The event has concluded, but you can still watch on VOD
- typically games take about an hour (including draft) with the first 10-15 minutes being the draft and pre-game but gametimes can extend to 2 hours or longer in rare cases
- Valve puts $1.6M for the initial pot
- Watching is free, but fans can pay $10 USD for a Compendium of treasures, prediction games, fantasy teams, and more. Valve gives 25% of the Compendium and associated purchases to the prizepool.
- This person has spent over $40,000 USD leveling up his compendium
- Pro Players pay 25-40% in taxes and anywhere from 0-40% in team fees depending on their country of origin and contract
Valve generally spends a lot of the $60-80 million that was generated by Compendium sales on producing The International, as such expect the highest production values
- Augmented Reality, LED projected stage with real time spells being casted at opposing team booths
- A revamped newcomer stream for newer players with easy to read overlays and gentle explanations
- A new hero is expected to be announced
- It is an odd year so a Western team is expected to win since China won last year
Format is 4 day group stage, one day off, into double elimination for Upper Bracket.
All Group Stage are Bo2. Each team is divided into two groups of 9. Each team plays all other team in their group for 8 Bo2's series.
All Main Event are Bo3 except Day 1 Bo1 Lower Bracket elimination and Bo5 Grand Final
MMR is a way to judge how well a player plays in solo ranked matchmaking, a typical pro is usually between 6k and 10k with the best players being 8-10k. Some players choose to hide their MMR or do not play ranked often so it can be deceiving when viewing the totals. Teams need the correct mix of high MMR and so-called team players that will support or draft to be successful. An average player is around 4k and a win or loss is a change of about 25 MMR.
It's been said that the competition at TI is so intense because of the psychological and emotional exhaustion of winning and losing. Even top players are suspect to breaking down emotionally because the stakes are incredibly high. Miracle was said to have broken down before OG's defeat last year and S4 at TI5. This makes it extremely hard for a team to stay together after losing TI.
- TI Winner
- TI7 All-Star
NORTH & SOUTH WESTEROS
Make America to be bigly great again. Hometown advantage is generally negated since most of the people at Key Arena are Chinese-American or Chinese students studying abroad.
Cloud 9 - Local man baffles scientists
C9: pld, fata, ee, mss, aui2000
1st NA Qualifiers
Major Results Boston T5th
July Team Average Solo MMR 8160 (9th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 6674 (4th of 18)
A team that overthinks, overspeculates, and over-reacts to every situation. They can easily win or throw any game making them a must-watch spectacle. A lot of their success lies in mid fata's ability to outcarry the other team and Eternalenvy's ability to not throw the game. A fan favorite because of their love of anime and is a throwback to the TI4 and TI5 iterations of Cloud9 aka Clown9.
, coach svg, babysitter phil aram, cr1t, arteezy
Direct Invite
Major Results Boston T3rd, Kiev T3rd
July Team Average Solo MMR 8470 (3rd of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 4064 (8th of 18)
A team of All-Stars with arguably the best players at each position. Newly minted 10k MMR carry Arteezy has been lately transitioning to less flashy heroes and making mid Sumail their feature player. Their main perceived weakness is Cr1t as team captain and drafter. Both Universe and Sumail won TI5 so they are in a prime position to be the first to repeat.
DC: dubu, bulba, mason, abed, forev
2nd NA Qualifiers
Major Results Kiev T12th
July Team Average Solo MMR 8313 (6th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 1957 (16th of 18)
Filipino import Abed is the superstar 10k MMR player that has carried DC to the International. The other players are veterans in the scene but it truly is a 4 protect 1 scenario and God help you if you do not first ban Meepo in a critical elimination game. Korean star support Dubu and offlaner Forev will do their best to keep the game in reach and hope to God that All-American carry Mason doesn't feed. A team with Bulba on it is doomed to failure.
Infamous: timado, accel, matthew, kingteka, benjaz
1st SA Qualifiers
Major Results DNQ
July Team Average Solo MMR 7477 (17th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 3164 (13th of 18)
This team is led by veteran carry Benjaz and young teen star mid Timado. Since this is their first major LAN a lot of their success will be how well they adjust to playing against star players and adjusting to the low ping in Seattle. Their recent LAN result in Peru was an astounding last place versus tier 3 teams. Sadly the best Peruvians were permabanned by Valve for matchfixing at a time when Valve has finally required every one of their events to have a South American representative.
ESSOS
Europe and CIS have been extremely dominant all year and the two favored teams OG and VP are expected to win. VP is on more of a rise and OG is on more of a low, but anything less than a VP vs OG final would be disappointing. Liquid and Secret are both extremely strong and both had great late season pushes. This is also the first time Navi and Dendi have failed to qualify for The International. Secret's mid midone has chosen to honor Dendi by using his name as his in-game sponsor tag.
OG - Never win the big one
OG: s4
, notail
, ana, mad, jerax, fly
Direct Invite
Major Results Boston 1st, Kiev 1st
July Team Average Solo 8345 (5th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 2862 (14th of 18)
The favorites coming into the International. Their feature player is teenage 9700 MMR Aussie superstar mid ana. Ana was the backup to ex-iG star mid Ferrari430 for two years before getting a break and replacing another star Miracle after TI6. What he lacks in experience and confidence is more than compensated with superstar veterans. Offlaner S4 is a TI3 winner and consensus top all-around player - if he can keep his emotions in check.
Direct Invite
Major Results Kiev T3rd
July Team Average Solo MMR 8660 (1st of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 6674 (4th of 18)
Four 9k MMR players and an old-school veteran captain. On paper Liquid are the best team in the first 20 minutes and the highest skill cap players led by star mid Miracle. It all comes down to being able psychological issues and working as a team. With the changes to jungle and the added creep in midlane their just might be enough farm for Liquid's greedy players. Recently, support gh-god has snuck up to 9800 MMR. Liquid also won the last LAN of the season which is known as the bad luck win. The team was also recently picked up by Disney as a co-owner.
, khezu, yapzor, mgr matt, midone, mp, coach sunbhie
1st Place EU Qualifier
Major Results Kiev T12th
July Team Average Solo MMR 8451 (4th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 4826 (7th of 18)
Team owner, captain/drafter, TI Winner Puppey is one of the more enigmatic players in the tournament. If he wants to win he is completely unstoppable, but like most players after winning a TI you lose that drive that younger players have and Puppey has been accused of not practicing at all. Secret is unlike most teams where it is 1 veteran with 4 youngsters. Those youngsters are a rag-tag bunch of jokesters but they make it work somehow. Mid 10k MMR player Midone is the key as is rising star roamer Yapzor. If you don't have a team cheer for Team Secret and GAFer Cyborgmatt.
HR: j4, swiftending, milan, 33, keyser
2nd Place EU Qualifier
Major Results DNQ
July Team Average Solo MMR 7883 (15th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 1564 (18th of 18)
A huge break for some veteran players. These guys have been playing for years and winning small cups and online tournaments but never getting invited to LAN or winning anything of note. They had little luck verus CIS teams, but playing CIS dota in the EU qualifiers led to some spectacular wins over top EU teams.
, noone
Direct Invite
Major Results Boston T5th, Kiev 2nd
July Team Average Solo MMR 7991 (13th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 3484 (11th of 18)
Fresh off a 3-2 Grand Finals loss in Kiev where they were leading OG, the Russian stars proved they knew they were the shit by winning the Summit 7 essentially picking new heroes every match for luls. No CIS team has really dominated the scene since Navi. VP took a huge risk recruiting teenagers noone and ramzes instead of the usual veterans and it paid off in spades. Their July Team Average Solo MMR score is deceptively low as drafter and captain Solo does not have a high MMR despite being an integral part of the team. The team is also pledged to stay together and contracted until next year so they are extremely confident going in.
Empire: rodjer, miposhka , coach jotm, ghostik, fn (chappie out Resolution subbing)
1st Place CIS Qualifier
Major Results DNQ
July Team Average Solo MMR 8018 (11th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 2862 (14th of 18)
Empire won arguably the most difficult Qualifier. CIS teams are known to be extremely difficult to play against and with strong personalities can win and tilt easily. Carry Chappie is quick to give up but is also a Meepo threat. Sadly Chappie's passport is in limbo. Last year's finalist Resolu1tion will replace him. A substitute almost is always doom for a team, but Chappie is on carry which is the least team-oriented player and Resolution speaks Russian and obviously knows their style
SOTHOROS
SEA has been bad all year, the departure of Abed to NA was a huge loss, but they are dangerous as heck with their cheese strategies and pinoy pride. Although not technically SEA, the Korean players from last year's MVP squad have all managed to return this year on different squads.
TnC - I love you forever
TnC: tims, raven, 1437, samh, kuku
1st SEA Qualifier
Major Results Kiev T12th
July Team Average Solo MMR 7729 (16th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 3371 (12th of 18)
The bane of pinoy teams has always been leadership. They have the top carries in Asia, but they need that veteran voice. Last year it was demon, this year it's Canadian 1437 leading the team to Seattle. Although 1437 has never been the most talented or succesful player he is the drafter and a lot of their success lies in his ability to motivate and to unlock the potential for his team.
fnatic: ahjit, febby, qo, dj, ohy
2nd SEA Qualifier
Major Results DNQ
July Team Average Solo MMR 8181 (8th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 7980 (1st of 18)
Mushi left fnatic under very strange circumstances and ended up not making TI7. Replacing last year's team with Koreans QO and Febby has gotten them to TI7, but I would not expect another 4th place finish without Midone or Mushi. It is a very talented team but with less than $16k in winnings this is a team that has not experienced winning or LAN's on a consistent basis.
Execration: nando, bimbo, James, kimo, rr
3rd SEA Qualifier
Major Results Boston (Visa issues)
July Team Average Solo MMR 7452 (18th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 1704 (17th of 18)
Execration was set to make a huge splash at TI6. They were a rogue team that was dominating SEA with Abed. Losing out on the Boston Major because of visa issues was the beginning of the end. Abed left for the US and the team miraculously reformed and qualified for TI7 through the Open Qualifiers, a do-or-die tiebreaker, and winning the lower bracket finals 2-1 and 2-1. Nando, Kimo, and RR are salty af for not making it to the main stage in 2016.
SHADOWLANDS
China as a region has been poor in early tournaments and Major play, but as per usual in May and June Chinese team suddenly started winning. It is an even year so the trend means China is weaker this year, but on paper their 5 teams have enough veterans and young stars to win. An interesting trend in China has been to get talent from other countries. Defending champion Wings were embroiled in team financial issues as their club wasted money trying to create a Korean League of Legends team. Wings stopped paying their players a monthly salary and the players revolted resulting in dropping their team before the Kiev Major. ACE, the Chinese player union of sorts, did not take kindly and banned all 5 ex-Wings players from scrimming with ACE teams or playing in ACE tournaments. The ex-Wings players disbanded because of the pressure and were unsuccessful in qualifying for The International via Open and Regional Qualifiers. Valve has silently intervened by sponsoring Chinese upcoming 2017-18 season tournaments making them Valve events rather than ACE events.
LGD - Ruru maybe
LGD: maybe, victoria, yao, ame, old eleven
3rd China Qualifiers
Major Results Boston T12th
July Team Average Solo MMR 7913 (14th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 7197 (2nd of 18)
LGD was arguably at it's most powerful in 2016, loaded with xiao8 and agressif. This iteration is mid Maybe's team. Eleven and Yao give him veterans, but it's the relative newcomers carry Ame and support Victoria that will determine how far Maybe can go. Maybe was dubbed China's wunderkind and their answer to the West's Arteezy, but sadly neither of them have won a Major or International. LGD's 2017 squad is much weaker than in past years, but Maybe is one of the best mid's in the world.
LGD.FY: monet, super, inflame, ddc, ahfu
2nd China Qualifiers
Major Results Boston T5th (visa issues)
July Team Average Solo MMR 8017 (12th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 4056 (9th of 18)
A very interesting team since they brought in Malaysian Ahfu at the last minute before the qualifiers. This team is anchored by veteran mid Super of VG 2014 fame and DDC who has played in every International. A lot of their success lies in seventeen year old superstar carry Monet. Monet was unable to compete in Boston due to visa issues, but now is his chance for the biggest stage.
, moogy, kpii, sccc
Direct Invite
Major Results Boston 12th, Kiev 12th
July Team Average Solo MMR 8536 (2nd of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 6713 (3rd of 18)
Newbee is quite the conundrum. Superstar players at every position and tournament wins versus Tier 2 teams. Unfortunately, when it comes to Majors they have bombed on the main stage. TI2 winner Faith anchors a team of rising stars in mid sccc and carry moogy.
Direct Invite
Major Results Kiev T3rd
July Team Average Solo MMR 8230 (7th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 3668 (10th of 18)
This is probably BurNIng's final chance to win an International. At 29 he is one of the oldest professional players and recently married. Almost all the players that get married are one to two years from retirement or losing the will to play and grind for 300 days of the year. This team is loaded with mid Op, super roamer Boboka, TI5 runner up drafter genius Q.
iG.V: paparazi, injuly, dogf1ghts, super, sakata
1st China Qualifiers
Major Results Boston T12th (visa issues)
July Team Average Solo MMR 8077 (10th of 18)
August Team Compendium Level 2104 (15th of 18)
Another team that was peaking heading into the Boston Major and was hit with US visa issues. Fortunately, the whole squad is heading to Seattle. The team is led by 9800 MMR star carry Paparazi.
- A little bit of controversy surrounding this year's host as two-time host Redeye was dumped for the younger and less experienced Day[9]
- Machine, the host of the Boston and Kiev Major, will host the first four days of Group Stage
- Valve's policy surrounding hiring international analysts has been brought to light as simpleton, but Twitch favorite, Admiral Bulldog wasn't explicitly told to say he was "attending", but instead claimed he was "working" for Valve to US Border Services resulting in his visa being denied
- Kaci and Slacks will be doing interviews
- Skrff and Weppas will be observing
- Sheever is undergoing chemotherapy http://sheevergaming.com/cancer-sucks/
- Main Event casting pairs: LD & Lumi, OD & Fogged, Tobi & Synderen
The closed Group Stages take place at the W Hotel in Seattle
Saprol has made a wonderful little suite of emotes for Grease/Tampermonkey that works for Chrome and Firefox [link]
Cyborgmatt has a much leaner suit of emotes on the Google Chrome store for use on Chrome [link]
Use emotes to cheer or give your energy to your favorite team or players
Teams are more close to each other than before and there's really not much of a punching bag and there's really isn't a team that's heads above others.
I personally find this Liquid more impressive than the last TI's one. It's not every day you could wreck EG and Sumail's on Storm in a grandfinal.
NP should put on a good performance. It is the Eternal Envy All Star Team. Envy, Fata, PLD, Aui, and MSS, all great players who have long and consistent histories, with some really good chemistry.
I wonder if Planet Dog will get a proper sponsor, or go in with this as their Logo:
I actually don't feel EG is all that strong going in, but that's likely since they haven't played much since Kiev. Even though they won Manilla and came in second at Epicenter, they didn't impress me much in those tournaments.
NP should put on a good performance. It is the Eternal Envy All Star Team. Envy, Fata, PLD, Aui, and MSS, all great players who have long and consistent histories, with some really good chemistry.
Yeah, it is really early, the group stages won't start up for a month. If this topic was set up before the Qualifiers Started, it would have made since. But those ended 5 days ago.
I think Shira just wanted a place to edit the topic. I think there is actually a hidden board he could have requested access to do set up this OT though (I know it used to exist, but I'm not sure if it is still used)
Valve pays the tax I believe. I know they have said the amount the win is what they receive post tax. Newbee may have been taxed by the Chinese government as well. Not sure how these things work since I'm not privy to how taxes apply to income gained abroad.
Resolut1ion subbing for Empire, sweet. If Dreamleague was any indication the current state of the game should give us a lot of excellent matches to watch.
Think I'd like Virtus Pro or Team Liquid to win it all. Kuroky is overdue.
Honestly I feel like Yapzor has almost been more consistent lately; but that's probably because teams are realizing they just need to shut midone down. Hoping MP is just hiding his power level ( or secret will prioritize him more ) and he'll be a new man at TI.
I don't know how you can top wings' story from last year. At the start of the tournament nobody knew what they were going to do in a match. By the end everybody knew what they were doing and couldn't stop them anyway. Best TI by a long shot. Very sad they aren't able to defend their crown this time around.
I don't know how you can top wings' story from last year. At the start of the tournament nobody knew what they were going to do in a match. By the end everybody knew what they were doing and couldn't stop them anyway. Best TI by a long shot. Very sad they aren't able to defend their crown this time around.
VP elimination drafting would top it. Never going to happen. So yeah; last year's champion is unlikely to be surpassed by this year's in terms of quality and storyline , but the grand finals could be better in terms of parity.
I'd argue the finals have been a bit one-sided since TI3. One team was usually clearly superior. Newbee's refined deathball, EG drafting CDEC into a corner because of their inability to play the entire meta, wing's flat out playing on another level.
