The International 2023: What you need to know about this year's Dota 2 world championship event

The International (TI) 2023, this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament, is almost upon us.

Across multiple weekends from 12 to 29 October, 20 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world will be fighting to claim the coveted Aegis of Champions and the lion's share of a growing prize pool in Seattle, the United States.

This year's tournament also differs from previous editions due to its revamped format, featuring two distinct phases called 'The Road to The International' and 'The International' itself.

Whether you're a long-time Dota 2 fan or a newcomer to the scene, TI is sure to be the highlight of the year. Read on as we break down everything that you need to know about TI 2023:

Format

TI 2023 will be split into two distinct phases, called 'The Road to The International' and 'The International' itself.

The Road to the International will feature the Group Stage and Playoffs, which will see the 20 participating teams whittled down to the final eight teams. Those final eight squads will then advance to The International proper and fight for the Aegis of Champions.

As with previous iterations of TI, the Group Stage will not be held in front of a live audience, though the Playoffs and The International itself will be hosted in separate venues. The Playoffs will be held in the Seattle Convention Center's Summit while The International proper will be hosted in the Climate Pledge Arena.

The Road to The International: Group Stage

The Group Stage is split into two phases, with the first taking place from 12 to 13 October while the second will be hosted from 14 to 15 October.

The first phase of the Group Stage will split the 20 participating teams into four groups of five teams each, who will then go through a single round-robin with best-of-two matches. The bottom team of each group will be eliminated after the first phase while the remaining 16 teams will advance to the second phase.

The second phase of the Group Stage will have the remaining teams play in eight head-to-head, best-of-three matches to determine placement in the Main Event.

In this phase, the Top 2 teams from each group in phase one will get matched with either the third or fourth-placed teams from the opposite group. To clarify, the Top 2 teams from Group A will be matched against the third and fourth-placed teams from Group C while Group B's will face Group D's.

The winners of the eight head-to-head matches will then earn upper bracket berths in the Playoffs while the losers will have to start from the lower bracket.

Here are the groupings for the Road to The International Group Stage:

The Road to The International: Playoffs

The TI 2023 Playoffs will take place from 20 to 22 October in the Seattle Convention Center's Summit. It will feature the 16 teams that made it out of the Group Stage fighting to be among the eight teams making it to The International proper.

On 20 October, the eight upper bracket teams will face off in four best-of-three matches. The four winning teams will advance to the upper bracket of The International itself while losing teams will have to continue fighting in the lower bracket of the Playoffs.

The lower bracket of the Playoffs will be played from 21 to 22 October, featuring 12 teams pitted in eight best-of-three matches. Eight teams will be eliminated in this stage while four teams will advance to the lower bracket of The International proper.

The International

The Top 8 teams of TI 2023 will advance to The International proper, which will be hosted in the Climate Pledge Arena from 27 to 29 October.

This stage of the tournament will be the one most familiar to Dota 2 fans, featuring the classic double-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches. The four best-performing teams from the Road to The International will have earned upper bracket berths while four others will have to start in the lower bracket.

The first two days of The International proper will have four best-of-three matches each day, eventually cutting the competition down to the final three teams.

The Top 3 teams of TI 2023 will play in the final day of the tournament, which will feature the lower bracket finals and the best-of-five Grand Finals.

Teams

There will be 20 teams competing in TI 2023, with 12 teams earning direct invites by virtue of their performance in the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season while the remaining eight had to earn their spots through the regional qualifiers back in August.

Of the teams in TI 2023, five hail from Western Europe, four each come from Eastern Europe and South America, three come from North America, while two each hail from China and Southeast Asia.

Here's the full list of teams competing in TI 2023:

Direct invite teams

Team Liquid (Western Europe)

1. Michael "miCKe" Vu

2. Michał "Nisha" Jankowski

3. Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg

4. Samuel "Boxi" Svahn

5. Aydin "Insania" Sarkohi

6. William "Blitz" Lee (coach)

Notable achievements: Lima, Berlin, and Bali Major finalists

Gaimin Gladiators (Western Europe)

1. Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov

2. Quinn "Quinn" Callahan

3. Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard

4. Erik "tOfu" Engel

5. Melchior "Seleri" Hillenkamp

6. Aske "Cy-" Larsen (coach)

Notable achievements: Lima, Berlin, and Bali Major champions; DreamLeague Seasons 19 and 20 winners

Tundra Esports (Western Europe)

1. Oliver "skiter" Lepko

2. Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen

3. Neta "33" Shapira

4. Leon "Nine" Kirilin

5. Wu "Sneyking" Jingjun

6. Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling (coach)

Notable achievements: TI 2022 champions

9Pandas (Eastern Europe)

1. Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev

2. Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov

3. Matvey "MieRo`" Vasyunin

4. Vladislav "Antares" Kertman

5. Alexey "Solo" Berezin

Evil Geniuses (South America)

1. Crhistian "Pakazs" Savina

2. Jean "C.smile" Salazar

3. Adrián "Wisper" Dobles

4. Farith "Matthew" Puente

5. Jose "Panda" Padilla

LGD Gaming (China)

1. Guo "shiro" Xuanang

2. Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang

3. Li "niu" Kongbo

4. Lin "planet" Hao

5. Zhang "y`" Yiping

6. Zhang "xiao8" Ning (coach)

Shopify Rebellion (North America)

1. Artour "Arteezy" Babaev

2. Abed "Abed" Yusop

3. Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek

4. Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen

5. Tal "Fly" Aizik

6. Kanishka "BuLba" Sosale (coach)

Talon Esports (Southeast Asia)

1. Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon

2. Rafli "Mikoto" Rahman

3. Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong

4. Worawit "Q" Mekchai

5. Chan "Oli" Chon Kien

6. Lee "SunBhie" Jeong-jae (coach)

Beastcoast (South America)

1. David "Parker" Chote

2. Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera

3. Rafael "Sacred" Yonatan

4. Elvis "Scofield" De la Cruz Peña

5. Steven "Stinger" Vargas

Team Spirit (Eastern Europe)

1. Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk

2. Denis "Larl" Sigitov

3. Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov

4. Myroslav "Mira" Kolpalkov

5. Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov

6. Airat "Silent" Gaziev (coach)

Notable achievements: TI 2021 champions, Riyadh Masters 2023 and DreamLeague Season 21 winners

TSM (North America)

1. Enzo "Timado" Gianoli

2. Jonathan "Bryle" De Guia

3. Gainullin "kasane" Ilyas

4. Matthew "Ari" Walker

5. Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon

6. David "MoonMeander" Tan (coach)

BetBoom Team (Eastern Europe)

1. Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko

2. Danil "gpk" Skutin

3. Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko

4. Vitalie "Save-" Melnic

5. Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek

Regional qualifier teams

Entity (Western Europe)

1. Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov

2. Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau

3. Kim "Gabbi" Santos

4. Vladislav "Kataomi`" Semenov

5. Dzmitry "Fishman" Palishchuk

PSG.Quest (Western Europe)

1. Aybek "TA2000" Tokayev

2. Tony "No!ob" Assaf

3. Tobias "Tobi" Buchner

4. Omar "OmaR" Moughrabi

5. Oleh "kaori" Medvedok

Virtus.pro (Eastern Europe)

1. Ilya "Kiritych" Ulyanov

2. Ilya "squad1x" Kuvaldin

3. Evgeniy "Noticed" Ignatenko

4. Oleg "sayuw" Kalenbet

5. Artsiom "fng" Barshak

Azure Ray (China)

1. Lou "Lou" Zhen

2. Lu "Somnus" Yao

3. Yang "chalice" Shenyi

4. Xu "fy" Linsen

5. Jiang "天命 (tiān mìng)" An

6. Zhang "LaNm" Zhicheng

Team SMG (Southeast Asia)

1. Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng

2. Volodymyr "No[o]ne" Minenko

3. Ivan "MinD_ControL" Ivanov (stand-in)

4. Tue "ah fu" Soon Chuan

5. Jaunuel "Jaunuel" Arcilla

6. Lee "Heen" Seung Gon (stand-in coach)

Nouns Esports (North America)

1. Héctor "K1" Rodríguez

2. Nicolas "Gunnar" Lopez

3. David "Moo" Hull

4. Rodrigo "Lelis" Santos

5. Luke "Yamsun" Wang

Keyd Stars (South America)

1. Guilherme "Costabile" Costábile

2. João "4nalog" Giannini

3. Gustavo "fcr" Ribeiro

4. Danylo "Kingrd" Nascimento

5. Matheus "KJ" Diniz

Thunder Awaken (South America)

1. Aliaksei "Smiling Knight" Svirydau

2. Jordan "SLATEM$" Vega

3. Mario "ILICH-" Valdivia

4. Rodrigo "n1ght-" Cruz

5. Romel "Mjz" Quinteros

Prize pool

TI 2023's prize pool is jointly funded by Dota 2 developer Valve Software and the Dota 2 community through the TI 2023 Compendium. Valve provided the base amount of US$1.6 million while 25% of all TI 2023 Compendium purchases by the community are added to the prize pool.

As of 15 October, TI 2023's prize pool sits at just over US$3 million, according to the Dota 2 prize pool tracker.

Here's the estimated prize pool breakdown for TI 2023:

• Champions: ~US$1.35 million (45%)

• 2nd place: ~US$360,000 (12%)

• 3rd place: ~US$240,000 (8%)

• 4th place: ~US$165,000 (5.5%)

• 5th-6th place: ~US$98,000 (3.25%)

• 7th-8th place: ~US$75,000 (2.5%)

• 9th-12th place: ~US$60,000 (2%)

• 13th-16th place: ~US$45,000 (1.5%)

• 17th-20th place: ~US$30,000 (1%)

The TI 2023 Compendium

The TI 2023 Compendium gives Dota 2 fans access to challenges themed around the game's pro scene, TI 2023 predictions, a fantasy league for the tournament, and a weekly bingo card. In addition, it will also support the tournament by allocating 25% of all purchases to the TI 2023 prize pool.

As a reward for completing Compendium challenges and other activities, players can get a miniature physical model of the Aegis of Champions trophy, permanent chat wheel messages, player and team stickers, TI 2023-themed loading screens and HUD, among others.

Valve priced the TI 2023 Compendium's standard edition at US$7.49 and the upgraded edition at US$29.99.

You can purchase the TI 2023 Compendium here.

Where to watch

TI 2023 will be broadcasted in English on the official Dota 2 Twitch and YouTube channels. Official broadcasts for other languages are also expected but have yet to be officially announced.

For more information on TI 2023, check out the official tournament website here.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.