Now that The International 13 (TI13) is but a few months away, Dota 2 publisher and developer Valve Corporation has graced the community with the initial direct and regional qualifier invites to the annual world championship event. Taking place from September 4th to the 15th, 2024, The International will feature 16 teams vying for Dota 2 supremacy and the lion’s share of the prize pool — the value of which has yet to surface as of the time of writing.
via Valve/PGL
This year, the culminating event of the 2024 Dota 2 season will be held at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark — marking the first time the Scandinavian country will play host to the prestigious tournament.
Direct Invites
Due to the closure of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) last year, the direct invite process has gone back to the old method, where Valve will just select teams mostly based on their performances throughout the year and/or their performances close to the date of The International itself. This is of course in contrast to the more structured method of the DPC, where direct invites would be determined by a points system based on how well squads placed at official DPC events in a season.
For the most part, these teams come as no surprise as direct invites. Team Falcons has been dominant the entire year, winning both seasons of DreamLeague, ESL One Birmingham, and BetBoom Dacha Dubai without breaking a sweat. The only tournaments whereElit they’ve ever been challenged this season were at Elite League (and even then they still placed second), PGL Wallachia, and ESL Kuala Lumpur.
Xtreme Gaming has also been a standout squad this season. They beat Falcons at Wallachia and Elite League, and have looked really good even when they don’t bag first place. This is absolutely a team to watch out for in Copenhagen, especially since the roster contains some of the most experienced players the Chinese region has to offer.
Team Spirit of course is a no-brainer when it comes to invites. The defending International champions struggled early on this season, but have bounced back in a big way by winning PGL Wallachia. If they have indeed figured things out with the new patch, it’s possible for us to see them win back-to-back titles and be the first organization to win three International Grand Finals.
Regional Qualifiers
As usual, the rest of the slots at TI13 will go to those that win their respective regions’ qualifiers. In addition, there will be open qualifiers that anyone can participate in, which will feed directly into the regional qualifiers. All in all, there will be ten teams coming from the six major Dota 2 regions this way.
The squads invited to the regional qualifiers are as follows:
China (2 slots)
- Azure Ray
- G2 x iG
- LGD Gaming
- Team Bright
- Team Zero
- Dark Horse
Southeast Asia (2 slots)
- Aurora
- Blacklist International
- Talon Esports
- Neon Esports
- Execration
- Bleed Esports
- MANTA Esports
- Salvation Gaming
Western Europe (2 slots)
- Tundra Esports
- PSG Quest
- OG
- Team Secret
- Entity
- MOUZ
- Na’Vi Junior
- Nigma Galaxy
- Rest Farmers
- JustBetter
South America (2 slots)
- HEROIC
- beastcoast
- BOOM Esports
- Midas Club
- Infinity
- Leviatán
Eastern Europe (1 slot)
- Natus Vincere
- Virtus.pro
- 1win
- L1GA TEAM
- Night Pulse
- Nemiga Gaming
- One Move
- Yellow Submarine
- 9Pandas
North America (1 slot)
- Shopify Rebellion
- nouns
- La Correntada
Looking at the different regional tournaments, it’s clear that both Western Europe and Southeast Asia are set to be the total bloodbaths that they usually are year in and year out. WEU alone will have 12 whole teams fighting for two TI13 qualifier slots, while Southeast Asia features some of the biggest names in the region itself.
It’s going to be an exciting few months leading up to TI13. As usual, we here at Hotspawn will be covering the road to The International, as well as the world championship event itself in September. Stay tuned for our coverage this year!
