Road to Bucharest — Invictus Gaming

Another episode of our regular section «Road to Bucharest» on the threshold of The International 10. Let’s continue getting acquainted with teams from the Chinese region.

Today we are to take a look at the champions of The International 2, one of the most ancient and respected teams in their region and the world Invictus Gaming. Let’s meet the best Chinese team of the first half of 2021.

Invictus Gaming’ Portfolio

If you do not want or cannot look at the longstanding presence of IG on the stage closely, we will invite you to learn some basic facts about the team. In ten years, Invictus Gaming have got quite a rich history.

• Date of the club’s foundation: 2 August 2011;
• Roster at The International 10: «flyfly», «Emo», «JT-», «Kaka», «Oli», «super» (coach);
• Region: China;
• How they made it to The International: fifth place in the DPC rating;
• Main achievements: victory at The International 2, victory at WPC 2014, first place at ESL One Frankfurt 2014, victory at National Electronic Arena 2016, victory at Dota 2 Asia Championship, Top-3 at The Kiev Major 2017, third place at MDL Chengdu Major, victory at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021.

Having met IG, let’s plunge into their «Road to Bucharest». Enjoy reading.

First appearance

Invictus Gaming was introduced to the competitive Dota on 2 August 2011. The debut roster was made of «Zhou», «SanSheng», «Xiao8», «DDC», «Ferrari».

This roster also represented Invictus Gaming at the first tournament of The International series. TI 1 brought IG Top-6.

Several months later the Chinese club disbanded the roster. Then it was made of «Zhou», «Ferrari_430», «YYF», «Faith», «ChuaN».

World champions 2012

The first attempts of the renewed roster of Invictus Gaming were not about to bring them a glittering future. In 2011 the team took fifth-sixth place at Gigabyte Dota 2 Masters, Prodota 2 Worldwide League and finished second at a Tier-3 tournament called BeyondTheSummit World Tour.

Anyway, Top-6 at The International 1 and mediocre results in season 2012 let IG get a direct invitation to The International 2012. When the Chinese players came to the championship, it was clear that they were determined and ready to persist.

Since the start of their participation in the event in Seattle, the Dota community were speaking about fenomenal preparation of the club from the Heavenly Empire. The proofs to the opinion expressed by casting talents and other players of The International 2012 were received after the group stage of the tournament where Invictus Gaming lost only one map.

Having made it to the playoffs, IG defeated EG in the first round but after that they surprisingly lost to NaVi in the second round. The lower bracket was expecting IG.

Having beaten EHOME, Team DK and LGD Gaming, IG proceeded to the final to even the score with their offenders. And they absolutely did it — on 2 September 2011 Invictus Gaming became the first winners of The International from China.

After the victory at The International Invictus Gaming kept their champion passion. The roster won World Cyber Games 2021, G-League Season 2, and also took third place at Alienware Cup 2013 – Season 1. Invictus Gaming seemed to be ready to get another championship, but TongFu.

At the main tournament of 2013, IG took fifth-sixth place and the club was able to repeat it only four years later.

Third attempt of the golden roster

In the new season the winners of The International 2 got another chance to show themselves. IG showed themselves well at local tournaments, winning them from time to time. They included Red Bull ECL 2013 Grand Finals, Netolic Pro League #5 East, WVW National Electronic Sports Classic June, GEST The Challenge #5.

One of the most significant results was a victory at WPC 2014 when Invictus Gaming vanquished DK at the grand final. IG’s golden roster kept fire in the belly.

In June 2014 IG won ESL One Frankfurt 2014, and later Valve revealed the list of teams invited to TI. Invictus Gaming became one of eight teams that got a direct invitation.

Valve managed to justify their invitation from Valve only partially: at The International 2014 IG took seventh-eighth place. They shared their position with their opponents in the grand final – «Born to Win». After TI8, both teams were to find touch for a long time.

Majors and a new turn of development for IG

The International 2014 became a swang song for IG’s golden roster. Its end led to numerous changes in the club.

IG, the same as some other clubs, shifted to the model of the roster with six contestants, even though it did not result in any profit for them. First of all, this approach to formation of the roster was aimed to maximize the results at the upcoming major events, the first of which was Dota 2 Asia Championship 2015 held at their home.

At their debut major IG took Top-8. That year did not bring big results to Invictus Gaming at the international stage.

At The International 2015 IG again tried to repeat their success from 2012, but everything was in vain. Invictus Gaming got to Top-12, after that the team hibernated till 2017.

Season 2017 and a gradual comeback to Tier-1

At the time of standstill of the main roster on the international arena IG was represented by a young roster – IG.Vitality. It was represented by such esportsmen BurNIng, Q, XXs, BoBoka, Papaparazi…, super and others at different times.

Several times IG.Vitaity visited major tournaments. One of the brightest examples was their appearance at The Boston Major 2016 where the team took Top-9-16.

The second roster was not a priority for the club so they did not move to the lineup as it happened to VP, for example. Instead of that the academy became a good base for welcoming players to the main roster.

In 2017 IG was represented by BurNIng, OP, Xxs, BoBoKa and Q. This roster and season 2017 was one of the most productive in the club’s history.

In a year Invictus Gaming took Top-4 at the major in Kyiv, got to Top-4 at StarLadder I-League Invitational Season 2, finished in Top-6 at The Manila Masters, EPICENTER 2017 and Mars Dota 2 League 2017.

IG’s hard work led them directly to The International where they managed to repeat the results from four years earlier and finished in Top-6. The worthy result did not help IG to keep their fighting roster, so in 2018 the team went through constant reshuffles.

Stabilization of the roster and pass to The International 10

It is a doubtful idea to remember 2018. Then in IG the players changed with crazy periodicity, coming and leaving the roster almost every day.

This approach led to their failure of all significant events of the year, starting with Dota 2 Asia Championship 2018 and finishing with The International 2018 where IG got to Top-18. ТОП-18. Everything seemed to be falling apart, but Invictus Gaming found a way out in 2019.

The renewed roster was made of «zhizhizhi», «Emo», «JT-», «dogf1ghts», «Oli». After their loss at the qualifiers for The International 9, «dogf1ghts» and «zhizhizhi» got replaced by flyfly and Kaka. This was the roster that had an important role in getting a ticket to The International 10.

Before the Dota feast in 2021, IG had a great season in 2019. The team won The Summit 11, got to Top-3 at MDL Chengdu Major and finished in Top-6 at DreamLeague Season 13.

We have no idea if IG would have been able to oppose other teams if the COVID-19 pandemic had not started. But the new realia turned out to be a comfortable environment for Invictus Gaming.

Invictus Gaming won the first DPC season in 2021 in China, and at the international arena too having won ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. The second DPC-2021 turned out to be less successful — fourth place in the home league and fifteenth place at WePlay AniMajor with a substitute.

However, the second half of the year did not have any significant role for IG. The team have already provided themselves with a trip to The International 10 where we are going to see the players the day after tomorrow.

See you later on EGamersWorld.