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The 2023 Dota Pro Circuit came to its conclusion in Seattle this past weekend as Team Spirit finished their dominating run in victory, claiming the title of Winners of The International 2023 and the $1.43M prize that came along with it.
Even though the tournament will be remembered mainly for Team Spirit’s incredible run, there were plenty of exciting moments and surprising underdogs that showed they shouldn’t be overlooked. Each and every one of the twenty teams contributed to making The International 2023 a truly fun and exciting tournament.
Team Spirit, The Unstoppable Machine
The Dota 2 competitive landscape looked much different prior to the start of this year’s The International. Team Spirit entered the tournament ranked only 10th in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings. However, once the tournament began, they were the best team in the tournament.
They dominated Group A during the opening phase of the tournament, going 4-0 in groups and being the only team in the tournament to go undefeated in the Group Stage. They then made easy work of Shopify Rebellion in the match that determined seeding for the bracket of the Main Event.
Team Spirit would be tested for the first time in the opening round of the upper bracket against Virtus.Pro who was able to take the first game off of Team Spirit at the tournament. Team Spirit would bounce back in the last two games to close out the match 2-1. They’d then face off against Team Liquid, who was at the top of the Dota Pro Circuit rankings coming into the tournament.
It was a back-and-forth match, but ultimately, Team Spirit would come out on top 2-1. The game they lost to Team Liquid would be the last game they dropped all tournament, taking down LGD Gaming 2-0 in the Upper Bracket Final before closing out the legendary run with a 3-0 win over Gaimin Gladiators in the Grand Finals to claim the title of Dota 2 World Champions.
Gaimin Gladiators, The Lower Bracket Warriors
Heading into the tournament, the Gaimin Gladiators had both high hopes and expectations for themselves as they entered the tournament in 2nd place in the Dota Pro Circuit Rankings and coming in fresh off a win at the Bali Major. However, they’d have a rough start to their tournament as they dropped their first match 2-0 to LGD Gaming in the Group Stage.
They’d find a win over Virtus.Pro but would close out the first day of competition with a draw with nouns. They’d close out the Group Stage with a Day 2 win over beastcoast, ending the Group Stage in 2nd place with a 2-1-1 record.
They took another hard loss to Talon Esports in the seeding match, which put the Gaimin Gladiators’ backs up against the wall as they started the Main Event in the Lower Bracket. With no room for error, the Gaimin Gladiators fought their way through the Lower Bracket, taking down Evil Geniuses, 9Pandas, nouns, Team Liquid, Azure Ray, and LGD Gaming en route to a Grand Finals match against Team Spirit in a Lower Bracket run that will go down in esports history.
Though they’d fall short in the final match of the season, losing the Grand Finals 0-3, the team should be proud of their performance, proving any doubters wrong and having the ability to stay mentally strong and not let early disappointments ruin their tournament.