

It’s not built up, it’s not consistent, it’s dwarfed by TI: these are issues the Dota 2 community has discussed for years at this point.

It just doesn’t bode well for the DPC and the teams and players involved therein, relegating it more to a soap opera than an elite competition of its own. Which is fine, we can all have our Super Bowl and insane excitement, the sugary overdose of the big day with millions of dollars on the line superseding everything that came before. Much of the magic of TI is simply down to variance: good luck trying to derive meaningful conclusions from ten distinct data points across eleven years. As the more professional esports get and the narrower the edges between teams become, the notion of consistency in Dota 2 will further shift from pure gold to mirage. Wings also went through the regional qualifier in 2016. Since the current format of the DPC was introduced, the winners of TI came from the qualifiers twice (OG at TI8 and Team Spirit now) and once as the tenth-placed side (OG at TI9). After winning two matches, Team Spirit allowed. At the end of the day, what’s the point of grinding through the hard yards of the DPC, investing time and resources both as a player and as an owner of an org, if it matters so little at the big event? In brief: Team Spirit and PSG.LGD fought against each other for Dota 2s prize pool of 18 million and the prestigious Aegis trophy over the weekend. Return they do indeed, for the real question is whether there’s any real return on investment here. DPC winners fail again: what’s the point in funding a good team?īehind the magic of Team Spirit’s incredible victory, the now-usual questions about the wider competitive Dota 2 scene and the DPC in general return in full force. There’s simply too much on the line not to have legendary shit happen.Īll eyes are on PGL and Stockholm, where the upcoming CS:GO Major will actually have a live audience for the playoff stage: though it’s nowhere near as massive an event, it might just turn out to be a better broadcasting experience in total. It further fuels the legends and the legacy of The International, that insane cauldron of pressure that can crumble any top team to dust and make diamonds out of what seemed like a piece of coal going into the tournament. From the last chance qualifier to the Aegis of Champions, they peaked at just the right time, the narrowest of windows of excellence netting them over $18 million and a spot in gaming history.įor fans watching at home, the underdog story has always been the best, the team emerging from that awful hotel room to conquer the world in the main event. So Europe made it four in a row for the West in Bucharest as Team Spirit triumphed against all odds over, well, everyone, an all-conquering run featuring PSG.LGD, Team Secret, Virtus.pro, Fnatic and, perhaps most notably, OG themselves along the way. It’s a cool story for the fans – but it also showcases just how awful the returns are on the year-long investment when six consecutive series of Dota 2 will matter so much more. Talk about the passing of the torch: OG’s TI8 spirit was embodied by, well, Team Spirit, a young underdog side coming out of nowhere with a cocky in-your-face playstyle on the biggest stage of them all to take the Aegis of Champions for themselves.
