Review of The International 2017
Anton PashencevThe main championship of the year - The International 2017 has recently been over. The time has come for us to sum up the past championship.
[Pros and cons of the organization of the tournament]
Valve made a stable, good championship, so there were no long delays at the tournament. It is worth to notice great team intros that have been taken seriously this time:
However, there were small issues that happened with analytics studios and broadcasts. For an example, unengaged casters and analysts passed in front of a camera few times when the analytics studios were being broadcasted. Replays couldn’t be activated at the Russian-speaking broadcast at various times due to technical issues.
[Teams that have not met the expectations]
There were teams at the tournament that participated obviously worse than they had been expected - Fnatic and OG upset fans, the head of their organizations and themselves.
Fnatic is the team that has held the 2nd place at the qualification in Southeast Asia and was unlikely to reach the top 6 but lots of people bet on the team to get to the top 9-12 best teams in the world, especially considering the last year. Unfortunately, the roster won only two maps of 16 at the group stage and left the championship, having held the 17th-18th place.
OG - the European mix had come to The International 2017 as one of the favorites of the competition, however, something went wrong again. The roster sensationally lost to TNC Pro Team last year and left the championship. OG didn’t fight their way to the upper bracket at this tournament, according to the results of the group stage, and at the playoff stage, they beat only Infamous and got back at TNC Pro Team for the last year. Then they were waited by LGD Gaming, Fly and the company lost to them with a score 2:0 and left the competition, having stopped at the 7th-8th place. This is clearly not what the five-time Major winners were expected.
[Teams that have surprised]
There were enough number of rosters that surprised not only fans but analysts too. Both rosters of LGD Gaming showed a very good game and reached the top 4, considering that no one believed in the Chinese Dota.
LGD Forever Young and LGD Gaming fought their way to the main championship of the year through the Chinese qualifiers, having held the 2nd and the 3rd places accordingly. Lots of analysts and players predicted the failure of the Chinese region, however, it didn’t go as planned - according to the results of the group stage, both rosters came out to the upper bracket and started destroying everyone. All favorites of the championship, including Virtus.Pro, OG and Invictus Gaming, were crushed by the rosters. According to the results of the tournament, LGD.FY finished their pass at the 3rd place and LGD Gaming reached the 4th one. The respectable participation of LGD.FY could be predicted due to the last participation in EPICENTER 2017 and Mars Dota 2 League 2017 but LGD Gaming was doing something strange during the whole season and got to the top 4 at The International 2017 all of a sudden.
[Teams-sensations]
Team Empire has become a real sensation of the tournament. Guys had visa issues and the team came to Seattle without the carry, Vladimir «Chappie» Kuzmenko. The team was up to the task and found a replacement, represented by Roman «Resolut1on» Fominok, that was approved by Valve. The CIS roster was written off at once because they had to change their gaming style and conform to Roman, whose pool of heroes was rather different from Chappie’s one. The first day of the group stage proved the fans’ worries but then, guys started getting used to each other and demonstrating a good game, only improving with each match. They beat Cloud9 at the playoff stage and then, sensationally eliminated Evil Geniuses from the championship with a score 2:0. It seemed that “The Imperials” would not be stopped but Team Liquid thought in a different way and put the CIS roster in their place. The top 7-8 at The International 2017 is a great result for Team Empire, especially considering the replacement a day before the beginning of the World Championship.
[The failed team]
Evil Geniuses spent a good enough season, having gained the power before TI7. Many people thought that guys had to reach the top 4 and bookmakers bet on the victory of Evil Geniuses with a coefficient 4,5 - only Virtus.Pro had a lower one. The team only came out from the group to the upper bracket, however, lost to Newbee in the first match and then, got down to the weakened Team Empire with the replacement on the roster. Analysts predicted an easy victory of SumaiL and the company but no such luck - “The Imperials” stroke back and beat their opponents with a score 2:0, with which they guaranteed themselves a status of the team-sensation. Obviously, the American team didn’t want to stop at the 9th-12th place and there are rumors about the disbanding of the roster.
[Interesting facts]
- Ogre Magi has finished the participation in TI7 with the 100% win rate. The hero lost in All Stars Match, however, this match was not accounted.
- Miracle~ has become the universal player of TI7, having played as 21 heros during the tournament.
- None of the players have raised Aegis over the head more than once. Zeng «Faith» Hongda had such chance, however, he lost to Team Liquid at the grand final.
- All players of Team Liquid have entered the top 10 richest cyber-sportsmen in the world, due to the victory at TI7, and their captain, Kuro «KuroKy» Salehi Takhasomi has headed the list.
- Newbee was eliminated from all tournaments where they had faced Team Liquid. (The Kiev Major 2017, Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017, The International 2016, The Manila Major 2016, EPICENTER: Moscow and The International 2017)
- Roman «Resolut1on» Fominok came to the tournament as an analyst, however, became a stand-in for Team Empire and won two nominations - Roman killed the biggest number of creeps in one match and, also, killed the biggest number of creeps in average.
[Entertainments from Valve]
The show match:
Organizers of the championship have traditionally hosted a show match between players that had been able to be chosen by any owner of the summer Battle Pass. The match could not be called unusual but it was impossible not to enjoy Miracle~, playing as Io.
The battle between Dendi and the bot:
Viewers saw one more surprise at The International 2017 - Valve organized a show match between Danil "Dendi" Ishutin and the OpenAI bot on the mid lane. The bot left no chances to the Ukrainian and you can find out more detailed information here. Later, the bot was brought to viewers and they were allowed to try their forces - the bot was beaten more than 50 times, having found few bugs and mistakes.
Two new heroes were announced:
The new tradition to announce new heroes has appeared at The International 2017. But Valve went further this year and announced two heroes at once and, also, promised that new heroes would appear more often. Developers have not published an information about new heroes, however, informed that they will be added to the main client in the nearest large update after TI7.
The short film contest:
The short film contest received a solid prize pool this year that amounted $50,000. It was really difficult to choose this time as most of the works were worth. We offer you to have a look at videos that have held the top 3, according to Valve:
- The 3rd place: The Ward - $5,000
- The 2nd place: Ability Madness - $15,000
- The 1st place: What Does a Hero Truly Fear - $25,000
The cosplay contest:
And what is TI without a cosplay contest? Valve gave $15,000 for cosplayers from all over the world this time and the winner earned about $4,000. The 1st place was taken by Clockwerk, the 2nd place was held by Axe and the 3rd one was taken by Templar Assassin.
Opening:
The particular attention should be, also, given to the opening The International 2017, where Siractionslacks and Kaci Aitchison transformed into Dota 2 heroes and the Russian musical choir “Live Voices” played the game’s soundtrack.
The next tournament will be run with the Valve’s help on October 11-15. StarLadder will host a Minor tournament with the prize pool in the sum of $300,000, however, there is no information about the format, the venue and the list of participants at the moment.