There is less than a week left before the start of The International 2023 in Dota 2. This year, our region will be represented at TI by four clubs, and several of them are vying for high places. In anticipation of the future exploits of our teams, let’s remember the exploits of days gone by. Squads from the CIS did not always shine at the Dota World Championship, but there are still plenty of bright moments in the history of the region. We have identified five.
NAVI raises Aegis
In general, the entire three-year history of Natus Vincere at The International can be included here. Yes, perhaps the level of play was not the same then, and Dota has changed. But it was NAVI that at one time was the flagship of the entire region, securing the CIS three finals in a row and inspiring tens of thousands of gamers, many of whom would attend TI later.
There are many associations with NAVI at TI: fountain hooks, the decisive fifth map in the series against Alliance at The International 2013, “Lost Backpack”, Dendi dance in Gangam Style and so on.
However, the most important event was the victory at the very first The International. A victory that firmly connected Dota 2 with our region. A victory that also marked the birth of The International series, because no matter how much we criticize Valve and the organizers of the latest championships, TI remains the tournament that you expect and love.
And many people probably didn’t even see that very final and the victory over EHOME with a score of 2:1, but it’s still difficult to exaggerate their significance.
Virtus.pro destroys TI5 favorite
After the end of the NAVI era, quite dark times came for the CIS. Yes, Team Empire, Vega, and VP had some surges, but The International was stagnant for several years. And the bright spot in this sad three-year period (from TI4 to TI6) was the unexpected victory of Virtus.pro over Team Secret in 2015.
Then the Puppey lineup was considered the main contender for Aegis. Secret was a real dream team: Arteezy, s4, zai, KuroKy and Puppey. Many expected an easy 2 to 20 from the Puppey team, even taking into account the fact that Virtus.pro had already made a strong-willed comeback against Complexity (the same one where God became ill in the middle of the series).
However, Virtus.pro managed to surprise the favorite. At the same time, the first card went into Secret’s treasury in less than half an hour. But then Lil got his hands on Visage, DKPhobos got on Earthshaker, and away we go.
Secret results – VP
Now Virtus.pro was erasing the opponent, albeit not so quickly. And on the third decisive map, Puppey turned on the “do not ban, but counter” mode and again gave VP all the signatures. This allowed Sergey G Bragin to finally gain the required speed and simply destroy Queen of Pain from s4 and bring her to such a state that even Fng on Lina could kill the enemy mid player for a procast.
At the same time, the map was not one-wicket: the teams staged constant team battles, exchanged almost nothing, bought back, fought again, lost “gems” and even items, died from illusions and Visage birds. In a word, this game had everything. And in such a tense and emotional battle, Virtus.pro turned out to be stronger.
And so The International, which after the departure of Team Empire and NAVI (they did not win a single match in the playoffs), seemed to be a complete failure, was saved. Yes, VP was unable to advance further and stopped at the top 5-6 level. However, the team managed to give bright emotions and celebration to fans from the CIS – and they raised the bar for years to come.
VP’s golden lineup restores faith in the region
The “golden roster” of Virtus.pro is a team not about The International. The team from the CIS won a lot of tournaments, but failed at the World Championships for three years in a row. However, it is ironic that the failure for the “golden team” is a success for the previous one. This is the main merit of that roster.
Virtus.pro with Solo has restored faith in the region. For three TIs in a row (from TI4 to TI6), fans from the CIS, in fact, did not expect anything from their favorite teams. Our e-sportsmen came to the World Championship, if not as tourists, then as middle peasants who certainly do not aspire to Aegis. The Virtus.pro era has at least given us hope. Every time the team came to the tournament, we believed that the roster from the CIS was truly capable of fighting for the main title. Yes, expectations were not met, but our region has ceased to be an outsider. And many thanks to Virtus.pro for this.
Well, the highlight of VP at TI, of course, was the game against Team Liquid at The International 2017. The teams played the hottest match of the entire championship. It seemed that so many emotions and upheavals simply could not fit into one game. VP gave the most powerful rebuff to the future champions, who would simply wipe out NewBee with a score of 3:0 in the finals, and was one step away from victory (and it’s unlikely that anyone would have stopped VP after such a victory). Of course, this is a memory with a hint of slight disappointment and fan pain, but still…
Team Empire knocks out Evil Geniuses
TI7 in general turned out to be rich in bright events with the participation of teams from the CIS. In addition to Virtus.pro, Team Empire made their mark at that tournament – a team that came to the championship with a replacement due to visa problems with Vladimir Chappie Kuzmenko. Empire could only urgently look for a replacement. Roman Resolut1on Fominok came to the rescue. Empire had to completely rebuild the game for the new carry, and initially the roster didn’t do much well.
However, Team Empire still made it through to the playoffs, where in the first round they beat Cloud9 in a one-hour best-of-1. The next opponent of the team was EG with SumaiL and Arteezy. It seemed that this was the end of Empire’s journey. However, our team not only put up a fight, but also beat the favorites with a score of 2:0.
The second map and Rostislav fn Lozovoy’s play on Mirana is simply fantastic. The moment where he survives a fight on several HP, being surrounded by three enemies, is still vivid in the author’s memory, as if it were yesterday. The victory of an “early” underdog over a favorite is always a significant event, and when this underdog is also “yours,” it’s just a thrill.
Team Spirit – a Cinderella story
And, of course, where would we be without the history of Team Spirit and its victory at the anniversary TI. A young team that only began to reveal itself as the season progressed. A team that was close to not getting to TI at all (we remember what kind of fight Team Empire imposed on it in the finals of the regional qualification). A team that was considered middling with potential for a maximum of top 8. A team that started the tournament with three defeats in a row. This same team gave us one of the brightest and most inspiring stories in the professional Dota 2 scene.
Spirit’s path to The International consists entirely of bright moments worthy of separate tops. There are rampages from Yatoro, and his All-Hero Challenge, and a pinch of trash talk from TORONTOTOKYO, and the incredible Magnus from Collapse, who methodically knocked team after team out of the tournament. And a whole bunch of memes: starting from Taganrog and uploading Bane from “The Dark Knight”.
And how much more dramatic Spirit’s victory began to look after the release of True Sight! Yes, the team did not have motivational speeches in the spirit of Ceb, but they did have unique mind games during the drafts of the decisive map of the grand final.
Team Spirit not only won TI, but defeated the best possible version of PSG.LGD – a team that then gave away only two maps in the entire tournament (TWO, KARL! One in the group and one in the playoffs). And Spirit did it beautifully and brightly, once again returning the Aegis of Champions to the CIS.
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What are your most vivid memories from teams from the CIS at The International?
2023-10-06 16:15:00
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