A few minutes ago, the final match of the main tournament of the season in the American Seattle ended. In the decisive match in the series of up to three wins, the American team Digital Chaos and representatives of the Celestial Empire Wings Gaming met.

Earlier, several favorites dropped out of the tournament, and they predicted their place in the final. The only representatives of the CIS were among the first to leave the tournament. Natus Vincere as well as champions Shanghai Major Team Secret and one of the strongest teams in the Celestial Empire Vici Gaming Reborn.

Also unexpectedly early, the tournament ended for two other Chinese teams. — NewBee and LGD Gaming, as well as the main contenders of the world championship from Team OG... Also, as expected, they could not enter the first eight The alliance and Escape Gaming.

On the contrary, the specialists and spectators of the SEA region team surprised: all three representatives of the Asian scene entered the top eight — So, TnC Gaming led by a veteran of esports DeMoN were able to take 7-8 place, knocking out of the tournament OG, Koreans from MVP.Phoenix they again chose lines 5-6, and Fnatic climbed to last place in the top four.

Teams left the event surprisingly early EHOME and Team Liquid... The first ones were able to get to the main stage from wild-card, but proved to be excellent at the tournament itself, but did not reach the final battles. Europeans from Liquid were among the favorites of the tournament, but could not get through the thorns of the lower bracket to the stars.

On the last day for the championship, three teams continued: the reigning champions Evil Geniuses fought other representatives of the American scene from Digital chaos for the right to play in the grand final with the last team of China Wings Gaming... In the very first game, Rasmus Phillipsen's team quite confidently and brightly outplayed the opponent in 35 minutes: after a glimpse of a good game in the opening, the “evil geniuses” could not show anything and decided to surrender.

The second game pleased with an unexpected peak — in the penultimate match was finally picked. It is all the more interesting that DC.w33 played them on the center line, but this did not bring success to the team. The tactic designed for early domination was not executed, and the five of Evil Geniuses managed to tighten the game to a state where Sven no chance was left.

The decisive meeting between the American teams turned out to be the most cautious: both teams clearly did not want to leave the tournament before the super-final and tried to show their maximum potential. After the start of active actions, the game acquired a vivid character, but nevertheless turned out to be a little more masterful Digital chaos.

The final The International 2016 started with a two-hour delay, which turned out to be beneficial DC: the guys got a chance to relax a little after an exhausting duel with ex-champions before the main game of the season. It is all the more surprising that the tired players of the American team just had a great first game and the second confrontation. Both teams in the debut of the series surprised with picks - on Pudge from Wings the western team responded with another curious hero on the central line:.

However, after this experiment, it became much more difficult for the winged ones to play: and if on the second map of fatigue the guys from DC almost did not show, then they lost the third game quickly enough, and in the last confrontation they made too many mistakes and could not jump over their heads. Thus, Digital chaos remain the second, and the title of champion again, following the rule of an even year, goes to the Celestial Empire.

The fourth game day of the main stage of The International 2016 was incredibly intense and memorable. In addition to the scheduled matches, Dota 2 fans that day had the opportunity to watch a cosplay show, All-Stars Match, and also witness the presentation of the new 112 Dota 2 hero - Underlord.

But let's talk about everything in order. The Digital Chaos team, together with the Ukrainian Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok, meets the TnC Gaming team on their way, and then the Chinese from EHOME. In both meetings, DC are the winners and are guaranteed to have at least fourth place at TI6. In case of losing the next match, DC will be content with almost $ 1.5 million.

According to the results of the fourth gaming day, 3 teams left the tournament: TnC Gaming, Team Liquid and EHOME. Liquid are eliminated from the tournament thanks to the Fnatic team, while TnC and EHOME are falling at the hands of Digital Chaos.

The All-Star Game was held in an extremely interesting format. The presenter chose five spectators for each of the two teams, and as a result, each of the spectators chose one professional player for their team, taking part in The International 2016. The match was held in a 10 by 10 format. Among the professionals in the first team were: AdmiralBulldog, iceiceice, Fear, UNiVeRsE and QO, and in the second: Dendi, N0tail, Loda, Arteezy and Maybe. At the end of the meeting, the first team won.

The International 2016 All-Star Match

During the hero picks for the All-Stars Match, a new 112th Dota 2 hero named Underlord was announced. In the original Dota Allstars, he was called Pit Lord. Already on August 23, it will appear in the game client along with an updated interface.

Tournament: The International 6.

Organizer: Valve.

Venue: Key Arena, Seattle, USA.

Prize fund: over $ 18 million

Total number of teams: 16

International 2016 Dota 2: participants

Invitees:

Qualification winners:

1) Evil Geniuses

2) Digital Chaos

4) Vici Gaming Reborn

7) TnC Pro Gaming

Wild-card participants:

3) Escape Gaming

2 wild-card winners will participate in the main stage of the tournament.

This time, Valve Corporation gave invitations to only 6 teams. These are teams that have achieved the maximum good results throughout the year after the previous International. The rest had to go through a sieve of merciless qualifications. At first, these were open qualifications, where all interested teams could submit their applications. The winners went to the closed quarters. There games were held in regions of which there are 4: China, Europe, America and Southeast Asia.

Qualification in China.

The unconditional victory here was won by Wings Gaming, who were not considered a favorite in the neighborhood with such giants of the Chinese dota scene as EHOME, Vici Gaming, CDEC and Invictus Gaming. 4 teams met in the playoffs, and the slot was awarded to Vici Gaming Reborn in the main draw of the competition and EHOME in the wild-card.

Qualification in Southeast Asia.

Fnatic did not receive a direct invitation to International and therefore were the favorites for these qualifiers in Asia. But they managed to break through only through the playoffs, and in the group, TnC Pro Gaming scored the largest number of victories. The Filipinos from Execration got the slot in the wild card.

Qualification in America.

In this region, in fact, there was only one intrigue - which of the favorites will go to the wild card, and which will go directly to the International. As a result, Evil Geniuses and Digital Chaos got directly from the top three teams, and compLexity will go to the wild card.

Qualification in Europe.

For dessert, the European qualification remained, the most confusing and interesting for us, since there are many CIS teams there. The format of the tournament meant that everything would be on the edge. And so it happened - there were many replayings for the 1st place, the winners of which were Team Secret. Unfortunately a large number of The CIS teams did not turn into quality, only Fantastic Five were able to show a decent game, reaching the playoffs.

But on this their strength dried up, and they lost first to Ad Finem, and then to Escape Gaming. As a result, the Swedes from Alliance got directly, and the European team Escape will participate in the wild card.

International Dota 2 2016: Schedule

Will appear closer to the tournament.

On the night of August 13-14, the last match of The International 6 - still the most monetary esports tournament in the world - died down. Sixteen teams from all over the world fought for a total prize pool of twenty million dollars.

After a week of intense and incredibly beautiful battles in the playoffs, the winner was determined. By good tradition, in even-numbered years, the Chinese team took the The International Cup: in 2012 - Invictus Gaming, in 2014 - NewBee. This year was no exception.

The main thing: this is a tournament in which the dark horses ruled the ball

Turning and unpredictable moments happened more often at this The International than at any previous one. The very first day of the playoffs began with surprises: Koreans from MVP Phoenix in a confident game threw the favorites of the OG tournament into the lower bracket. Of course, they expected a lot from the MVP, they gained strength with each new tournament and came to The International, perhaps in their best shape. But to bring two-time Major champions to their knees so easily and naturally?

Playoff Game 1: MVP Phoenix picks five melee heroes to join his squad. Koreans have their own Dota.

The best moments of the fourth and fifth days.

For the CIS fans, the first day was sad. After an unsuccessful group stage, the Na'Vi team, which had almost completely renewed their roster, ended up in the lower bracket, where they were separated from the relegation by only one defeat. Unfortunately, Na'Vi could not oppose anything to the European team Team Liquid and left the tournament, finishing 13-16.

The second day turned out to be the last for OG. The team, which, according to most analysts and bookmakers, should have won first place, lost to the TnC team - dark horses from South-East Asia who made it to The International through the open qualifiers. This victory shocked not only the spectators, but also TnC itself: such unrestrained joy was never seen at the tournament.

A moment from the longest and certainly one of the most spectacular matches of the tournament - Evil Geniuses vs. EHOME.

From that moment on, The International 6 began the time of teams that few people had bet on. The young Chinese team Wings Gaming has long hoped for good game but it was wild to see how easily the team made it through the upper bracket to the grand finals, defeating MVP Phoenix and past The International champions Evil Geniuses.

The Malaysian Fnatic and the American Digital Chaos, where the Ukrainian player Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok played, was in the losers' bracket (bottom). And if Fnatic sometimes showed a decent game even before the tournament (although the results varied greatly from moment to moment), then Digital Chaos generally jumped two, three or four heads higher than expected. They kicked out the strongest Chinese teams LGD and EHOME, and then Fnatic themselves. In the final of the lower bracket, Digital Chaos made another feat and in a tense game they defeated the titan of the American "Dota" Evil Geniuses.

In the grand final, Digital Chaos was waiting for Wings Gaming - but the young Chinese team turned out to be indomitable. Wings Gaming won 3-1, won over $ 9 million and took the sixth Aegis.

The International 6 Winners.

Dota 2 is at its best this year

According to many professional players, the current patch is the best balanced in the history of the game. In years past, teams have tried to stick to one actionable tactic, whether it is going into the late game and winning through fat carries or aggressive play and early demolition of the opponent's towers. This time, each team could afford to choose something of their own - there were much more effective strategies than at previous TIs. Some games stretched for an hour or more (like EHOME vs. EG - 75 minutes), others finished in 18 minutes (NewBee vs. Team Liquid).

Valve used augmented reality to represent the heroes this year. Sometimes these heroes also danced.

The same goes for heroes. The teams were not limited in their choice and only one group stage involved 100 heroes out of 111 available. From the pool forgotten heroes To the delight of the audience, Mirana and Shadow Demon returned and became one of the most popular in the tournament. Moreover, Mirana changed her role from a support hero to the role of “mid” and “carry”. All thanks to the latest addition, which gave her a new ability after purchasing Aghanim's Scepter and made a good offensive power out of it.

Shadow Demon came as a surprise to many after a long time of being completely ignored. This time, the teams regularly took him in almost every game, because, firstly, he goes well with the same Mirana, and secondly, the balance patch slightly strengthened the hero, improving, among other things, his ability to create illusions of heroes. This is important because it was playing through illusions that turned out to be one of the most popular tactics in this tournament.

What about the show?

The International 2016 this year delighted the audience not only with beautiful matches, but also with high-quality shows. The tournament was opened by violinist Lindsey Stirling, and in the last days playoffs held an all-star match, where ordinary fans from the stands had the opportunity to play one match in a team with their favorite esportsmen.

But these are trifles. On the same day, Valve finally announced the release of a new hero - Underlord (aka Pit Lord according to old documents), which players have been waiting for for a year, or even more. Later, a new global update and event were announced, including another newcomer - the Monkey King, Monkey King (who said "Wukong"?). All this will be in the fall.

Monkey King - First new hero, which was not in the original DotA All-Stars. I wonder what they will teach him?

What's next? The International business will continue with two Major tournaments, and the space between them, as usual, will be filled with an endless series of smaller competitions. Well, in a year's time it will be time to take stock again in Seattle.

Completed group stage The International 2016, in which sixteen of the strongest teams in the world fought among themselves to reach the top of the main stage bracket.

According to the rules of the competition, the teams that took the first 4 places in each of the groups received the right to continue their participation in the championship in the winners' grid of the playoff stage. Consequently, the remaining 8 teams ended up in the losers' grid, where they will have to play the first round to one victory and until the very end fight for their "survival" on The International 2016.

The tournament rules allowed the leaders of the group tables to choose an opponent for the first round of the playoff stage from among the teams that took 3-4 places in the opposite group: OG preferred to play with MVP.Phoenix, a EHOME agreed to fight Alliance... Thus, EG the team went to a couple Newbee, a Digital chaos - Wings Gaming.

The teams were seeded in the same way in the lower bracket. TnC Gaming and Fnatic have chosen their opponents from the very bottom of the standings: the Filipinos (and DeMoN) will play in the first round with Vici Gaming Reborn, and Malaysians - with Escape Gaming... Therefore, the opponent Team Secret became a team LGD Gaming, and in pair to Natus Vincere were appointed Team Liquid.