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 at The International 2018, they took over $11 million.
The massive prize pools of The International have long seen Dota 2 players boasting considerably larger bank accounts than their peers in other titles. Now standing as two-time champions, the OG roster stand high above the rest of the Dota 2 scene as well.
Anathan “ana” Pham, Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen, SĂ©bastien “Ceb” Debs, Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka, and Johan “N0tail” Sundstein have all earned over $5 million so far, per Esports Earnings’ data.
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Team captain n0tail stands at the top of the list with $6,886,181 earned. In addition to being a two-time TI champion, n0tail was a founding member of OG and played with the team for all four of its victories in Valve-sponsored majors. JerAx and ana come in second and third. Both joined the team in 2016 and helped OG win the Boston Major and Kiev Major.
The only player outside OG that has made over $5 million is Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi with $5,127,814. The Team Liquid captain became a TI champion in 2017 and has made the grand finals on two other occasions, taking second place at TI9 and TI3. He is followed by a number of his current teammates.
The prize pool earnings of Dota 2 players have long been the envy of the esports industry. Crowdfunding through the in-game battle pass has resulted in an eight-figure prize pool for the event each year since 2014.
The only other tournament to ever reach Dota 2’s heights is the Fortnite World Cup. The event featured a $30 million prize pool and a top prize of $3 million for the solo final winner.
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