The International 2018 is Dota 2’s world championship and possibly the most prestigious event in all of esports, not least because it has a massive prize pool: 24 million dollars. Apart from this, the tournament features the strongest 18 teams of the 2017-2018 competitive season, will have close to 100 matches in total and provides a lot of excellent Dota 2 betting opportunities.
Where and when?
Rogers Arena, Vancouver Canada
The International 2018 takes place in Vancouver, Canada between August 15th – 25th. The tournament’s Main Event will be held in Rogers Arena (18K+ seating capacity) between August 20th – 25th.
Participants:
The International 2018 brings together 18 teams from all over the world.
- North America:
– VGJ.Storm
– OpTic Gaming
– Evil Geniuses - South America:
– paiN Gaming - CIS:
– Winstrike Team
– Virtus.pro - Europe:
– Team Secret
– OG
– Team Liquid - China:
– VGJ.Thunder
– Team Serenity
– Invictus Gaming
– PSG.LGD
– Vici Gaming
– Newbee - Southeast Asia:
– Mineski
– Fnatic
– TNC Predator
Tournament format:
The International 2018 has two stages. For the Group Stage, the teams will be divided into two groups. Both of these groups will be played in a Round Robin format. In other words, each team will play a Bo2 series against every other team from its group. At the end of this stage, the 9th placed team is eliminated. Teams ranking from 1st to 4th start the Main Event in the Upper Bracket. The remaining teams start in the Lower Bracket.
The Main event is played in a GSL format (double-elimination bracket). Apart from the first round of Lower Bracket matches, which are Bo1s, and the Grand Final (Bo5), all the other matches will be Bo3 series.
Prize distribution:
The International 2018 has a $24 million prize pool that will be distributed among participants in the following way:
- 1st place: $10,7 million
- 2nd place: $3,9 million
- 3rd place: $2,5 million
- 4th place: $1,7 million
- 5th – 6th place: $1,09 million
- 7th – 8th place: $600.000
- 9th – 12th place: $362.000
- 13th – 16th place: $121.000
- 17th – 18th place: $60.000
Main contenders:
Virtus.pro
Virtus.Pro.Dota2 | Team Roster 2018
Virtus.pro finished the 2017-2018 competitive season at the top of the Dota Pro Circuit rankings table, with over 12.000 points. This team is regarded as one of the main favorites for winning The International 2018 and its results during the regular season were impressive: 4 Major titles and many other top 4 placements at Dota Pro Circuit LAN events.
Going into The International 2018, Virtus.pro should secure a ticket for the Upper Bracket of the Main Event and then make it all the way to the Grand Final.
PSG.LGD
PSG.LGD.Dota 2 | Team Roster 2018
PSG.LGD is the strongest team in China and finished the regular season in 3rd place with over 7000 DPC points. These points came as a result of PSG.LGD winning 2 Majors (MDL Changsha Major and EPICENTER XL) and getting top placements in numerous other events: 2nd place at PGL Open Bucharest, 2nd place at Dota 2 Asia Championships 2018, 2nd place at StarLadder & i-League Season 4 and so on.
Going into The International 2018, PSG.LGD is expected to get at least a top 4 result, just like last year.
Team Liquid
Team Liquid Dota 2 | Team Roster 2018
Winner of The International 2017, Team Liquid will try to defend its title at this edition of TI. And its chances of succeeding are pretty high. The team had a very good regular season and finished in 2nd place with over 9000 DPC points. Furthermore, at the final and most important Dota Pro Circuit event of the regular season, Liquid claimed the title by defeating Virtus.pro in the Grand Final (score 3 – 2). So the stage is set for KuroKy and his teammates to do it all over again.
It is not yet clear how the TI 7 champion will fare against the likes of PSG.LGD, VP, EG and Secret at this tournament, but expectations are definitely high and they’re backed up by numerous trophies during the regular season, including 3 Minors and a Major.
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses Dota 2 | Team Roster 2018
Evil Geniuses truggled throughout the entire duration of the regular season, winning just one Minor and placing 3rd at a Major on one ocasion. Apart from these results, EG went from one disappointment to the next, ultimately going through two sessions of massive roster changes. In the latest of these sessions, EG brought it Fly and s4 and ended up with 3 former OG players, including Cr1t-.
Now, the team looks set to get at least a top 6 finish at The International 2018, having proved its strength at DOTA Summit 9 and in the regional qualifiers for TI 8. The new roster is made up of 5 superstar players, all very experienced, successful and regarded as being among the world’s best at their respective roles.
Team Secret
Team Secret Dota 2 | Team Roster 2018
Team Secret ended the regular season in 4th place with more than 5000 DPC points. The team won 2 Minors Captains Draft 4.0 and DreamLeague Season 9 and a Major (DreamLeague Season 8) and also placed 2nd at ESL One Hamburg 2017, another Major tournament.
These results, combined with the fact that Team Secret is led by a player who’s already been in 3 TI Grand Finals, makes this squad one of the favorite to win the whole event. It remains to be seen if Puppey can actually pull it off, but his team proved in the 2017-2018 competitive season that it is definitely capable of great things.
