Every year since 2011 (and with the sole exception of 2020), a professional gaming team emerges as the winner of the Dota 2 The International, taking home the coveted Aegis of Champions trophy and earning the lion’s share of the prize pool. For a quick trip down memory lane, here is the list of every Dota 2 The International champion.
Table of Contents
- The International 2011 TI1 Champion: Natus Vincere
- The International 2012 TI2 Champion: Invictus Gaming
- The International 2013 TI3 Champion: Alliance
- The International 2014 TI4 Champion: Newbee
- The International 2015 TI5 Champion: Evil Geniuses
- The International 2016 TI6 Champion: Wings Gaming
- The International 2017 TI7 Champion: Team Liquid
- The International 2018 TI8 Champion: OG
- The International 2019 TI9 Champion: OG
- The International 2021 TI10 Champion: Team Spirit
- The International 2022 TI11 Champion: Tunda Esports
The International 2011 TI1 Champion: Natus Vincere
The beginning of what would eventually become a yearly tradition took place at a GamesCom trade show in Cologne, Germany from August 17 to 21. It was also shortly after the five-day event that Dota 2 was made accessible to the public via closed beta invitations, almost a year after the game was announced.
The tournament was invite-only with sixteen professional teams from all over the globe given the opportunity to win and receive a grand prize of $1 million. Ukrainian team Natus Vincere holds the distinction of being the first TI champion.
| Name | Country |
| Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov (Captain) | Ukraine |
| Danil “Dendi” Ishutin | Ukraine |
| Oleksandr “XBOCT” Dashkevych | Ukraine |
| Clement “Puppey” Ivanov | Estonia |
| Dmitriy “LighTofHeaven” Kupriyanov | Russia |
The International 2012 TI2 Champion: Invictus Gaming
The tournament scene in the second annual championship was dominated by teams from China. Most notable was Invictus Gaming, which reached the grand finals and faced off against Natus Vincere. The former beat the latter with a 3-1 score.
TI2, which was held at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington, notably solidified Dota 2 as a major title in the competitive gaming and further help establish esports as a mainstream form of entertainment. It was also more vibrant than the inaugural tournament as its location had better accommodation for participating players as well as fans who attended to spectate.
| Name | Country |
| Chen “Zhou” Yao (Captain) | China |
| Jiang “YYF” Cen | China |
| Luo “Ferrari 430” Feichi | China |
| Zeng “Faith” Hongda | China |
| Zeng “ChuaN” Hongda | Malaysia |
The International 2013 TI3 Champion: Alliance
Like the previous two tournaments, majority of the sixteen teams in the 2013 iteration were directly invited to participate. Three teams got their way into the tournament by winning the regional qualifiers. TI3 was the first time that Dota 2 introduced the Compendium or the game’s first implementation of a battle pass.
For each purchase of the Compendium, $2.50 would be added to the base prize pool. As a result, the winning team Alliance took home about $1.44 million from the prize pool that ultimately reached $2.87 million. The Swedish team defeated Natus Vincere, which failed to win the grand finals again and reclaim the crown.
| Name | Country |
| Gustav “S4” Magnusson (Captain) | Sweden |
| Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg | Sweden |
| Jerry “EGM” Lundqvist | Sweden |
| Joakim “Akke” Akterhall | Sweden |
| Jonathan “Loda” Berg | Sweden |
The International 2014 TI4 Champion: Newbee
In 2014, China became the first country with multiple TI champions. In fact, the two teams that fought in the TI4 grand finals were both Chinese esports organizations. Newbee delivered a 3-1 win over Vici Gaming and claimed over $5 million from the prize pool that for the first time exceeded past $10 million.
Out of sixteen teams in TI4, eleven teams were invited to participate that included past champions and four teams were determined via regional qualifiers. A wild card series, where four teams that lost in the regional qualifiers were given another opportunity, was used to determine which team could advance and claim the 16th spot in the playoffs.
| Name | Country |
| Lim “Hao” Chang Sheng | China |
| Raymond “xiao8” Wong Kie Yong (Captain) | China |
| Lim “Mu” Wai Pern | China |
| Sim “Banana” Woi Cheong | China |
| Lee “Sansheng” Kong Yang | China |
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The International 2015 TI5 Champion: Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses won the fifth edition of the tournament. This was the first time a North American team became the champ. Though considered the underdog after being knocked down to the lower bracket in the main event, EG broke expectations, finished the grand finals 3-1 versus Chinese team CDEC Gaming, and earned $6.6 million from the prize pool.
At over $18 million, the prize pool at the time was also more than the prize pools of the previous tournaments combined. On top of an excellent production value, TI5 featured a lighthearted all-star match where teams were composed of pro players chosen by popular choice via the Compendium. Fans from the crowd were also handpicked by the team captains to join in on the fun.
| Name | Country |
| Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling Leong | Canada |
| Peter “ppd” Dager (Captain) | USA |
| Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora | USA |
| Syed Sumail “Suma1L” Hassan | Pakistan |
| Clinton “Fear” Loomis | USA |
The International 2016 TI6 Champion: Wings Gaming
The American reign was short-lived, as Chinese squad Wings Gaming won the sixth international Dota 2 tournament and garnered $9.1 million. Defending champion EG failed to proceed past the lower bracket final round and only finished third overall. It was another American team, Digital Chaos, that took on Wings in the grand finals. While the former initially came out strong, the latter emerged victorious thanks to great comebacks and amazing teamwork.
| Name | Country |
| Zhang “Faith_bian” Ruida | China |
| Zhang “Innocence” Liping | China |
| Li “iceice” Peng | China |
| Zhou “bLink” Zhang (Captain) | China |
| Chu “Shadow” Zeyu | China |
The International 2017 TI7 Champion: Team Liquid
In 2017, former TI champion Newbee was on the verge of reclaiming the throne. But, alas, the team only finished second place as Team Liquid from the Netherlands ended the grand finals with a clean 3-0 sweep, which was a first in the tournament’s history. Team Liquid was also notable for being the first team with all players in its roster to have different nationalities. The team took home $10.8 million.
The seventh edition also saw three teams from Southeast Asia qualifying for the main event, up from two from the previous year. The best performing team of the three was TNC Pro Team from the Philippines. They placed 9th-12th after being eliminated in the second lower bracket round.
| Name | Country |
| Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen | Finland |
| Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi | Jordan |
| Maroun “GH” Merhej | Lebanon |
| Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi (Captain) | German |
| Ivan “Bulgaria” Ivanov | Bulgaria |
The International 2018 TI8 Champion: OG
Trailing behind PSG.LGD by the third match in the best-of-five grand finals, OG accomplished an epic comeback in the fourth match and claimed a decisive victory thereafter. The team got over $11 million of prize money for their amazing performance. Being based in Europe, OG’s victory broke the pattern of the annual tournament champion alternating between Western and Chinese teams.
After six consecutive years of holding the main event at Seattle, the 2018 iteration of The International moved location and took place in Canada for the first time, specifically at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. The TI8 season also started the Dota Pro Circuit, in which teams could earn and accumulate enough qualifying points to receive direct invitations to the main event.
| Name | Country |
| Anathan “ana” Pham | Canada |
| Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen | Finland |
| Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka | Finland |
| Sébastien “Ceb” Debs | France |
| Johan “N0tail” Sundstein (Captain) | Denmark |
The International 2019 TI9 Champion: OG
The best tidbit about the ninth version of The International is that OG not only became the first team to win multiple championships but also the first to do it back-to-back. Their opponent in the main event grand final was another former champion, Team Liquid, which seemingly had a strong footing after winning the first game. OG, however, dominated the next three games with its aggressive strategy that led Team Liquid to forfeit by the fourth game.
TI9 was held in Shanghai, China with a $34 million prize pool, $15 million of which was awarded to OG.
| Name | Country |
| Anathan “ana” Pham | Canada |
| Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen | Finland |
| Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka | Finland |
| Sébastien “Ceb” Debs | France |
| Johan “N0tail” Sundstein (Captain) | Denmark |
The International 2021 TI10 Champion: Team Spirit
After a one-year hiatus because of the global pandemic, Dota 2 developer Valve resumed hosting its annual tournament in 2021 at the National Arena in Bucharest, Romania. Local health restrictions, however, forced the event to have limited attendees. Basically, only players and staff were allowed at the location, and fans could only spectate online.
The eleven-day concluding tournament ended on October 17 with Russian squad Team Spirit placing first. The team won the biggest first-place prize in TI history so far at $18.2 million, a 45.5-percent share of the $40 million prize pool.
| Name | Country |
| Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk | Ukraine |
| Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek | Russia |
| Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov (Captain) | Russia |
| Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov | Russia |
| Miroslaw “Mira” Kolpakov (Captain) | Ukraine |
The International 2022 TI11 Champion: Tunda Esports
Held at two venues in Singapore, The International 2022 saw UK-based Tundra Esports finishing the grand final match with a clean 3-0 sweep versus Team Secret. Tundra Esports had an outstanding performance throughout the tournament, having lost only four times during the group stage and once in the main event.
At $18.9 million, the tournament’s 2022 edition was the first time the prize pool failed to surpass the pool of the preceding year. Perhaps because of the disappointing perks it offered and a late release, the battle pass suffered reduced sales which meant a lower crowdfunded prize pool. Nevertheless, Tundra Esports still received a whopping amount of $8.5 million.
| Name | Country |
| Wu “Sneyking” Jingjun (Captain) | USA |
| Martin “Saksa” Sazdov | North Macedonia |
| Oliver “skiter” Lepko | Slovakia |
| Leon “Nine” Kirilin | Germany |
| Neta “33” Shapira | Israel |