The battle lines have already been drawn for this year’s esports extravaganza at The International 2023 or TI23. The event makes a nostalgic return to Seattle, a venue that hosted it concurrently from 2012 to 2017. Starting October 12th to 29th, 20 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world converge to battle it out and find out who will be the last standing and found worthy to lift the hallowed Aegis of Champions.
This will be the event’s 12th edition and is expected to capture the collective attention of Dota 2’s cult-like following worldwide throughout the period. Valve is yet to announce the prize pool, but as we have come to expect, it will be an amount you will need a calculator to wrap your mind around.
Last year’s prize pool was a staggering $18,930,775, from which the winner, Tundra, pocketed a whooping $8.5M, an amount likely to still be burning a hole in their pocket. To shed more light on this year’s event, let’s look at the journey teams have taken to qualify and how the winner will be decided.
Qualifying For The International
There are two ways teams can use to qualify and play in The International. One is through the DPC, where the top 12 teams in terms of points get an automatic invitation. The other way is by winning the regional qualifiers. NA, EE, CN, and SEA get one slot each. SA and WE get two slots each to bring the total number of teams making it to the tournament through regional qualifiers to 8. This will bring to 20 the number of teams competing in the tournament.
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Road to the Finals
The 20 teams will face each other in nerve-wracking and adrenaline-filled matches, from which one that emerges the best will have their name carved in the annals of Dota 2 history as the TI23 winner.
To accommodate all 20 teams, the event will be held on three weekends. The group stage will take place on the second weekend of October from 12-15, the playoffs will be played on the third weekend between 20-22 October and finally the finals on the last weekend of October from 27-29.
Fans have previously complained about the number of matches happening at the same time, making it difficult to settle on one to watch. Valve heard these cries and altered the schedule a little by dividing it into two phases. These are:
- The Road To TI
- TI
The Road Road To The International
This phase will include the group stage and the playoffs. All 20 teams will be pitted against each other to get the best 8 that will proceed to the next phase. In the old group stage format, teams were grouped into two groups of 10 each and played for four days. This meant many matches in the early games, making the last games meaningless as they would have little effect on the final standings.
To change this and make all games carry high stakes, the first half of the group stage will see the teams grouped into four groups of five teams and will be played for only two days. The last team in each group will be eliminated from the tournament.
With this new format, each team will play only four games compared to nine in the previous format. The second half of the group stage will pit the four teams that qualify from each of the four groups against each other to decide which ones will play in the upper bracket in the playoffs. The playoffs will be a series of elimination matches played in a best-of-three format that will see eight teams proceed to the next phase, The International.
The International
The International will see the best eight teams up to this stage of the tournament compete for the coveted top spot. This will start with four best-of-three matches for the first two days, i.e. Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, history will be beckoning as two finals will be played. These are the Lower Bracket Final, where the top three teams will battle it out, and the Grand Final, where the best-of-five will sweat it out for a top podium finish.
Conclusion
The countdown is on, and the biggest tournament on the Dota 2 calendar is approaching thick and fast. Starting the 12th of October, our attention will converge to Seattle, where the best of Dota 2’s teams this year will look to put their best foot forward to earn a seat at the table of Dota 2’s greatest. As to who will emerge as the winner, we can only speculate. But what is for sure, we have a great tournament in our hands.
