• Dota 2’s ultimate competition, The International, will crown a new champion this weekend.
• Following two weeks of playoffs, the finals take place this weekend in Seattle.
• The prize pool for 2023 is a rather subdued $3 million.

Over the years, Valve’s Dota 2 has captured headlines nearly every year. This is thanks to the headline-grabbing prize pool that often accompanies the tournament.

The largest prize pool the tournament featured was $40 million in 2021 although that prize pool was accumulated over a longer period, thanks to the pandemic. This year, the prize pool is a more subdued $3 million.

This year’s prize pool is so much lower because of how Valve drew in the Dota community’s involvement.

Usually, the developer would release cosmetic items that players could earn by opening lootboxes. This coupled with Dota themed activities and more helped inspire the playerbase to open their wallets. In 2023, however, Valve made the decision to change tack and focus the system that once drew in funds for the tournament to instead focus on the pros.

The short story is that the prize pool is incredibly low but so far the Dota has been pretty good.

Over the course of the last two weekend the Road to The International has been taking place and now eight teams will compete against each other for a shot at The Aegis of Champions.

Those teams are:

• Team Spirit (Upper Bracket),
• Team Liquid (Upper Bracket),
• LGD Gaming (Upper Bracket),
• Azure Ray (Upper Bracket),
• Nouns (Lower Bracket),
• Gaimin Gladiators (Lower Bracket),
• Betboom Team (Lower Bracket),
• Virtus.Pro (Lower Bracket).

The format for the finals is best of three games except for the grand final which is best of five. If a team loses in the Upper Bracket they have one more opportunity to get to the Grand Final as they will fall to the Lower Bracket. Losing in the Lower Bracket, however, means you’re headed home.

The games begin at 19:00 SAST on Friday evening with Nouns taking on Gaimin Gladiators and Betboom Team takes on Virtus.Pro thereafter.

The full schedule with times for The International 2023 Finals follows below:

Friday

• 19:00 SAST – Nouns VS Gaimin Gladiators,
• 22:00 SAST – Betboom Team VS Virtus.Pro.

Saturday

• 01:00 SAST – Team Spirit VS Team Liquid,
• 04:00 SAST – LGD Gaming VS Azure Ray,
• 19:00 SAST – Lower Bracket Round 4,
• 22:00 SAST – Lower Bracket Round 4.

Sunday

• 01:00 SAST – Upper Bracket Final,
• 04:00 SAST – Lower Bracket Round 5,
• 19:00 SAST – Lower Bracket Final,
• 23:00 SAST – Grand Final.

The winner of The International 2022 was Tundra Esports who have unfortunately already been knocked out of the tournament. We’re cheering on Team Spirit, winners of The International 2021 and the largest first-place prize ever of $18 million.

You can watch The International 2023 being broadcast live from Seattle in the US on YouTube, Twitch, and in-game.

Between the Rugby World Cup 2023 final and Dota, it’s going to be a long, sleepless weekend.