History Of The International – All Dota 2 Winners

The International, also known as TI, is the pinnacle of professional Dota 2, as the series of events is renowned as the most prestigious esports tournament. Iterations of The International have boasted the largest prize pools in esports, peaking at the $40 million mark in 2020.Winning The International automatically immortalizes any player, elevating them to legendary status within the community. It is the ultimate end goal for all players, and only 55 players have had the honor to lift the Aegis of Immortality. 

With The International having an immense cultural impact, not only in Dota 2 but in esports, let’s delve into the tournament’s history and learn the names of players who have secured a spot in the game’s Valhalla. 

The International 1 – Natus Vincere

Winning Roster:

• Oleksandr “XBOCT” Dashkevych
• Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
• Dmitriy “LighTofHeaveN” Kupriyanov
• Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov
• Clement “Puppey” Ivanov

Prior to the inception of The International, Dota 2 tournaments were paying out a couple of thousand dollars to its competitors, and most of the time, tournament organizers didn’t even end up sending the funds.

When Valve announced the winner of the first TI would win a million dollars, many top Chinese teams even refused to participate, thinking it was too good to be true and a total scam. 

Still, the event played out, and The International 1 sent shockwaves to the entire esports community. This was the tournament where legendary names such as Dendi and Puppey crowned themselves as the best players in the world. 

The International 2 – Invictus Gaming

Winning Roster:

• Chen “Zhou” Yao
• Luo “Ferrari_430” Feichi
• Jiang “YYF” Cen
• Wong “ChuaN” Hock Chuan
• Zeng “Faith” Hongda

With the success of TI1, more teams, players, and organizations started taking Dota 2 more seriously, and everyone now knew this tournament wasn’t a scam. 

Despite still competing at the highest level, Dendi, Puppey, and Na’Vi couldn’t capitalize on a second TI victory, as Chinese squad Invictus Gaming took the Aegis home to Asia. 

The International 2 was the first iteration to be held in Seattle, United States, which would become a regular location for the tournament series. 

The International 3 – Alliance

Winning Roster:

• Jonathan “Loda” Berg
• Gustav “s4” Magnusson
• Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg
• Jerry “EGM” Lundkvist
• Joakim “Akke” Akterhall

The International 3 was the tournament of the Rats. Alliance played a unique style of Dota 2 known as “Rat Dota,” where they would avoid team fights and focus on taking down their opponent’s buildings. “Kills mean nothing, Throne means everything.”

Alliance caught Na’Vi with their pants down in a thriller Game 5 in the Grand Final, taking down the Ancient without even taking a proper team fight after the iconic “Million-dollar Dream Carl” play by Alliance midlaner s4.

Valve also introduced the idea of crowdfunding at TI3, allowing Dota 2 players to purchase a compendium, with sales revenue directly allocated to the tournament’s prize pool, which went a long way to attracting the best Dota 2 players to the tournament.    

The International 4 – Newbee

Winning Roster:

• Chen “Hao” Zhihao
• Zhang “Mu” Pan
• Zhang “xiao8” Ning
• Wang “Banana” Jiao
• Wang “SanSheng” Zhaohui 

The idea of crowdfunding worked out, as The International 4 was a monumental tournament in esports history, as it was the first event to exceed a prize pool of $10 million. With more money on the line, Valve increased the scale of the event and booked the Key Arena, which could contain 17,000 fans.

Chinese squad Newbee bagged the win, claiming a mind-blowing $5 million for their efforts. Unfortunately, TI4 wasn’t the most exciting one in terms of games or plays, even if the prize pool dwarfed all other iterations of TI at that time. 

The International 5 – Evil Geniuses

Winning Roster:

• Clinton “Fear” Loomis
• Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan
• Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora
• Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling
• Peter “ppd” Dager

2015 was the year North American organization Evil Geniuses took a gamble by signing 16-year-old prodigy SumaiL. 

In front of the home crowd, Evil Geniuses pulled off the victory at the Key Arena, with UNiVeRsE’s iconic “Six Million Dollar Echo Slam” play in the Grand Final against CDEC. SumaiL became the youngest player to win TI at 16 years and 176 days old with this TI victory and cemented his nickname – The King. 

The International 6 – Wings Gaming

Winning Roster:

• Chu “shadow” Zeyu
• Zhou “bLink” Yang
• Zhang “Faith_bian” Ruida
• Li “iceice” Peng
• Zhang “y`” Yiping

The 2016 Dota 2 season was supposed to be the year of OG, a roster on the rise with Miracle-, who was regarded as the best player in the world.

However, Chinese powerhouse Wings Gaming silently entered the tournament as the best team at the event, swooping the Aegis with little to no issues and pocketing $9 million. 

What’s super interesting is that Wings Gaming shortly disbanded its roster a few months after their victory at Seattle. 

The International 7 – Team Liquid

Winning Roster:

• Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen
• Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi
• Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov
• Maroun “GH” Merhej
• Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi

The seventh iteration of The International was special, as it was the first to exceed the $20 million mark, even extending to 24. 

Team Liquid had taken Miracle- off the hands of OG, building one of the greatest rosters of all time. The boys in blue dominated the competition, sweeping Newbee 3 – 0 in the Grand Final to win the event. 

This TI was monumental for KuroKy, a veteran competing for years. His efforts have rewarded him with a legendary status and his name etched into the Aegis of Champions. 

The International 8 – OG

Winning Roster:

• Anathan “ana” Pham
• Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen
• Sebastian “Ceb” Debs
• Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka
• Johan “N0tail” Sundstein

As a die-hard Dota fan, I must admit that The International 8 is the best iteration by far. OG had its roster shattered after two players abandoned the team right before Ti8 began. 

A month before the big event, OG was left scattering to assemble a new roster, forcing coach Ceb to transition into a player and picking up Topson, an unknown pub star that had never played in a LAN tournament before. 

However, OG pulled off the grandest Cinderella story in all of esports, winning the tournament with action-packed games, comebacks, historical plays, and, most importantly, the power of friendship. 

The International 9 – OG

Winning Roster:

• Anathan “ana” Pham
• Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen
• Sebastian “Ceb” Debs
• Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka
• Johan “N0tail” Sundstein

After winning Ti8, OG’s carry player, ana, took time off the scene, and OG’s remaining members struggled throughout the year. With Ti9 coming up, the team brought in ana again and went into the event with little to no expectations.

Though most people had OG written off, the Western European squad’s run in 2019 was even more dominant than the previous, cruising through the Group Stage and reaching the Grand Final.

The Grand Final of Ti9 was memorable, as it featured OG and Team Liquid, two lineups who had won TI before. This meant, for the first time in the game’s history, we would crown our first set of two-time TI winners. OG won the bout, resulting in back-to-back TI victories and a writing of Dota 2 history. To this day, they remain the only team to have achieved this feat.

The International 10 – Team Spirit

Winning Roster:

• Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk
• Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek
• Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
• Miroslaw “Mira” Kolpakov
• Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The International in 2020 was canceled. As a result, The International 10 was held in 2021, and didn’t feature a live audience for the first time.

However, funds from the 2020 and 2021 Battle Passes were combined, emerging an astronomical $40 million prize pool, which ’till today, is still a record-holder. 

Though PSG.LGD came into the event as the clear favorite, Yatoro and Team Spirit came out of nowhere and pulled off one of the greatest upsets in esports history, bagging $18 million for winning first place.  

The International 11 – Tundra Esports

Winning Roster:

• Oliver “skiter” Lepko
• Leon “Nine” Kirilin
• Neta “33” Shapira
• Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
• Wu “Sneyking” Jingjun

The International 11 features the “Aura Meta,” where all teams purchased team-oriented items, namely the Wraith Pact. This tournament was a matter of which team could outplay their opponents in the laning stage, and then snowball the game as cleanly as possible.

Tundra Esports, featuring 33, was the best team that abused the meta. This resulted in the team cruising through the entire tournament, sweeping Team Secret 3 – 0 in the Grand Final. 

The International 12 – Team Spirit

Winning Roster:

• Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk
• Denis “Larl” Sigitov
• Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
• Miroslaw “Mira” Kolpakov
• Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov

In 2023, a new Gaimin Gladiators roster wreaked havoc in the Dota 2 season and was the clear favorite to lift the Aegis at The International 12.

However, TI winner Yatoro played an incredible tournament, cementing himself as arguably the best carry player ever after taking down the Gladiators 3 – 0 in the Grand Final.

The Team Spirit squad, with the exception of Larl, became the second team to win two TI events, meaning there were now nine two-time TI winners in history. 

The International 13 – Team Liquid

Winning Roster:

• Michael “miCKe” Vu
• Michał “Nisha” Jankowski
• Neta “33” Shapira
• Samuel “Boxi” Svahn
• Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi

Team Liquid had a horrendous year despite having former Tundra Esports offlaner 33 join their ranks. However, all their disappointing runs were forgiven as the squad won the most important tournament of the year.

Despite being written off as a potential favorite, Team Liquid had one of the most dominant runs in TI history, not dropping a single map throughout the Playoffs, slaying the Gaimin Gladiators in the Grand Final 3 – 0. 

This victory meant 33 joined the list of two-time TI winners and is the first of the bunch that won the Aegis with two entirely different lineups.