Dota 2 TI10: Our Picks for the Initial Matches + Dota 2 International 10

The International is the biggest event of Dota 2.

It has the top teams fighting to see who gets to stand tall around everyone else. This year, the champion gets to take home around $18 million.

The Group Stage has just finished and it has shown us some truly interesting matches and plays. With the Main Event starting tomorrow, we can expect to watch more excellent games.
Today, we give our picks for the initial matches of the Main Event.

TOP-15 Best Plays of TI10 The International 10 Group Stage – Dota 2

Upper Bracket: Invictus Gaming vs. Team Spirit

There’s no doubt that the performance of Spirit was impressive at the Group Stage. It could be because they felt they weren’t treated right and had to prove themselves. We’re giving this one to Invictus Gaming, however, who has been showing more consistent results.

Upper Bracket: Team Secret vs. OG

Team Secret has been doing well during the regular season as well as the Group Stage. OG, meanwhile, looks like they are back to form with their performance. We’re picking the two-time champion in this match-up because they seem to be having fun and when that happens, OG is truly a team to watch out for.

Upper Bracket: PSG.LGD vs. T1

Most people are sure to pick PSG.LGD and we don’t blame them. Like Evil Geniuses, they are the ones considered as having the chance to grab the Aegis. PSG.LGD had the advantage in their previous match-ups so it’s likely going to continue. PSG.LGD may win this but they won’t have it easy.

We admit that there is a tiny part of us hoping that T1 gets the break this time around.

Upper Bracket: Virtus.pro vs. Vici Gaming

Consistency is the name of the game and Virtus.pro always seems to have problems when it comes to the Playoffs. That alone is a reason for us to pick Vici Gaming.

Lower Bracket: Team Undying vs. Fnatic

Undying is another team that surprised us with their performance. Look at their Group Stage performance, their two losses were against Virtus.pro and T1. That tells us they may have problems adjusting to the style of the SEA. We’re going with Fnatic

Lower Bracket: Quincy Crew vs. Team Aster

Despite an impressive regular season, Aster hasn’t been performing as expected in TI10. The same can be said for QC. That being the case, we’ll choose Quincy Crew to win this one.

Here’s the Dota 2 International 10 schedule

The biggest event in the Dota 2 esports calendar, The International 10, is getting into full swing.

The tournament’s group stage is done and the main event is due to kick off very soon, starting on October 12 and running until October 17. Now that the 16 teams have been set, and the seedings have been selected, we’ve got an idea of how the schedule for The International 10 is shaping up.

This year’s International is taking place in Bucharest, Romania, and marks an exciting return for the MOBA game’s community as the 2020 contest was cancelled due to the pandemic. It now won’t have a live audience, but Valve has outlined all the ways fans can tune in remotely, with some new and improved features introduced this year, such as a cheering tool to let your favourite teams know you’re rooting for them from afar.

The 16 teams through to the main event are competing for the Aegis of Champions trophy, as well an eye-watering prize pool of over $40 million, which is the biggest in the history of esports.

Dota 2 The International 10 schedule

This week’s main event will see an upper bracket made up of eight teams battling it out in a best-of-three format, while the other eight teams will face elimination-style, best-of-one games. We’ll see the upper bracket final this coming Saturday (October 16), with the lower bracket final – and then the grand final itself – the day after, on October 17. You can keep up with the whole schedule as the tournament progresses on its official site here, though community figure Wykrhm Reddy has shared some handy graphics of how the contest will play out below:

TI10 Main Event Bracket – Color Coded Schedule – Letter Coded for the color-blind. #TI10 #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/q7uOqdNAZH
— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) October 10, 2021

Which Region Will Win The International 10?

The Main Event of The International 10 is about to begin and 16 teams are left in the race. The prize pool for which they compete is the largest in the history of esports ($40 million) and everyone wants a piece of the pie. The winner will receive $18 million while the 13th – 16th place competitors will get $600,000 each, which isn’t bad at all. But the question that everyone is asking is this: who will win TI10? With so many exceptional teams, this is a tough question to answer. But I will try to answer a broader question: which region will win TI10?

The Participants of The International 10’s Main Event

TI10 has had the same competitive format for its Main Event since 2015. 8 of the 16 participants start in the Lower Bracket while the other 8 start in the Upper Bracket. The seeding is made based on the Group Stage results. The first round of Lower Bracket matches uses the Bo1 format. Every other match is Bo3, apart from the Grand Final (Bo5).

This year it’s no different. We have 8 teams in the Upper Bracket and 8 teams in the Lower Bracket. The matches provide numerous Dota 2 betting opportunities and look like this:

Upper Bracket

Invictus Gaming – Team Spirit
Team Secret – OG
LGD – T1
pro – Vici Gaming

Lower Bracket

Team Undying – Fnatic
Quincy Crew – Team Aster
beastcoast – Alliance
Evil Geniuses – Elephant

Strongest Regions

By far, the strongest regions are China and Western Europe, followed by Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

China

China used to win a lot at The International, until 4 years ago when Team Liquid claimed the Aegis of Champions, followed by OG (twice). You could say that the biggest trophy in Dota 2 has stayed in Western Europe for a very long time. And the Chinese teams are here to reclaim it.

China has two formidable teams in the race: PSG.LGD and Invictus Gaming. And the seeding guarantees that both of them win their matches, they won’t meet until the Grand Final. PSG.LGD finished the Group Stage with a record of 15 W – 1 L while iG finished with 14 W – 2 L. Each of them won their group with ease.

China has 3 other teams in the race. One in the Upper Bracket (Vici Gaming) and 2 in the Lower Bracket (Aster and Elephant). So in total, around 30% of The International 10 competitors are Chinese and the two group winners are also Chinese. This makes the Chinese region the number 1 favorite to win the tournament.

Western Europe

Western Europe is represented by 3 teams and 2 of them are exceptional: OG and Team Secret. The 3rd is Alliance, which unfortunately did not look great during the Group Stage. Nikobaby and his crew finished 8th in Group A with a record of 4 W – 12 L. That’s a 25% win rate and the matches were Bo2!

However, the other 2 teams did much better. OG finished Group A in 3rd place with 10 wins and 6 losses, while Secret finished 2nd in Group B with an identical result. And what’s encouraging is that both of them drew against the group winners, Invictus Gaming and PSG.LGD.

At the previous edition of The International, Team Secret finished 4th while OG finished 1st. And their rosters were almost identical to their current ones. This means that Western Europe is well-represented at TI10, but will have to overcome huge challenges to win it. The Chinese squads, at least in the Bo2 matches of the Group Stage, looked almost unbeatable.

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is represented by Virtus.pro and Team Spirit. In Spirit’s case, it’s hard to be optimistic about the prospect of them carrying the region to the title. But Virtus.pro does have realistic chances. This roster has been competing in its current format for a few years and the potential for greatness is definitely there.

VP has already demonstrated that it can defeat the world’s best teams several times in 2020 and 2021. Every Dota 2 fan can probably still remember their win over OG in the Grand Final of EPIC League Season 2 Division 1 or their 2nd place at ESL One Summer 2021.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is represented by Fnatic and T1. Fnatic is already in the Lower Bracket and has slim chances of doing something spectacular at The International 10. But T1 is in the Upper Bracket and will compete for the 5th time this year against its nemesis: PSG.LGD.

This team defeated them every single time in 2021, but with each match, T1 seems to be learning something new about its opponent. In 3 of the 4 defeats, the score was 2 – 1 in favor of the Chinese competitor and T1 got very close to winning. So there’s a high chance that T1 will beat PSG.LGD at TI10 and then have a real shot at winning the tournament. The team’s carry is 23savage, who is one of the highest MMR players on the planet.

Dota 2

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Valve.

The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), which was a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a powerful character, known as a “hero”, who all have unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match players collect experience points and items for their heroes to successfully defeat the opposing team’s heroes in player versus player combat.

A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team’s “Ancient”, a large structure located within their base.