Wait, there’s a TI happening soon?

This has been a common sentiment from viewers this year and I don’t really blame you. With the DPC being dismantled, a centralized way to know where/when Dota esports is happening has been sorely lacking. Also, the prize pool this year is basically the same as TI1/2 (adjusted for inflation), so that big source of publicity is also gone.

I was originally going to write a big pros/cons list on how the scene has been impacted by the DPC ending, but I procrastinated heavily on writing this article and I need to go to TI rehearsal soon, so here’s a real quick version:

Pros

• More LANs - During the DPC, there were roughly ~7 LANs any given calendar year. 3 Majors, 1 Riyadh, 1 TI, and maybe 2 other random ones peppered in the year. This season, we’ve already had ~8, but a bunch more are already lined up almost immediately after TI ends.
• More prize money for tier 1 teams - If we ignore Riyadh and TI, this year actually had more prize money for the teams than in the DPC league era. Remember, Div 1 Leagues were $205k, Majors were $500k prize pools each. This year, nearly every tier 1 event was $1MM.
• More TOs - The DPC put a strangehold on the calendar locking most TOs out of doing any events if they didn’t get a league/major. Next year, we’re set to have BetBoom, BLAST, ESL, and PGL fighting for your eyeballs all year long.

Cons

• Fewer crowd events - It was pretty much just Birmingham and then smaller scale crowds like Riyadh, Elite League S2, and Snow Ruyi. Last year was Lima, Berlin, and Bali. I’m chalking that one up to organizers not really being given much time to book venues in 2024 so soon after the DPC ended. BLAST already announced an event in Singapore for 2025, so progress is being made.
• Less prize money for tier 2 teams - Tier 2 Dota is a chicken and the matchfixing egg situation. You put money into it, teams can’t make it to tier 1, they start matchfixing to make the most out of their situation. You take money out of it, now it’s not sustainable, teams start matchfixing to make a living.
• There’s Dota going on? - If you’re super passionate about Dota esports, you know how to navigate Liquipedia like the trees around the bot lane Lotus Pool. If you’re an “I’ll watch Dota if it’s on” type viewer, this year was a complete nightmare for you. What events matter? What stream are they on? When’s Nigma playing? Mysteries beyond our comprehension.
• Who’s going to TI? - And how do they get there? This is what the DPC was originally created to solve. Now we’re back to the guessing game. Six teams were directly invited and sixteen teams are coming to Copenhagen in total. Sixteen team TIs used to be the standard until TI7 bumped up to eighteen. What metrics were used to determine the number of invites and regional slot allocations? Vibes.

That’s the long and short of it from my perspective. SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE DPC ENDING!

Onto the meat. Here’s a quick legend on how to read the results tables: Bold events are LANs (players are competing in-person, not online), an asterisk* means there was a stand-in for a player or coach, and the results themselves are meant to be read from left to right in terms of chronology. For example, ESL One Kuala Lumpur, then BetBoom Dacha Dubai, then DreamLeague S22, and so on. If you’re on mobile… turn your phone sideways.

Let’s get started.

The Invites

Team Spirit

Raddan (Yatoro)

Larl

Collapse

Mira

Miposhka

Coach   Silent

How did this roster happen? Usually after you win TI, you keep the gang together for another year. Not always, but usually.

Even beyond that, the core four are currently the third most prolific quartet in the history of the game (credit: datdota) next to TI7 Liquid and TI3 Alliance.

How was their season?

After conquering Seattle last year, Spirit decided to take a little vacation and skip the first big tournament of the new season (ESL KL) in December. Since then, it’s been all over the place. During Wallachia, Mira did confess that the team had been struggling with motivation this year, but the effort they put forth for that event paid off with a pretty exciting five game series win over Xtreme.

As the season comes to a close, they do seem to be Mode: Grind as they are the only directly invited TI team to compete in two tournaments post-Riyadh with Snow Ruyi and Fissure Universe.

What would success look like? The range of results for Spirit is truly unmatched. One moment they’re winning the biggest prize pools in Dota history, the next they’re getting 4^th place in DLS23 online qualifiers after losing to Na`Vi (no offense to Na`Vi). When they’re on, they’re on. And, well, they have won two out of the three TIs they’ve shown up to…

Xtreme Gaming

Ame

Xm

Xxs

XinQ

Dy

Coach   Maps

How did this roster happen? Dy had been chilling on Xtreme for about 3 years, but the rest of the team came out of nowhere. After being absent from the competitive scene since TI2022 in Singapore, professional Genshin Impact cosplayer Ame made his triumphant return to Dota in 2024. Meanwhile, Xtreme and Azure Ray share the same owner, so Xm, Xxs, and XinQ were transferred over here from Azure.

How was their season?

The trading of the three X amigos happened after they won ESL KL as Azure Ray, so I’m counting that as an Xtreme win. After that, the team took up the mantle of “best Chinese team” fairly quickly. Ame seemingly hadn’t missed a beat during his sabbatical and Xtreme ended the season on a high note with a win on home soil at the China Snow Ruyi LAN.

Perhaps promised consort Raddan had to give one back to his beloved Ame the Kind after Wallachia.

What would success look like? Unfortunately, “best Chinese team” has been synonymous with “best non-European team” for the past six TIs. That’s not necessarily a bad place to be. In fact, China as a region has never had a peak placement lower than 4^th place at TI in the history of the event. With fewer teams from China making it to TI each year, maintaining that streak gets more and more challenging.

Team Falcons

skiter

Malr1ne

ATF

Cr1t-

Sneyking

Coach   Aui_2000

How did this roster happen? Falcons is one of several organizations to suddenly pop up in Dota this year. So who’d they get? Well, ATF has consistently been in the conversation of top 5 Dota players in the world for the past three years, but was absent from last Riyadh and TI following contract disputes with Quest. You really need to know what you’re doing if you’re gonna pass on those two events, but boy has the gamble paid off.

With him, came Malrine; another graduate from the illustrious school of Creepwave with Ammar. He had minimal tier 1 pro experience, but that has not at all been reflected in his play. Kid’s a beast.

Tundra imploded after TI12, bringing an opportunity for Skiter and Sneyking to join. Both of them also had experience playing with Malrine when he briefly stood in for Tundra last year.

Last piece of the puzzle was Crit. After seven years of playing in North America, Crit finally abandoned ship^ify and immediately found himself on a championship roster. Really makes you wonder.

How was their season?

The EPT (ESL Pro Tour) circuit created a dedicated MENA region this year and Falcons, being a Saudi org, promptly stomped their way to the top. The competition in those qualifiers was essentially limited to Quest and Nigma, so the community was left wondering, “Yeah, okay, but how good would this team be if they had to play WEU quals?”

Probably pretty good, it turns out. While their debut at ESL KL was nothing special, Aui joined the team as coach soon after and it’s been a podium filled run ever since. Their lowest LAN placement was 3^rd, and one of those was because Nine (Tundra reunion!) had to stand-in for Malrine.

What would success look like? As exhibited by their performance this season, Falcons getting anything lower than 4^th at this TI would probably be considered an upset. Are you ready to exist in a universe where Sneyking… Dignitas.Sneyking… NAR`Vi.Sneyking… Fighting Pepegas.Sneyking… might be a two-time TI winner?

Well start getting ready.

Team Liquid

miCKe

Nisha

33

Boxi

Insania

Coach   Blitz

Coach   kpii

Analyst   Jabbz

How did this roster happen? Liquid keeps having players retire on them after TIs end, but for once Team Secret didn’t have anyone worth redeeming as a replacement for Zai. So who do you get if the job requirement is for a brainy offlaner willing to take the captain role? 33 fit the bill.

TI7 Newbee grand finalist kpii recently popped in to also coach Liquid when Blitz couldn’t make it to Elite League S2. He earned his keep.

How was their season?

When TI invites were announced in May, there was a sentiment permeating on the interweb that Liquid had actually been huffing glue all year and them getting a direct invite to TI was absurd. Outside of their online DreamLeague results, it was a pretty flimsy stance, but Liquid seemed to have took it personally and really turned up the heat afterwards for their last two events.

Here’s a fun exercise for anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with Dota since last year: Based on your memory of the 2023 season, take a wild guess at who beat these guys in grand finals of Riyadh. Yup. Yuuuuuup.

I think Liquid is probably the only team in the history of Dota who could win a lower bracket final against a team like Falcons so dominantly and yet have the entire community immediately think, “Oh great, now they’re definitely gonna lose grand finals 3-0.” But by golly, it happened.

What would success look like? Okay, yes, technically they won Elite League S2. Technically, it was a LAN. Liquipedia classified it as a tier 2 LAN based on the level of competition, but still a LAN.

But do you count it as the LAN win they’ve been clawing towards for years? Do they count it?

Gaimin Gladiators

dyrachyo

Quinn

Ace

tOfu

Seleri

Coach   Cy-

How did this roster happen? Nothing changed from last year!

How was their season?

Their results changed from last year! But not in the good way.

They at least closed out the previous calendar year strong with a grand final appearance at ESL KL (losing to Azure Ray), but the rest of the season was a far cry from the heights they achieved in 2023. That is, up until Riyadh.

So yes, fewer trophies, but their 1^st place finish at Riyadh netted them higher earnings than winning all three majors (Lima+Berlin+Bali) and 2^nd place at TI last year combined. That’s just good financial planning.

What would success look like? Famously, winning the last big event before TI used to mean you probably won’t win TI. That trend was bucked last year with Spirit winning in both Riyadh and Seattle. So I guess the story now is: Spirit won both. Can Gaimin?

BB Team

Saika (Nightfall)

gpk

MieRo`

Save-

TORONTOTOKYO

Coach   boolk

How did this roster happen? After their top 6 TI12 finish, Pure remained on the roster as their offlaner until after KL when they traded him out for Miero.

How was their season?

Kids these days use the term “aura” a lot. Aura, as defined by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia at en.wikipedia.org:

aura (/ˈɔɹ.ə/), noun

A quantifiable unit referring to how cool (positive integer) or uncool (negative integer) an individual is.

"Oh, you failed to rizz that level 10 gyatt? -1000000 aura loss lil bro."
"How much aura did I lose when I got Fanum taxed in Ohio?"

Now why did I make you read those cursed sentences? Basically, BB have aura ong 💯 when going through bracket. But when it comes to the final four-ish? Big yikes. They’re completely cooked. It’s giving delulu.

Skibidi.

A term that’s decidedly more relevant amongst Dota’s aging audience is “clutch” and if one possesses the clutch gene and/or clutch factor. Time and time again this year, BB Team were shown to not have it. Trouble for them was there was no clear diagnosis. It wasn’t like individual players started underperforming in intense situations or specific teams were consistently beating them. BB as a whole just looked more and more disconnected the higher the stakes got.

What would success look like? Aegismaxxing.

The Regional Qualifiers

Cloud9 - Western Europe #1

watson

No[o]ne-

DM

Kataomi`

Fishman

Coach   Astini

How did this roster happen? Well that’s a logo we haven’t seen around these parts in quite a while. And before you ask, no, EternaLEnVy hasn’t finished his Investor Z filler arc and returned to the Dota scene quite yet. Instead, this roster was playing as Entity for most of the year.

Watson, Kataomi, and Fishman were all on the TI12 Entity. Gabbi was replaced by DM and Stormstormer was replaced by reibl, who was then also replaced by Noone after they failed to qualify for ESL KL.

Lastly, Astini joined as coach after Elite League S1. The players have publicly given a lot of credit to Astini after he started working with them. The man’s results are nothing to scoff at, he was also coaching nouns when they got their surprise top 8 finish last TI.

How was their season?

Nothing too exceptional, but being the first team out of WEU qualifiers will always be a feat. This year, some notable teams left in the wake included: Nigma, Secret, OG, Quest, and the powerhouse Team Bald.

What would success look like? The last time Cloud9 attempted to come back to the Dota scene, a global pandemic began two months later.

The team’s performance is irrelevant to me. If I don’t have to jam a swab halfway up my nose until tears come streaming out in November 2024, you did it Cloud9, it’s a win.

Tundra Esports - Western Europe #2

Pure~

Topson

RAMZES666

Saksa

Whitemon

Coach   MoonMeander

How did this roster happen? As mentioned earlier, the TI11 winning Tundra roster kinda imploded after TI12. They were already on life support with Saksa’s health issues, but Nine deciding to take a break from competitive was likely the final nail in the coffin. 33 went to Liquid, Skiter and Sney went to Falcons.

Tundra wasn’t about to take that lying down, however. Despite not really having a team, they temporarily picked up the orphaned NA TSM roster that qualified to ESL KL.

Now strap in for the rest, I’m gonna go quick. Ok so Whitemon was on that TSM roster, they kept him. Topson was on their TI12 roster, they brought him back. Then they got Pure, 9class, and MinD_ContRoL. Yes, MC finally left Nigma under the pretenses that he would likely be helming operations at this new team. But then they also brought in Moonmeander as a coach. And then they also brought in Zai as a manager (don’t ask).

You still keeping up? Good. Alright well now we have a lotta cooks in the kitchen, yeah? And lemme tell you, ole’ Ivan Ivanov did not like that one bit, no siree. So much so that, according to Tundra, “unreasonable demands” were being made by him which resulted in his suspension and ultimately, replacement, from the team before Birmingham.

Tobi was brought in as a benchwarmer before Pure, who was also keen on the captain role all along, recruited Ramzes as their rostered offlaner.

Oh yeah and now 9class wasn’t able to get a visa to Denmark, so Saksa’s back.

You get all that?

How was their season?

Despite allllllll that… not too shabby, right?

What would success look like? Saksa was off the grid for most of the year, but was dipping his toe back in the competitive waters on Team Bald starting in May. Nine proved that he hadn’t rusted much during his time off when he stood in during Wallachia and most saw the same in Saksa during the Bald qualifier runs. Tundra boys just built different.

1w Team - Eastern Europe

Munkushi~

CHIRA_JUNIOR

Cloud

swedenstrong

RESPECT

Coach   Ahilles

How did this roster happen? Typically, when an EEU stack of majority newcomers is slapped together, they’ll have at least one veteran player guiding them. Not in this case. Swedenstrong is probably the most well known having been on the 2022 Na`Vi roster that competed in the Arlington Major, but the rest of the players have mostly only tier 2 teams on their resumes.

How was their season?

They actually did qualify for Birmingham, but unsurprisingly, a bunch of young Russian kids with limited foreign travels didn’t look like appealing visa candidates, so they had to pass. When they finally did get their LAN chance at Elite League, they made it count. Went to five games against Liquid.

What would success look like? Any time a stack of untested players make their debut at TI, “Who’s gonna look good enough to get poached by a top tier team” is the question on most people’s minds. But lately, EEU teams have really made a point to stick together even after TI ends. Whether that’s for the best, it depends. Sometimes you’re a BB Team, sometimes you’re a VP.

Team Zero - China #1

Erika (poyoyo)

7e

Beyond

ponlo

zzq

Coach   bLink

How did this roster happen? 7e, Beyond, and zzq have been kickin’ it on Zero since May 2023. They attempted to qualify for last TI with cty and former Wings TI winner iceice, but got 3^rd. That roster stuck around for a little bit of this year, but Erika and ponlo were brought in starting with Elite League S1 quals. As of Snow Ruyi, another Wings alumni, bLink, officially joined the team as a coach.

How was their season?

The calendar looks pretty empty for them and that’s because it was. Scrolling through their results… they got 2^nd in the Elite League S1 and DLS23 CN quals? That’s something. Oh! Wait! They won Cringe Station Kobolds Rave 2. So yeah. Cringe Station. That’s a TO name.

Jokes aside, the fact that they were the first team to qualify out of China’s TI regionals was crazy. Remember, Xtreme was China’s only directly invited TI team, so there were still plenty of sharks left in the qualifier. But Zero rightfully earned the first slot by beating both G2 x iG and Azure Ray.

What would success look like? Witnessing the glorious ponlo redemption arc after his troubled stints on Quincy Crew, Alliance, and Twitter.

G2 x iG - China #2

Monet

NothingToSay

JT-

BoBoKa

xNova

Coach   super

Coach   @dogf1ghts

Manager   KBBQ

How did this roster happen? When a storied esports organization like G2 wants to make a splash in a new game, they want to do it big. Doing it big usually involves creating a superteam. Unfortunately, many of the players whom you would get for a superteam were “““retired””” during the post-TI shuffle.

Here’s how I like to imagine their initial meeting went:

Gentlemen, we want to get into Dota. Western Europe seems like a real doozy, though, but it looks like there's a power vacuum in China. I say we form a strategic partnership with iG and put together a superteam in the region.

NothingToSay is off LGD after four years on the roster? Perfect, get him on the team. Speaking of LGD, who's the only other Malaysian they ever had? xNova? Why'd he return to SEA, what a disaster, let's bring him back to China.

Who's next. Uhhh, who's the best Chinese offlaner of all time? Probably Faith_bian? He's retired? Damn. That's fine, JT- was an iG boy for ages, let's bring him back.

How about best Chinese carry? Ame, right? He's retired too? Oh. No worries, Monet was super consistent on Aster, let's reach out. We need someone to balance JT-'s craziness anyway.

Last one. Best Chinese 4. Gotta be fy. He's... you're joking. It's fine, it's fine. Who was that one 4 we used to have? The one with the funny name. Yeah, whatever. 4 position Monkey King is still viable, right?

Real shame all those super famous and top tier players retired, but I guess they're done playing Dota forever.

One month passes

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME.

You’ll notice I also wrote their manager on this roster list despite usually not doing that. Why? Take a shot every time someone mentions Jack “KBBQ” Chen on the EN broadcast whenever G2 x iG are playing. You’ll be puking in the toilet before the draft even starts.

How was their season?

Despite not putting together a full superteam, G2 x iG still had the typical Chinese superteam results. Which is to say: meh. Wallachia was a nice moment of clarity, but the rest of the year was nothing special.

What would success look like? After winning a thrilling five game grand final…

Legendary manager Jack Chen hois– NO, STOP. I’M DOING IT AGAIN.

Talon Esports - Southeast Asia #1

Akashi

Mikoto

Ws

Jhocam

ponyo

Coach   pieliedie

How did this roster happen? Mikoto wanted to take a break after last TI, so the rest of old Talon went on to become Aurora. Mikoto’s break lasted a whopping two months and he was actually on Bleed for most of the year with Jackky, Masaros, DJ, and poloson. Sounds like the kinda team that could do pretty good, right? Yep, just like all Bleed rosters. And just like all Bleed rosters, they ended up sucking.

Meanwhile, Talon signed these other four players (Akashi, Ws, Jhocam, ponyo) from various middling SEA teams along with ChYuaN to play mid. Mikoto finally came back to Talon in June.

How was their season?

Don’t ask me how this team got the first slot out of SEA quals, I couldn’t tell you. I mean, they got it by 2-0’ing Aurora, but the how or why escape me.

What would success look like? I can’t do it anymore. I can’t keep coming up with different ways to write, “Gosh SEA has been pretty mediocre, but maybe this is the year!” on these blogs. There are only so many variations one can author before it just becomes lorem ipsum text. I’ll just keep sliding the goal post over with each year. Last TI, best SEA team was Talon at 9th-12th. So yeaaaaaah, beat thaaaaaat.

Aurora - Southeast Asia #2

23

lorenof

Jabz

Q

Oli

Coach   SunBhie

How did this roster happen? As mentioned on the Talon roster, old Talon wanted to keep competing, but now they didn’t have a mid with Mikoto gone. Armel was originally the mid, but then he went and had a baby. Unknown newcomer lorenof came in starting at DLS22 as a result of… proximity? Talon needed a stand-in, they were bootcamping in Belgrade for DreamLeague, he was in Belgrade. Match made in heaven.

How was their season?

I swear I’m not trying to be dismissive of SEA. I love this region. I bleed for it. I boom for it. I execra– actually nevermind. The point is, I legit just don’t know what’s going on with the teams in this region. The current prevailing theory is that salaries are just bananas high compared to cost of living in SEA and the players have no drive to win because they don’t really have to.

Is that the case with Aurora? Who can say. All I know is this team as Talon last year was the most hopium I’d ingested for the region in ages. A top 3 at Lima, a top 3 at Riyadh. Sure, Mikoto was a valuable piece of that roster, but lorenof is still pretty damn good too. And yet, here we are capping out at top 8s.

What would success look like? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Insert SEA platitude here.

nouns - North America

Yuma

Copy

Gunnar

Lelis

Fly

Coach   MiLAN

How did this roster happen? Speaking of bemoaning regions of Dota, check out the ONE team representing North America at this TI. That’s right. Every other region has at least two or more teams showing up in Copenhagen. But North America? THERE’S A REASON OUR COUNTRY CODE IS +1 BAYBEEE.

But I digress. How did this roster happen? After getting top 8 at TI last year, Gunnar moved to offlane and Stormstormer was brought in for mid. Shopify fell apart after TI and Fly came from there to replace Yamsun. Yuma replaced K1 after he went to HEROIC. After an underwhelming Dacha Dubai result, Stormstormer was replaced with another German, Copy.

How was their season?

You know the drill around here. North America? That means we have two teams constantly vying for one slot. Five game grand final for DLS22 quals? Went to Shopify. Five game grand final for Birmingham quals? Went to Shopify. Five game grand final for DLS23 quals? Went to Shopify.

Nouns was out here playing the long con, though. “You can have those, Shopify” they say. “We’ll just go to all the non-ESL events in the meanwhile.” Quietly, they plot. Masterminding. Scheming. Nounsing. Come June, five game grand final for Riyadh quals? NOUNS.

Then the coup DAO grâce. Grand final for TI quals? “YOU FOOLS!” they cackle, “YOU FELL RIGHT INTO OUR TRAP.”

3-0. Nouns at TI. Cinema.

And yes, this does mean that there is no Arteezy at this TI. His attendance streak from TI4 has finally been broken. Had he qualified, he’d have the most TI appearances of any player after Fly and Puppey.

What would success look like? Honestly, them getting top 8 last year was a success in my book. Their LAN results last year were equally as middling, so I could see it happening again.

Not gonna lie, though, it would be really cool to see the most veteran player at the event lift the Aegis. And I’m not just talking about TI appearances, Fly is also the oldest player competing at this TI at 31 and also the player with the most ticketed games of pro Dota ever. Insane longevity.

HEROIC - South America #1

K1

4nalog

Davai Lama

Scofield

KJ

Coach   kaffs

Coach   Mangusu

How did this roster happen? HEROIC (all caps, MF DOOM style) is the last of the notable newcomer organizations to come to Dota this year. They’re most famous for their WEU Counter-Strike teams, but they set up shop in South America for Dota.

K1 came from nouns, Scofield came from beastcoast, Analog and KJ came from Keyd Stars, and Davai Lama exported himself to now his third region after getting painfully close to qualifying to TI with Luna Galaxy in WEU last year.

How was their season?

This team has been put through the grinder. Not only did they attend basically every single event this year, but they also had to qualify for nearly all of them. Gone are the days of the guaranteed SA invitation to majors after a DPC league. So while the results don’t look stellar, hopefully the gap between Elite League S2 ending and TI starting gifted them some much needed recharge time.

What would success look like? MONGOLIAN THROAT SINGING IN THE ROYAL ARENA.

beastcoast - South America #2

payk

Lumpy

Vitaly

Elmisho

MoOz

Coach   Mariano

How did this roster happen? beastcoast’s TI12 roster kinda scattered to the four winds and they had to start from scratch making a new one. It’s effectively four new kids and papa Mooz guiding them.

How was their season?

beastcoast was almost always 2^nd place in qualifiers for most of these events. But such is the nature of the South American beast. If you’re not first, you ain’t flying nowhere. Thankfully, Riyadh and Elite League S2 gave SA two qualifying slots which finally allowed them a chance to test their mettle on LAN.

What would success look like? I ain’t holding my breath for anything happening in Copenhagen, but perhaps they’ll stick together after? Like I said with 1w, usually these SA/EEU/NA “stacks” lack longevity if results don’t come fast. But with the right structure from a proper org like beastcoast, maybe we see this team continue competing into the 2025 season.

Now you’re ready for Copenhagen!

I say it every single year, but this year, I really mean it. Bless Liquipedia and all its employees and volunteers. I recently joined their Discord to help with the Fandom wiki merge and you would not believe the nonsense these saints deal with on a daily basis. Shady TOs begging for pages on their clearly illegitimate tournaments so gambling sites will cover them, admins urging Liquipedia to spread news of why strange things are happening in their tournaments rather than just making posts on their own social media, tier 6 players demanding their names be changed from red to blue after playing in Bebriki League 2.0. It’s ridiculous.

These guys and gals are a bastion of integrity and diligence in the Dota scene. Without them, I shudder to imagine what writing an article like this would take. Hell, I don’t even know how I would follow this esport in general and it’s literally my job! If you consider yourself even marginally computer savvy and invested in Dota esports, do try to help them edit.

Now after that very selfless gesture, it’s time to self-promote. Stop playing Deadlock and go buy my voicelines.

tsunami - Imagine if you had BKB.

tsunami - Chat is this real?

I also have a merch store and infrequently updated presences on various platforms like Twitch, Instagram, and Twitter.

One last thought before I let you go. I’ve been doing these guides for so long that I finally caught up to the TI color cycle. Green TI for my first blog in 2018, green TI for this blog in 2024. I actually skipped 2019 because it was the first TI I worked as talent and I figured, “I shouldn’t waste time writing a blog when I should be preparing.” Turns out, doing these blogs was the best way for me to prepare.

A shocking number of people came up to me in Birmingham and expressed appreciation for these blogs, which really meant a lot. I came into the Dota scene as a writer doing my hero tips and I’m glad I’ve been able to continue scratching that itch with these guides.

Thanks for reading and enjoy TI!

Discussion for this article on /r/dota2