The International 2023: What’s New?
A new format, a new schedule, and a return to Seattle. Dota 2’s International has a few unique things going for it.
Where is the International being held this year?
For the first time since 2017, The International will be held in Seattle, Washington, home of Valve headquarters.
The event is split into two parts. The first is The Road To The International, which includes the Group Stage and the first half of the Playoffs.
The Group Stage will be played by the teams from their hotel rooms in Seattle, while the first half of the Playoffs will be held in front of a crowd at the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit.
The second part is The International, which is the second half of the Playoffs where the top 8 teams will compete for the Aegis of Champions. This will be held in front of a live audience at the Climate Pledge Arena.
Will this revitalize the NA Dota 2 scene? Only time will tell.
When will the International 2023 start?
TI2023 will be held across three weekends. This means that if you’re working a day job, you don’t need to sneak-watch the TI stream while in the office!
Group Stage — October 12th (Thursday) to 15th (Sunday)
Playoffs — October 20th (Friday) to 22nd (Sunday)
The International — October 27th (Friday) to 29th (Sunday)
The event will be streamed on Twitch and YouTube in English, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish.
What is the format of the International 2023?
The biggest change in this year’s format is in the Group Stage. Instead of two groups of 10 teams, we will now have four groups of 5 teams playing best-of-two (BO2) matches, where the bottom team in each group will be eliminated.
After that, the top two teams in each group will play head-to-head best-of-three (BO3) matches against the 3rd and 4th place teams from an opposing group to determine playoff bracket placement.
As for the Playoffs, the biggest change this year is that we no longer have best-of-one (BO1) elimination matches in the first round of the lower bracket.
No last-pick Gyro shenanigans, we presume?
Who are the TI all-timers at The International 2023?
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov was the only remaining TI all-timer at The International 2022. However, he failed to qualify for the first time in TI’s history after losing to Quest Esports and Team Entity, both of whom managed to snag the last two spots at the event via the Western Europe Regional Qualifier.
After Puppey, Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi of Team Nigma Galaxy has a streak of 9 consecutive TI appearances, failing to qualify after TI 2019, and once again this year. This is also the first time Team Secret hasn’t qualified for TI since its formation.
So, we no longer have a TI all-timer in 2023! However, rumor has it, Puppey may make an appearance at the event as a coach for Team SMG.
What is the prize pool of The International 2023?
This year, Valve has taken a different approach to the International’s monetization and ended the ever-popular concept of the battle pass.
Instead, they’ve returned to the old-school Compendium, which solely focuses on the event and does not offer any high-quality cosmetics such as arcanas, personas, or immortal treasures.
This strategy has so far resulted in a dramatically reduced prize pool for TI 2023 — just $2,878,003 at the time of posting. For comparison, this is barely more than what players fought for at The International 2013.
And with the end of the Dota Pro Circuit, only time will tell how Dota’s professional scene will evolve in the years to come.
But, that is a question better left for the future. For now, we have Dota 2’s premium tournament coming up in just a week!
Stay tuned to our Leagues page for all updates on The International 2023!
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Thanks for reading!
Anomaluna
