- Team Spirit becomes the second team ever to win two International titles.
- The team went through the tournament only dropping two games throughout.
- They faced off against Gaimin Gladiators who hadn’t lost a single game during the Main Event and were favourites heading into the match.
What a weekend it was for sports. The Proteas managed to eke out a win against Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup, the Springboks are bringing the Webb Ellis Trophy home for a record fourth time and, in esports news, Team Spirit was crowned champion at Dota 2’s marquee esports event The International 12 (TI12).
Team Spirit sees its name carved into the Aegis of Champions for a second time, having previously won The International 10 which featured the largest prize pool of the tournament ever.
The former champions faced off against Gaimin Gladiators (GG) which were the favourite team heading into TI12. The team had won at three Major events and were the favourites at the tournament. GG had to fight through the Lower Bracket at this weekend’s finals but it did so with power and grace earning them the moniker of Grim Reapers at the tournament. Similarly, Team Spirit only dropped two games throughout TI12 so the Grand Final really was a battle of the heavyweights of the tournament.
After knocking out China aspirants LGD Gaming, GG entered the Grand Finals full of hope. Unfortunately for GG, Team Spirit showed up hungry and managed to win the Grand Final handily 3 – 0 in a best-of-five games format.
The first of those three games saw Team Spirit dominate without losing a single tower to GG. While the second game gave GG a glimmer of hope, Team Spirit picked some important engagements late on and managed to swing the game in their favour.
In the final game, GG once again looked to have the upper hand with a 17 000 Gold lead at one point. Once again however, Team Spirit picked their fights and before too long had grabbed the lead from GG before taking the high ground and winning the match.
The winners take home a grand prize of over $1 million due to a massive departure from tradition on Valve’s part that changed the Battle Pass/Compendium model of previous years. These changes saw fewer purchases and as a result, the overall prize pool was lower. Gaimin Gladiators took home $376 000 and third place LGD Gaming took home $251 000.
Team Spirit now matches OG’s record of winning two Internationals although OG did it with the same lineup twice, Team Spirit had one different member in Denis “Larl” Sigitov following the departure of Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek.
The winning Team Spirit lineup was:
- Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk
- Denis “Larl” Sigitov
- Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
- Myroslav “Mira” Kolpakov
- Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov
The next International won’t see teams competing for wins in the Dota Pro Circuit which has, for many years, been the path to the grand tournament. Moving forward, the Dota Pro Circuit will be retired and instead teams will have to compete in independent tournaments. This is how the professional scene used to run and we’re keen to see how it plays out now that Valve isn’t organising any DPC tournaments. The International will return in 2024 and there looks to be a new hero arriving in the game next year.
