The International 2016: review and tournament retrospective
Yuriy SheremetWe continue our excursion in the Dota 2 history. Last time, we went back to 2015 and remembered EG’s triumph. We will go one year forward this time. We will tell you what was remarkable about one of the most «unexpected» tournaments in the TI series – The International 2016.
The birth of the DPC format
Despite the first DPC season started after the end of The International 7, Valve represented the system of Major tournaments in the season 2015-2016. The competitive year was divided into 4 tournaments. Autumn, Winter, Spring Major, and the final tournament – The International 2016. Now, only the teams, which had shown good results at the Major tournaments, received invitations to TI. In the future, the system would face lots of structure changes but it is worth remembering from what everything has started.
OG’s failure
We started with the champions in the previous episode of the retrospective. This time, we will remember one of the biggest disappointments of that year.
The well-known team OG were ruling in 2016. And the team was assembled right before The International 6, namely, at The Frankfurt Major. Fly and n0tail’s team defeat the reigning champion OG and the vice-champion CDEC at the first Major in the Dota 2 history. In the nearest future, the team, which has presented Miracle- to Dota, will receive the title «the kings of Majors».
OG predictably received a direct invitation to The International 2016. The team confirmed its status in the group. They made it to the upper bracket of the championship without losing a map. Surprisingly for everyone, OG lost to the Koreans from MVP Phoenix in the first match and stepped down to the lower bracket. There, they lost to the Philippines from MVP Phoenix in the second round and they were eliminated from the tournament, having placed 9th-12th. Such a loss at the main tournament of the year created the legend about the curse of the Majors among the community.
The triumph of Wings Gaming
The team CDEC was one of the memorable moments of 2015. Then, the Chinese team advanced to the championship through a rough patch. In 2016, the Dota community was proved in the competitiveness of the Chinese region once again.
The team Wings Gaming became the winners of the qualifiers from the Celestial. Wings managed to beat such titans of the region as IG, EHOME, VG. Many skeptics called the victory in the qualifiers an accident, however, no one could argue that the had a potential. It would be revealed at The International 6.
In the group, Wings demonstrated a nice play, which helped the team to proceed to the upper part of the playoff bracket. The team would start its path there and finish it by raising Aegis over their heads. Many people complained about an easy bracket for Wings. Digital Chaos, MVP Phoenix, EG, and, once again, Digital Chaos became the opponents for the Chinese team in the playoffs. The champions of The International 2015 were playing with a stand-in, no one expected anything from DC, just like from MVP Phoenix and Wings.
We can argue about the fairness of the seeding and the ease of the bracket. But it is worth remembering only one thing: the winners are not judged. And Wings were them that year.
A surprize from North America
Wings were the first reason why The International 2016 is considered to be the most unpredictable tournament in the series but Digital Chaos were the second one.
DC made it to The International 6 through the American qualifiers. Unlike China, competition in America was way smaller. So DC accompanied EG and went to Seattle. The remarkable thing is that only one citizen of the USA was playing on the roster of DC – Moo. Resolut1on was playing there in 2016 who has received an unofficial title of «the last hope of CIS».
Like Wings, DC started the tournament pretty confidently. The team did not lose a map in the group, which guaranteed them a spot in the winner’s bracket. But the team lost to Wings in the first match and went to pass the loser’s bracket.
The miraculous story of DC started from there. The team headed by Misery managed to beat the most successful team in the TI history, LGD Gaming, in the second round of the lower bracket. Moving further through the bracket, they faced TNC, EHOME, and FNATIC. Having lost only one map to TNC, the team made it to the loser’s final where met the competitor from its region and the reigning champion – EG. Despite a hard battle, EG were not able to stop DC and secure the championship title. DC, having gained momentum, went to the final where lost to Wings with a score of 1-3. The second place at The International is a great achievement for such a young roster at that moment.
The last battle of veterans
The International 2016 has become a pretty sad event for veterans of the Dota scene. We are talking about Na’Vi and Alliance. In the past, these two teams were dividing the first place on the competitive Dota scene and had brought the most spectacular final in the history of The International before 2018.
A direct invite was literally a miracle for Na’Vi. The community did not understand why Natus Vincere had been receiving direct invitations, despite poor results during the year. Apparently, it was the last invite to TI for Natus Vincere. The team failed the group stage and left the tournament, placing 16th. This led to a long decline in the formerly-successful tag.
Alliance spent the tournament not way better. The Swedish «golden» five somehow managed to make it to the upper bracket where lost to Ehome with a score of 0-2 in the first round. The Swedes were defeated by Fnatic with a score of 0-2 in the second round of the lower bracket. The International 2016 has become the last tournament in the series for Loda, Akke, EGM, and AdmiralBulldog.
The conclusion
Besides these bright and not very bright moments, the tournament was remembered for the first prize pool of 20+ million dollars for the first time in the history. And that’s what The International 2016 was like. We will remember the breaking TI 2017. Stay tuned.
Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.