Team Spirit wins TI 2023, earning second Aegis

TI 2023 is over, and Team Spirit stands alone as the grand champion of Dota 2’s biggest tournament.

The International 2023 was one of the most open tournaments in the history of TI, prize pool concerns aside. Team Liquid, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Spirit, LGD, and BetBoom all had a solid chance to claim the trophy, but only one could survive the gauntlet. After a stellar run through the upper bracket with wins over LGD, Liquid, and Gaimin Gladiators, Team Spirit is officially the champion of TI 2023. Here’s how the exciting grand final shook out and why this victory is so historic.

Team Spirit claims victory at TI 2023

Game one featured active drafts from both teams. While lanes were chaotic, things shook out mostly smoothly until an impromptu deathball from Spirit at ten minutes, leading to multiple objectives. While Gaimin put up a fight in multiple midgame engagements, Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk’s Weaver quickly got out of control. The first round of the final would be a stomp for Team Spirit, with Yatoro going 18-2-10.

The second draft featured some surprise picks, including Morphling for GG carry Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov and a signature Magnus for Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov. Mid quickly became a hotbed for rotations, but neither team managed to gain a solid lead. At 30 minutes, the kill score was 16-16 with an even net worth.

Spirit finally claimed the map with the second Aegis, and after scouring up a 15,000 gold lead, stormed into GG’s high ground for a decisive team fight ending with a rampage for Yatoro. 

Now just one game away from the Aegis, Team Spirit’s draft featured a mid Dazzle for Denis “Larl” Sigitov. The Gladiators responded with tournament terrors Spectre and Brewmaster, and the meta play quickly paid off. GG took control right from the start, with the game predicting a 96% win chance for the EU West team at 22 minutes.

Spirit hit several key timings and began to put up a fight, with a particularly dominant fight at 35 minutes near the Rosh pit marking a turning point. Despite the game itself claiming they would lose, the champions of TI 2021 took the first set of barracks. Spirit would return at 41 minutes to finish the job.

Team Spirit winning TI 2023 is both an insane achievement as well as a slammed door for Gaimin Gladiators. Four of Spirit’s players are now only the second batch ever to win The International twice, following OG’s back-to-back wins. It cements them as one of the best rosters of all time. It’s also a bad ending for GG, which hoped to finish off the first perfect season by winning all four Valve championships in the same year.