A reflection of two connecting events 14 hours apart that have made history
Last Sunday, QUT eSports hosted a screening of Dota 2’s “The International 2018” showcasing the final day of the main event featuring the lower bracket finalists, PSG.LGD and Evil Geniuses and the subsequent grand final matchup featuring OG at Z411 and at the new eSports Arena at X Block.
The establishment of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) — an overarching event calendar from September 2017 to August 2018, under the constant surveillance of Valve, has resulted in rise of several dominant teams from their own respective regions.
The fascinating aspect of the tournament was the sheer competitiveness of the teams in question, from reigning champions Team Liquid, to PSG.LGD the Chinese team in serious form to the home nation, Evil Geniuses has drawn animated discussions on the prospects of winning Dota 2’s most prestigious prize of all.
However despite the talk leading into the latter days of the tournament, the vengeful, European organisation, OG accomplished their career best 3rd place at the concluding event of the DPC after a pulsating series beating PSG.LGD 2–1 in the upper bracket finals, looking to vindicate their turbulent performances since last September.
The arena began soaring in numbers, with a wide range of demographics — an attendee discovered the screening from the /r/brisbane page after a post was posted a day before the event and there were a few high school and tertiary students from neighbouring universities that came to witness the screening. The diversity of the participants has provided the welcoming of QUT eSports is willing to offer for the betterment for the gaming community.

The culture of Dota 2 social events through time and memorial has shown the deepest levels of camaraderie and fun, and it was fitting to host a 1v1 tournament with the respected hero: Shadow Fiend.
With strong interest, there was widespread cheer and sportsmanship among the players through the single elimination bracket and over the period of three hours it came down to a best of three against Faux and Andrew. Close friends, they battled it out and in the end Andrew came out on top. The top three were awarded with apparel from Alienware and credit to their QUT eSports account respectively.
Accompanied by Pizza and an esky full of water and soft drinks, courtesy of Josh Clough and Jacob Argent (QUT eSport Convenors), the attendees were hydrated and focused throughout the screening. The King of the Hill was the second introduced activity and involved participants with facing each other in the same format, but with any hero from the choosing of the winner from the coin toss.
In the end, after six matches, Sam Tan was the eventual winner and remained undefeated.

14 hours west, Ana a young and rising position one carry from Australia, representing Europe’s OG is waiting by at the Rogers Arena player room waiting to see their opponents in the Grand Finals. The audience at the arena remained silent, after EG was left in dismay following their rampant defeat against the ravening PSG.LGD looking to make their intent clear.
Historically Chinese teams have won every International that was based on an even number, and it seemingly written in the stars that PSG.LGD would continue to tell the tale, exerting their dominance against OG.
By the time it was 11 am on the Sunday, everyone was present, eyes fixated at the screen, sweaty palms across the room and anxiety permeated the arena. PSG.LGD were on the verge of winning of The International 8.
Game four of the event saw consecutive team fights won by PSG.LGD and it reached breaking point for the viewers showing an aura of silence and disbelief but Ana’s resilient Phantom Lancer later made crucial kills, with the correct positioning and vigilant game awareness, punishing the opponents and in a 65 minute game, pushed the game to a game 5.
N0tail’s decision to pick Ana the Ember Spirit that engineered a substandard win rate in the tournament was a big question mark, let alone a calculated risk in the deciding game. Extra momentum was in their veins and every kill from OG was accompanied by a loud cheer in the arena, as OG was pushing to an unassailable lead. Twitch chat on the main stream was reaching fever-pitch and LGD’s ancient collapsed in plain sight.
As the confetti fell on OG, there arena was on cloud nine. History was made: Ana had become the first Australian player to win The International 2018 and sent tremors across the Australian Dota 2 scene — witnessed by the attendees of the arena.
“Hosting the event has motivated the team and I to continue working even harder in order provide the community with more events and content. During the planning of the event, I was worried about the number of people that would show up as the International 2018 is based in America which would lead to the screening being at a very problematic time.
Overall, the attendance surprised me and gave us insight of how a community of people who share the same interests will come along and support these type of events” — Danny Vang, President of QUT DOTA
In the end, it was a great screening to be part of and I would like to acknowledge the concerted effort of the QUT eSports, providing the resources for its integrated gaming communities to develop and thrive.
Extra acknowledgements to Joshua Clough and Jacob Argent for facilitating the screening session from start to finish and have done an amazing job as eSport Conveners.
