2018, OG, are noticeably absent from the list of competing teams. This raised questions about the team’s status heading into the 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season. Support …
Ex-TNC Tigers team reveal roster
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
TNC Tigers put on a strong performance in Southeast Asia qualifiers for the International 2018, and while it wasn’t enough to actually make the cut into the tournament, it was enough to warrant a second chance. After announcing its split from the TNC organization, the newly minted Tigers revealed a new lineup on Saturday that featured three members of the TI8 qualifier squad: Sivatheeban “1437” Sivanathapillai, Muhammad “inYourdreaM” Rizky, and …
Wind and Rain look to stick together after TI qualifier run
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Wind and Rain may not have qualified for The International 2018, but the players seem to have enjoyed the experience enough to largely stick together. On Saturday, support player Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara revealed that he would continue playing alongside Lee “Forev” Sang-Don and Jonathan Bryle “bryle” Santos De Guia this season. Additionally, WaR coach Park “March” Tae-Won will return to active competition while David “Moo” Hull has come aboard from …
Kindrd and Misery lead the charge for South American Dota
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
South America’s best team during the 2017-2018 Dota Pro Circuit season is mostly sticking together. Danylo “Kingrd” Nascimento announced that his team, which competed in 2018 under the PaiN Gaming banner, will largely remain intact. It will not, however, be competing for PaiN next season. He announced the news on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kingrdxd/status/1038202423310000129 Entering the year as one of a group of mediocre teams in South America, PaiN established itself as …
OpTic Gaming Dota 2 roster revealed
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The OpTic Gaming Dota 2 division is done. On Wednesday morning, OpTic announced the release of its Dota 2 team following a top-eight finish at The International 2018. Minutes later, this was followed by the reveal of a new team by ex-OpTic captain Peter “ppd” Dager. https://twitter.com/OpTicGaming/status/1037354742635216897 OpTic entered the Dota 2 space shortly after The International 2017 with the acquisition of the PPD’s North American squad. After a rocky …
TNC welcomes Gabbi and NinjaBoogie
gabhernandez
Dota 2
TNC is putting a new look on their roster after an underwhelming performance on The International 2018. As the new Dota Pro Circuit season begins, several teams and organizations are restructuring and TNC is among them. TNC has bid goodbye to Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto and Samson Solomon Enojosa “Sam_H” Hidalgo. Raven was best known for his incredible Terrorblade and Drow Ranger plays, while Sam_H’s signature hero is Batrider. …
First DPC Major arrives in Kuala Lumpur
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season starts in just a few weeks, and it is now officially known when and where the first Major will take place. According to Wykrhm Reddy, the first Major of the DPC season will be taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event will be hosted by PGL and will begin on November 16. The build to the tournament, however, will start on September 10 …
Virtus.pro part ways with Dota 2 coach Artstyle
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Virtus.pro have confirmed that their Dota 2 team has lost its coach. VP admitted the departure of coach Ivan “Artstyle” Antonov. Before the group stage of The International 2018, VP made a huge announcement that the organization would be keeping their Dota 2 roster together through the end of 2019. The announcement included a banner featuring the five players and hinted that the coach did not receive a similar contract …
OG and PSG.LGD will battle for aegis at TI8
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The grand finals at The International 2018 are now set. In the final series of the event, upper bracket winners OG will rematch PSG LGD with $7 million dollars and esports glory at stake. This marks the first grand finals berth for either organization and sets up a dramatic finish for TI8. The resurgence of OG has been the biggest story of this year’s tournament, with the European fan favorites …
Dendi denies retirement rumors
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The immediate future of Danil “Dendi” Ishutin is not yet clear, but one thing is certain: He isn’t done with Dota 2. The fan favorite took to Twitter on Tuesday and gave fans a brief update on his status, saying, “Guys I am not retiring from dota. Looking for team/players. Thanks for warm words.” https://twitter.com/dendiboss/status/1036594077536530432?s=21 For the last eight years, Dendi has been the poster boy for Natus Vincere’s Dota …
CompLexity Gaming bring on new Dota 2 roster
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
After a disappointing 2017-2018 season, CompLexity Gaming’s Dota 2 team is being given a reboot. Over the last week, David “MoonMeander” Tan, David “Moo” Hull, and Adam Erwann Shah “Adam” bin Akhtar Hussein have departed the North American organization and become free agents. This marks a disappointing end to a tumultuous year for CompLexity. Despite a hot start to the year that included top-four finishes at the Perfect World Masters …
Fnatic signs four new Dota 2 players
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Fnatic aims to start strong in the new Dota Pro Circuit season with a new look to its squad. Fnatic has announced the departure of three players and a coach. Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao, Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora, Johan “pieliedie” Åström, and coach Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling part ways with the team after disappointment at The International 2018. Fnatic has continued the contracts of the Filipino duo Azel “Abed” Yusop and Djardel Jicko …
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.
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