The International 2016

The International is the most significant tournament on the event map of any fan of the professional Dota 2 stage. Huge grabs, best teams and plenty of bright emotions were given to us by the organizers. The International 2016 was not an exception becoming one of the brightest tournaments in the whole history. Every year the sum of the prize pool was increasing and in 2016, it reached almost 21 million dollars.

Company full of surprises

The organizers gave invitations only to six teams:OG,Team Liquid, Natus Vincere, LGD Gaming, NewBee, andMVP Phoenix. Eight more teams got defined by the results of the regional qualifiers. There were Evil Geniuses,Alliance,Team Secret,Vici Gaming Reborn,Wings Gaming, TnC Gaming, Digital Chaos, and fnatic. Two more teams gained their trips thanks to Wild-card. They wereEHOME andEscape Gaming.

Obviously, this company had surprises. But what was The International 2016 remembered for? Now it is time to recall Dota 2 history and bring back one of the most dramatic events in the history of the discipline.

Born to Win did not meet the expectations again

Natus Vincere became the winner of the first The International. But since then much water had flowed under the bridge and the team had changed drastically. Constant misfortunes and failing results led to reshuffles. And, at The International 2016, only two winners represented Born to Win – Dendi and Artstyle. Nevertheless, any other team from the CIS region was not able to beat NaVi while fighting for a slot. And all the fans could only bank on the Natus Vincere’s power.

However, there was no miracle. The team started to make mistakes at the group stage. Since Natus Vincere took only the sixth place in the group stage, the team had to perform at the losers’ bracket. But here the team was not able to meet the expectations of their fans. At the first match, there was a failure from Team Liquid, and later they bid their farewell.

Long-awaited win of defense against megacreeps

Evil Geniuses had a marvelous tournament. But if the previous stages had EG as their favorites, at the semifinal the team was about to lose. At the battle for passing to the grand final, the team met the Chinese team EHOME. The game ran on. Evil Geniuses seemed to be one step away from failure having lost all the sides. However, EG managed to get to the base of the opponents and get rid of four characters. The survived Juggernaut tried to ruin the throne of the American himself but turned out to be powerless. 

In the end, the offlaner from EG headed for the base of the Chinese team while the teammates were defending from megacreeps. Realizing that it was the last chance for the team, Universe bought Divine Rapier on the route. A few moments later, he was joined by the allies. While the Chinese were staying at the tavern without a chance to be bought back, Evil Geniuses destroyed the main EHOME’s building. This win became the first against megacreeps in defense on the professional stage. This way, The International 2016 really became a path-breaking tournament.

Ball ruled by dark horses

Everybody is used to seeing how vice-champions take the first roles. However, The International 2016 was an exception. On the fifth day, the playoff of MVP Phoenix dropped one of the favorites of the event, OG, to the lower bracket. Many viewers expected sensations from the Korean team but nothing like that. Nobody could think about giving up on the champions of the previous Majors. But MVP Phoenix gave everybody room to think. 

At their next match, OG did not seem to experience any problem with TnC Gaming. However, the representatives of Southeast Asia that had made it to the tournament from the open qualifiers proved it to the community that there was no favorite in this game. Nobody had ever seen such happiness from the team yet. In the end, OG bid their goodbye to the tournament and they were not happy for a long time. At the next match, Digital Chaos wrapped up the fairytale for TnC Gaming.

That was where the most interesting started. The ball got ruled by dark horses: fnatic, Digital Chaos, and, of course, Wings Gaming.

Chinese fairytale for Wings Gaming

Before the start of The International 2016, a few had been able to foretell the winner. Everybody bet on OG, LGD Gaming,Newbee, or Evil Geniuses. However, everything followed another script. The young Chinese team, Wings Gaming won hearts of absolutely all fans despite club preferences.

At first. the Chinese looked confident in their group represented by Evil Geniuses, OG, and Alliance. The third position in the group seemed accidental. However, further Wings Gaming elegantly proved that nothing happens by chance. At first, the Chinese players sent Digital Chaos to the lower bracket. Later, the Koreans from MVP Phoenix followed them in their footsteps. At the match for entering the final, they met with Evil Geniuses. But

EG also could not find a key to the mysterious Chinese team. At the grand final, Wings Gaming again met with Digital Chaos. And this time the Europeans had nothing to show to the opponents. Wings Gaming won 3:1, earned more than nine million dollars and got the sixth Aegis.