Dota 2’s biggest event of the year is finally fast approaching, with the 10th edition of the legendary The International set to kick off in October.
The event is a culmination of a whole year of competition, with teams having qualified by collecting enough Dota Pro Circuit points, or through a last-chance regional qualifier. Either way, they’ll now compete on the biggest stage in all of esports, fighting over the $40-million prize pool!
If you’re new to Dota 2, make sure to check out our guide on how to bet on Dota 2, and let’s take a look at the event in more detail.
Who’s Playing at The International 10?
We’ll see 18 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world battling it out at TI10, including favorites from all regions like PSG.LGD, Virtus.pro, Team Secret, Evil Geniuses and many more. Of these teams, 12 made it through by raking in enough Dota Pro Circuit points at events throughout the year, while six had to face a tough last-chance regional qualifier.
As always, we saw some unexpected results, celebrations and heartbreak as the list of teams was rounded out. Most notably, OG secured a last-second qualification through the regional qualifier, coming at the expense of Team Nigma, which ended Kuroky’s legendary run of being present at all TIs so far.
When it comes to the event itself, details still haven’t been fully revealed, but we know we’ll see a group stage, followed by the main event. It’s very likely to be played out in the same format as usual, with teams first being split into two groups of nine, played in a round-robin format, then 16 teams advancing to a double-elimination bracket.
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| PSG.LGD | +200 |
| Evil Geniuses | +500 |
| Team Secret | +550 |
| OG | +600 |
| Vici Gaming | +800 |
| Elephant | +800 |
| Virtus.pro | +900 |
| Invictus Gaming | +1100 |
| T1 | +1400 |
| Alliance | +2400 |
| Quincy Crew | +2400 |
| Team Spirit | +2400 |
| Fnatic | +3400 |
| Beastcoast | +5000 |
| Thunder Predator | +5000 |
| Undying | +6600 |
| SG esports | +25000 |
Odds as of October 1 at Sportsbook
PSG.LGD Looks to Finally Claim Aegis
PSG.LGD has been a prominent Dota 2 squad since basically forever. The team has always been strong, taking multiple regional and international titles over the years and driving fear into any side that would face them.
However, one title that has always eluded the legendary side is The International championship. They’ve come close before, reaching the podium multiple times and barely losing out in second place in 2018.
They boast some impressive form going into TI10, having seen strong results across the entire year, topping out with a victory at the WePlay AniMajor in June. It will be a tough challenge – but could this be the year of PSG.LGD at TI?
Evil Geniuses Aim to Build on Strong Year
Despite coming from North America, a “weak” region in Dota 2, Evil Geniuses have a strong claim at the TI trophy this year, coming into the event in one of the best forms of any team.
So far their 2021 has been a huge success, with the team winning a regional Dota Pro Circuit event, followed by placing second at both the Singapore and WePlay majors.
EG have managed to dismantle even the best teams in the world so far and will be able to top out their great year with an impressive performance at The International. That is if they can put up a similar level of performance at the biggest event of the year.
Is Team Secret Still The World’s Best?
Going into 2021, there was huge discussion surrounding Team Secret, with many fans calling the team the best in the world. It was hard to argue with that statement, considering they went on a run of eight tournament wins in a row in 2020 where they barely even dropped any maps.
However, this year hasn’t been anywhere near as impressive for the team. The Singapore Major ended in a rough fourth-place finish, while the WePlay AniMajor and ESL One Summer finished in disaster, with Secret ending third to last and dead last respectively.
Some people argue that these results came about due to the team having already secured a spot at TI and wanting to take a break or save their best tactics. Is that really the case? No one knows. All we can do is wait and see if we’ll get the team that won eight tournaments in a row or the team that placed dead last at ESL One Summer.
Can OG Win A Third Straight TI?
We can’t talk about TI without mentioning OG, the only team to have ever won the tournament back to back. The team is best known for something called “OG Magic” – essentially, they’re able to bring a special something to basically any match and win when they should, in theory, have no right to.
This happened in both 2018 and 2019, when the team had pretty terrible years and had to go through the regional qualifier to reach The International. Both times they pulled off miracles, going from one of the worst teams in the world to by far the best, and taking home the trophy of Dota 2’s most illustrious event.
Believe it or not, that is exactly what happened this year as well. The team didn’t even manage to qualify for any big events and barely got into TI after a lower-bracket run in the Western European qualifier. Once again, OG has been bad throughout the year and barely managed to scrape into TI. The stage seems set for another classic case of OG Magic at The International 10.
