Real script of The International

Many people have already heard about the "TI script". Yes, the scenario exists. However, these are not fantasies that were written by users of social networks. This is all speculation from fans who only see what they want to see.

With all this, The International does have a "Real script". Which one we will analyze in this article.

Conversations that everything was planned and paid for in advance were always and at all tournaments. Most often, this is written by fans who were dissatisfied with the results of a particular event. In an attempt to justify or blame the team, many begin to look for signs and talk about conspiracy theories.

This year was no exception. Indeed, why would the strongest Chinese team PSG.LGD lose in the Grand Final against young and inexperienced guys? How many nonsense and fairy tales are walking on social networks, preventing people from finding out the truth. The answer to this question was given in the article «How PSG.LGD players' fear keeps them from winning The International».

The first fact - The International has been helding for ten years. And, of course, many moments can be repeated or just coincide. So, for example, the Main Stage playoffs bracket of 2017 and 2021 are similar. Some saw this as a repeat of Team Liquid's path. But how many coincidences there are, so many differences. And now about the real reasons for the victories and defeats.

In reality, there is no script. Do you really think that Valve, or even Gabe, worked out the ideal scenario for $40 million priaze pool tournament? And then coordinated all actions with all organizations, players and others? In that case, couldn’t any of a couple of hundred people over the years have accidentally blabbed out?

All this is nonsense. In reality, the winner is the team that analyzes the meta of the current patch and uses strong heroes. Through training, strategies are developed and the individual skill of each player is increased. At the same time, the players should be relaxed or even play for fun, because otherwise it will be almost impossible to win with trembling hands. And these are only general factors that can make a team the champion. And if you take a quick look at all the previous The Internationals, then in each year a team that has certain prerequisites for victory.

The first Dota 2 tournament by Valve. The time when you had to get a key to play Dota. The game was still new, professional players from DotA were actually re-learning how to play. The one who was the fastest to adapt to heroes and game mechanics had the advantage. Various strategies and drafts have been tried.

By the end of the tournament, NaVi had finally figured out how to play the game. And the roster had everything needed: young and funny Dendi and XBOCT, the aggressive ganker Artstyle, the calm and smart LighTofHeaveN and Puppey. They had everything, while their opponents seemed to lack something in the roster and in the game. Honored first champions of The International.

The meta has changed and the heroes decided the most. Whoever won the draft stage and took heroes with strong ultimates for a massive fight won. In the course of the tournament, the Natus Vincere finalists have already defeated iG in the upper bracket. But in the grand final, the Chinese team broke the system and began to take strong cores. It is worth noting the role of Ferrari_430 and ChuaN in the final. Invictus Gaming were able to adapt to their opponent. Thanks to the draft and individual skill, they were able to win the tournament.

The legendary The International 3 will forever go down in history thanks to third map Natus Vincere against TongFu and incredible fountain hooks performed by Dendi and Puppey. However, they were not the winners of the tournament.

Swedish team Alliance that made the most of the push strategy, which was incredibly strong at the time. The fans remembered AdmiralBulldog as a pro of microcontrol, joining in a fight and creating space for carry Loda and his team. The grand final was incredibly emotional and difficult for both teams. NaVi players were good, but team Alliance was better because of its strategy and its realisation.

The Chinese team certainly had only the best players of that time. Among them was the now legendary coach of PSG.LGD - xiao8. For the first time, they were able to successfully implement their early dominance strategy. It is simple, but it requires almost perfect execution and does not forgive mistakes. The idea is to take heroes that are strong in early game, can farm fast, get into fights early, or have summons. And having such a draft, the Chinese players pressed their opponent from the first minute. Few could oppose something to this. In the grand final against Vici Gaming, Newbee players won map 2-4 maps in 26, 17 and 15 minutes. The score is 3-1 and the fastest Aegis of Champions is in the hands of Chinese esports players.

This year was not remembered by the audience for any strategies or imba heroes. Nothing specials. EG organization gathered the best players, adding a young and hot blood - SumaiL. Well-played roster and excellent individual performance of each team member.

However, it is worth noting their rivals - CDEC Gaming. After the end of the tournament, rumors circulated around the Chinese team, allegedly they knew in advance the strategies and signature heroes of the enemy. Later, the fact of transferring API keys was revealed and there was a scandal.

But fate was strict, the grand final put everything in its place. And the 6 million Echo Slam in roshpit by Universe put the end to this tournament.

Sensational TI, where underdogs from China, who did not even have branded T-shirts, managed to win the Dota 2 main tournament of the year. The secret of success is non-stop hard training. During the preparation, the players increased their skill to incredible heights. And if others had a "hero pool", these guys in their arsenal had a "sea" of different heroes, on which they could play at the highest level and win their biggest tournament in their professional career.

An interesting fact, in the first and last match of the main stage, they played against Digital Chaos. Both finalist teams made it to TI16 through regional qualifiers. DC looked like a random stack of players from different countries: Resolut1on, w33, Moo, Saksa, MiSeRyand two trainers Loomdun and Pajkatt. By the way, Digital Chaos' path to the grand final is similar to the one that Team Spirit went through in 2021. Scenario?

Unfortunately, Wings had no luck with the organization's managers, who actually threw a part of the prize money to another League of Legends team and did not invest in the further development of the Dota 2 roster. In addition, due to contract restrictions and bans from ACE, the team disbanded. Now only Faith_bian and y` are actively playing on the professional scene in PSG.LGD, which took 2nd place at The International 10 this year. It's a sad story.

A victory of skill and composure, mixed with genius and some fun. KuroKy, being an experienced captain and player, has gathered the best players around him: MATUMBAMAN, MinD_ContRoL, GH and the incredible Miracle-. The team was assisted by coach Heen, who currently coaches Team Secret.

It is Liquid's path to victory at The International that has been compared to Team Spirit. However, already according to the results of the group stage, it was obvious that Team Liquid are one of the strongest teams in the tournament, which cannot be said about Spirit. The victory of KuroKy and his team is quite an expected and predictable result achieved by hard training, ingenious skill and many years of experience.

YOLO-style, mixed with fun, ingenious play and imba heroes. This is exactly what the two-time champions of The International seemed to fans at that time. N0tail, JerAx, Ceb, Topson and ana are the geniuses of the game. But not only this is their success. Until now, many do not understand one simple fact - all opponents for some reason did not ban OG's strongest heroes. Here's where Valve conspiracy theorists should dig.

Two years after the break, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, a generational change took place in Dota 2 esports. Young players who have everything they need to win, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, just started to crowd out the old school players.

We have already told a lot about Team Spirit. We advise you to read the articles: «Team Spirit phenomen. The journey from nobody to the stars», «Silent: from former player to top coach».

Looking back over the years, there are many differences and overlaps. However, there are real factors that guarantee victory:

With some or all of these characteristics, teams and players write their own script where they can be champion in any tournament.