Team Spirit completed its remarkable run at The International 10 by hoisting the Aegis of Champions. This Eastern European Dota 2 team managed to prevent what would have been a reverse sweep by PSG.LGD. As TI Champion, the team brought home more than $18 million.
Making the victory even sweeter is that they have returned the Aegis back to the region after 10 years. The first time was when Natus Vincere won the first-ever The International.
Road to TI10
At the end of Season 1, Spirit managed to claim fourth place. While it meant not being able to join the Major, they were guaranteed to stay in the Upper Division. By Season 2, their performance had improved enough to get them to the Group Stage of the WePlay AniMajor. They would later be eliminated early into the Playoffs.
Because they didn’t get enough points, they had to go through the Qualifiers. They later secured a spot at TI10 after winning against Team Empire in five games.
Group Stage
The group encountered some issues even before the tournament started. They complained about what appeared to be smaller practice rooms compared to other teams. But that didn’t douse their spirit as they had a good performance ending in fourth place and securing an Upper Bracket start.
Main Event
At the Upper Bracket, their first opponent was Invictus Gaming who dropped them to the Lower Bracket. It was here in the Lower Bracket that Spirit started to shine and break all expectations. They first eliminated Fnatic with a 2-0 and did the same to OG, the game where Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek typed the now-infamous “ez game” in all-chat.
Spirit then went against the top team of their region and got a 2-1 win, to once again face Invictus Gaming. This time around, there was no stopping them as they eliminated the Chinese team at 2-0.
Up next was Team Secret, a team that had been heavily favored to be in the Grand Final against PSG.LGD. However, Spirit would not be denied and with momentum in their favor, managed to beat Secret at 2-1.
Grand Final
At the Grand Final, they faced PSG.LGD, considered by many as the team that would bring back the Aegis to China. Despite being underestimated by many, Spirit surprised everyone by winning the first two games.
With their backs against the wall, PSG.LGD went for another strat and won the next two games to force a fifth game.
During the draft for the final game, Spirit again surprised everyone by allowing PSG.LGD to get the Tiny and Lycan. However, they got Magnus for Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov. Combined with Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk on Terrorblade and TORONTOTOKYO on Ember Spirit, it proved to be too much for PSG.LGD to handle.
As PSG.LGD called GG, everyone in Spirit was all smiles as they showed the world that they are currently the best Dota 2 team in the world.
What about you? What was your favorite part of TI10?
