Header image via the official Dota 2 Twitter account. Spoilers begin beyond IF YOU WATCH ONE MATCH , below. This year s International is the fourth that I ve attended, and I ve never seen an upset on the scale that we saw today. If there was any doubt that Dota 2 is the world s most internationally competitive esport, they can be safely put to rest.

IF YOU WATCH ONE MATCH…

watch TNC vs. OG.

THE MATCHES

Upper bracket: Alliance vs. EHOME

EHOME might be a wildcard team, but their form in the group stage made them the favourites here. The draft and early laning phase was a game of wits that arguably Alliance came out ahead in, however: the Swedish team has always had great macro-level decision making and this is demonstrated by a series of smart lane swaps that denied EHOME a bit of crucial early momentum. In fact, Alliance s gold lead and control of the map in the early game looked convincing.

However, Alliance simply gave too much away too regularly without getting enough in return. While ceding a lane or two might have been okay in order to maintain a farm advantage, EHOME soon took the game into their own hands. EHOME.old ELeVen s Sand King was the star, here, with peerless Burrowstrikes catching two or three Alliance heroes every time. This kind of beautiful combo execution counteracted s4 s Storm Spirit s natural evasiveness and even AdmiralBulldog s tough-as-nails Bristleback couldn t survive against the weathering magical assault from heroes like Sand King and Mirana. After Alliance were wiped in a gigantic teamfight around the 34 minute mark, EHOME took the first game.

Facing relegation to the lower bracket, Alliance drafted very comfortably in game two: Lone Druid, Skywrath, Batrider, Phantom Assassin. EHOME stuck to their guns or, I should say, they stuck to their stuns. With Sven, Sand King, Mirana, Elder Titan and Shadow Demon, they built a combo machine with five interchangeable parts: get caught by any single EHOME hero and Alliance faced getting caught by all of them.

Alliance managed to score first blood, but traded for it. They lost their courier early, too, but showed a bit of life with some solid rotations that racked up kills on the board. EHOME countered with their own successful rotations, and when an Alliance attempt at top lane failed at the end of the laning phase EHOME began to pick up momentum. AdmiralBulldog couldn t put in the kind of performance he normally does on Lone Druid because of the pressure he faced from EHOME s pickoff power. Exchange after exchange came out in EHOME s favour as Alliance waited for the big items that might help but they didn t. Having held Alliance s cores down for the early game, EHOME paved the wave for a very farmed Sven to clean up late. EHOME progress, Alliance will fight for their lives in the lower bracket.

Upper bracket: Evil Geniuses vs. Newbee

These two former International champions pulled out what looked like two different years of International drafts in game one, with Newbee sticking to current-meta favourites and EG getting nostalgic for heroes like Storm Spirit and Winter Wyvern that did work for them last year.Newbee s approach paid off early, with kpii in particular showing up on Slardar. An early fight scored four kills for the Chinese team, the kind of momentum boost that normally persists in the current meta. EG shook off convention however and struck back immediately, winning the counterattack cleanly.

As levels and items particularly Blink Daggers started to come EGs way, the fights went worse and worse for Newbee. This was one of the most solid team-wide performances of the day, with great aggression from Suma1L s Storm Spirit supported by Zai s phenomenal Io. EG pushed close to their limits but never exceeded them, commanding the map but not as other teams have done getting too far ahead of themselves and feeding back the advantage. A really solid victory for the defending champions.Game two was much closer, although it didn t start out that way. EG picked up a head of steam early with solid rotations and great aggression (and a few lucky bashes) by Universe s offlane Faceless Void. But Newbee countered with on-point Sand King-Skywrath Mage combos that made life very difficult for Fear s Morphling. This put Newbee in a position to farm well and control the map as both teams settled into a long, passive evasive period.

Great teamplay at 23:00 by EG saw momentum swing back the other way thanks to some great Timbersaw play by Suma1L. Newbee countered, and then EG countered the counter, and then an explosive Epicenter by kpii at the 31 minute mark made the statement that Newbee would not be going quietly. This became. In some ways, a game of offlaners: Universe with perfect Chronospheres setting up massive Elder Titan ultimates, kpii with fantastic Sand King aggression forcing EG to react.

EG gave up some of their advantage by pushing too hard to end the game, a lapse in discipline that they weren t punished as hard for in the first game. This allowed Newbee a foothold and took the game ultra-late: when PPD s Shadow Demon has Boots of Travel, you know the game s gone long. This one came down to a fight in mid, as yet another phenomenal Chronosphere forced buybacks out of Newbee, but their willingness to rush back to the fight was their undoing. EG wiped them again to take the series 2-0.

Lower bracket: OG vs. TNC Pro Team

After their shock relegation to the lower bracket yesterday, OG faced a relatively forgiving start to their comeback run. TNC Pro Team had defied expectations in groups, but nobody expect much from this Filipino team and their American captain on the main stage.

Nobody will underestimate TNC now.

Early aggression from OG.Fly s Witch Doctor went awry when, having chased TNC.Eyyou deep into dire territory, he attempted to deny himself to neutral creeps only to be sniped for first blood by a great anticipatory Astral Spirit. OG ceded a kill lead to TNC early, in fact, although they came back quickly and took the better part of most trades for the early part of the game. OG also seemed to have the better draft, with Drow s aura boosting Medusa and Enchantress with Faceless Void and Witch Doctor for control.

Yet TNC made what they had work. Axe and Lifestealer in combination proved to be too much for many of OG s squishy ranged carries, and TNC solidly outplayed OG at the 14 minute mark with a wraparound smoke gank that put the two-time Major champions on the defensive.They responded by taking Rosh, dodging fights and splitting the map and it worked, for a time: but a smart Blink Dagger pick up on Lifestealer made him harder to kite and OG had no good answer for the power of Sam H s Axe. And all this time Kuku s midlane Phantom Lancer was becoming more and more of a problem, stymying OG pushes by forcing them back to their base to defend.

A stunning teamfight for TNC at the 45 minute mark opened up Roshan and OG s mid barracks fell shortly afterwards. Building their net worth advantage towards 20,000 gold, TNC held off from rushing in and steadily out-split-pushed OG. This first game wasn t a lucky win by an underdog against a favoured side: it was a solid outplay by a team that needs to be considered their equal (or better.)

OG revisited comfortable old favourites in the second draft, picking up Tiny and Io once the terror of the meta as well as Ember Spirit and Dark Seer, a fantastic combo in its own right. But TNC got Huskar and Dazzle through the draft thanks to OG s respect for Sam H s Axe in the first game, along with Drow Ranger, Faceless Void and Vengeful Spirit. This wasn t just a good draft: it was a shopping list of the current top tier.

TNC traded Dazzle for a first blood kill on Miracle s mid Ember Spirit, a trade they d take any day. OG struck back however with impressive aggression into TNC s safelane while Miracle scored a solo kill in mid. By 18 minutes, OG looked like they might be able to pin TNC into their base: but the defense was robust, scoring a favourable kill trade for TNC and forcing OG to respect TNC s defensive supports. Striking back into the map, TNC picked up a 2-0 teamfight win after Ember Spirit s Searing Chains latched onto creeps rather than Drow Ranger, his target. TNC took Rosh, and Drow reached the top of the net worth chart.

Yet TNC seemed to have missed their window: Huskar had not single-handedly won the midgame for them, and it was getting late. In Tiny and Ember Spirit, OG had lategame power in spades. What TNC had was patience and excellent wards, putting them in a good position to avoid mistakes and hold the line against OG. But it really would have only taken a single big mistake to lose this.

Once again a Faceless Void this time Sam H became the hero his team needed, picking up a Shadow Blade to ensure Chronosphere setups on Miracle s Ember Spirit. Kills on OG s cores became the key to TNC s road back into the game, although they faced (and lost barracks to) Tiny-Io split push when they got too aggressive. Even so, OG couldn t end the game. OG had a 20k networth lead at the 58 minute mark but it didn t matter.

Tremendous reactive play by Sam H s Void and Eyyou s Vengeful Spirit negated n0tail and Miracle s farm advantage, and Huskar and Drow Ranger just kept getting scarier. In a desperation move, Miracle picked up a Divine Rapier with the hope of ending the game: and to be fair, he could have. A decked-out Ember Spirit presents a serious threat to defending players, as a single good Sleight of Fist critical hit can take a support out of the game entirely. In that regard, Miracle got a little unlucky he couldn t summon the crit magic like MVP.QO could against him on day one. But OG were also forced to fight around their Rapier at the foot of their own ancient, and another perfect Chronosphere ended their tournament run.

In a shocking upset, OG easily the favoured team coming into the International were eliminated 2-0 by the team expected to come 16th. It was soundly the biggest upset in the history of the competitive scene. All eyes are on TNC to deliver possibly the biggest underdog success story in the history of Dota, too.

Lower bracket: Digital Chaos vs. LGD

Another oft-underestimated team, DC, put on a strong showing here against formidable Chinese team LGD the squad that ousted Team Secret. They let LGD get Batrider in the draft only to instantly counter with Nyx and Shadow Demon. Coupled with Kunkka and Invoker, this gave them huge roaming kill potential that they used to good effect. It wasn t always smooth running, however: a few misjudgements and lucky escapes saw them just miss a number of kills that would have built them a much more substantial lead.

This was a close-fought thing, but DC refused to give up the little bit of momentum they d earned early on. Resolut1on s carry Naga Siren was the essential pick for DC, here, providing them with a vital teamfight reset button, slow siege potential, and even map control with illusions and a Gem of True Sight stripping away LGD s vital observer wards. Growing impatient with being slowly whittled down by Naga Siren illusions, xiao8 s Batrider led a charge out of the LGD base which managed to catch Misery s Kunkka. DC punished them for their over extension, however, saving Kunkka with a defensive Shadow Demon Disruption and rallying to wipe LGD and take the first game.

Both teams got creative in the second draft, with DC picking up Winter Wyvern and out-of-favour carry Gyrocopter and LGD countering with the tournament s first Necrophos: a character that we might see again due to his ability to disable vital late-game buybacks.

LGD handily won their lanes this time with xiao8 in particular putting on a clinic as Beastmaster. Even so, DC anticipated how important early pushing was going to be to LGD s draft and Winter Wyvern and Gyrocopter in combination proved to be an effective counter, preventing the Chinese team from taking that early lead and turning it into objectives. LGD resorted to roaming as a full team, arguably for far too long they didn t get enough done to justify the time spent away from farming, and DC started to inch their way back into the game.

Not without losing a whole lot, though. Glimpse from MMY! s Disruptor proved the bane of Misery s Bounty Hunter s life, but over time it became clear that Bounty Hunter was the only one of DC s heroes that LGD could easily kill. They were getting outmaneuvered if not played, and DC itemised well to ensure that Necrophos couldn t do the one thing he was supposed to do: ult somebody important. As Glimmer Cape and Linken s Spheres came out, DC started to turn around LGD s advantage.

Although I ve included him in a sidebar, it s worth reiterating how vital Saksa s Winter Wyvern was to DC in this game. He played perfectly, making multiple clutch saves throughout the game even as occasionally DC s cores got a little too aggressive. It was also Saksa that closed out the game in DC s favour, picking up a Refresher Orb and almost immediately using it to land a massive double Winter s Curse on Agressif s Necrophos. Dead without buyback after a long back-and-forth game, LGD knew they were beaten. The team lead by a guy who got kicked out of Secret had just beaten the team that beat Secret.

Dota 2's official forums were reportedly hacked on July 10, with nearly 2 million records accessed. These include email addresses, usernames and passwords, and IP addresses, according to leak notification site Leaked Source.

According to that site, passwords on the vBulletin forum "were stored using MD5 hashing and a salt". MD5 hashing is widely considered an outdated and ineffective form of data protection, and according to Leaked Source, over 80% of the hacked passwords can be converted to their plaintext value.

Leaked Source lists the different email hosts that have been compromised, with Google a huge majority at 1,086,139. "A lot" of those are disposable email addresses, but the report doesn't specify how many. Whatever the case, if you use the forums, it's probably best to change your password, and to then check whether you're listed on the Leaked Source website.

Valve has yet to comment, but we'll reach out. Cheers to ZDnet for the heads up.

Spoilers begin beyond IF YOU WATCH ONE MATCH , below. This was a heartbreaker of an opening day that saw longstanding champions fall and new forces rise to challenge the world s most talented teams. It s clear now that this is going to be the closest-run International in the history of the game. Discover that truth as it emerges below, and find highlights in the sidebar.

IF YOU WATCH ONE MATCH…

...watch Secret vs. LGD.

THE MATCHES

Upper bracket: MVP Phoenix vs. OG 

Although this is MVP Phoenix s second year as underdog darlings, OG were the clear favourites going into this set. They re an enormously consistent and talented team, able to adapt to the meta and build around their opponent s weaknesses. MVP Phoenix ignored considerations of this kind going into game one, drafting themselves heroes that they (and in some cases, only they) like: the crit machine Phantom Assassin, charging space cow Spirit Breaker.

Picking well-loved but off-meta heroes into a top tier team shouldn t work and, initially, it didn t. OG support Cr1t put in a star turn on Earth Spirit, one of his best heroes, while superlative midlaner Miracle established dominance as Timbersaw. But as items and levels came online for MVP it all started to slowly turn. One huge fight got them back into the game, then a phenomenal counter-play in the Roshan pit put them ahead. OG had no answer to the staggering critical hit damage being put out by MVP.QO on Phantom Assassin and OG found themselves one game from the lower bracket.

OG rallied in game two, drafting greedily around a support pair in Naga Siren and Oracle that specialised in shutting off MVP s phenomenal aggression. And it worked: Naga Siren in particular ensured that MVP Forev, who had such a strong game on Dark Seer in the first round, never got a good Chronosphere off as Faceless Void. This wasn t a one-sided game by any means, but it was far more in OG s control and they equalised the series 1-1.

Perhaps MVP s issue had been that they simply didn t have enough RNG-based heroes. Phantom Assassin and Ogre Magi returned for game three, along with an unexpected Invoker and Axe pairing. And it was Forev s Axe that defined this game in an astonishing, game-conquering performance that propelled the underpicked hero into the spotlight. Dunk after dunk came down as Forev contained Miracle s Tinker and claimed the top spot on the net worth chart, proving something that I ve always believed but can t really back up: that Axe is the best hero in the entire game, god damn it.

At thirty minutes and close to thirty kills in the hole, OG s upper bracket run ended. The team that won two Majors and their group going into the International had fallen to the Korean dream. It was a spectacular start to the day.

Upper bracket: Wings vs. Digital Chaos

Digital Chaos pulled out the second Axe of the day against Wings, part of a smart aggressive draft designed to counter Wings Drow Ranger, a favourite of the current meta. At the start, it worked: Drow struggled in the laning phase and DC had free reign of the map for the first ten minutes. But a solid counterplay by Wings evened things out shortly after, and after that both teams became more cautious about engaging one another.

DC got split up and outplayed in a major teamfight at the thirty minute mark, the beginning of a decisive momentum swing in Wings direction. This time, Axe didn t work and some fantastic play by Wings.bLink locked out the game in the young Chinese team s favour.After a cautious but relatively conventional first game, Wings set course for clown town. They picked up Pudge in the draft, a lesser-seen support (yes, he s a support, people) who they ve nonetheless run effectively before. Then they picked Techies. There was no good reason to pick Techies at this point, except that they have some synergy with Pudge and I guess if you can win with your hands tied behind your back then you re sending a message that you can win it all.

Wings did not win it all. Techies had almost no impact, given what the hero is supposed to do, and while Pudge pulled off a few good hooks he had nowhere near the impact that a good standard defensive support could have had. DC took the game, but it felt very much like Wings had given them the game.

Having presumably gotten it out of their systems, Wings departed Silly Dota for the third game. Despite having iceice s Chen counterpicked by Riki (also a support, by the way), absolutely phenomenal play in the laning stage put the Chinese team ahead. Centaur Warrunner made his tournament debut as a solid counter to Riki, and Wings picked up a big lead that let them deathball into a straightforward victory. They advance, DC drop to the lower bracket.

Lower bracket: TNC Pro Team vs. Vici Gaming Reborn 

The first of the brutal lower bracket best of ones pitched underestimated SEA team TNC against Vici Gaming Reborn, a powerful Chinese team struggling with a last-minute roster switch. VGR drafted the day s third Axe, along with Weaver, Mirana, and Storm Spirit: all heroes vulnerable to silence. TNC drafted Silencer.

Good early rotations from VGR put the game in their hands until TNC had the levels and farm they needed to bring their fight online. The game entered a passive phase with both teams trading relatively evenly, but the combination of Batrider initiations and Silencer s global silence created pressure on VGR s vulnerable core heroes. This game came down to pickoffs rather than teamfights, with a snipe on Weaver at 35 minutes opening up VGR s base to TNCs surging forces. It was the opportunity they needed. With Batrider controlling the back line, TNC.Raven s Terrorblade became a battering ram that smashed VGR s International hopes. TNC advance to face OG today.

Lower bracket: Team Secret vs. LGD

This was a clash of titans: two of the greatest drafters and captains in the history of the game, Secret s Puppey and LGD s xiao8, going head to head in one game with everything on the line. Both teams had underperformed in the group stage Secret more so but there was no clear favourite here. It was simply too close to call.

And then, after only a few quiet minutes, LGD picked up a surge of momentum unlike anything scene in the tournament so far. A spectacularly well-judged first blood on Secret.Arteezy s mid Alchemist by LGD.Maybe s Juggernaut broke the game open for him in particular, as he abandoned the farming carry role in pursuit of a map-wide reign of terror. For fifteen minutes straight, LGD dominated Secret. This game that was supposed to be so close gods colliding on a mountaintop had become a beating in a carpark.

But Secret held the line. They got a few much-needed kills, split the map, and picked up the farm they needed on Alchemist and EternalEnvy s Terorrblade. Radiance and illusion spam, reinforced by Shadow Demon, helped them withstand push after push. What looked to be a 20-minute stomp became a 45-minute slugfest, and it just kept going.

A godly turn by Secret.pieliedie on defensive support Shadow Demon was illustrative of the phenomenal good judgement that kept Secret in this game. They proved that Dota doesn t have a surrender option for a reason: that any game can be won, approached in the right way. Yet that judgement lapsed from time to time: pressure to make a play and get back on an even keel lead to mistakes, and mistakes lead to sieges that trapped Secret in their base. Despite the farm being picked up by Secret s carries, LGD s Ember Spirit and Juggernaut were getting fatter too. LGD also had their own phenomenal defensive support payer in MMY! on Winter Wyvern, whose Cold Embrace ensured that Secret couldn t turn a defense into a disaster for their opponents.

65 minutes in, LGD.Agressif made the call and picked up a Divine Rapier on Ember Spirit. This was the damage spike LGD needed, making Secret s cautious defensive positioning far less secure. A few careless deaths and buyback expenditures raised the stakes higher than the western supergroup could deal with, and finally with Envy and Arteezy dead and their final lane of barracks under threat Secret called it. They took a 20-minute dumpstering and turned it into a phenomenally tense game of Dota, but it wasn t enough. Given the team s instability over the past year, Secret s future was uncertain as they left the stage.

Lower bracket: Fnatic vs. Escape

Wildcard second-place Escape pulled out another Axe what a time to be alive in this game, and it almost bought them the momentum they needed to overcome their better-established opponents. But Fnatic had better lategame prospects in Phantom Lancer and Templar Assassin, better pushing power in Shadow Shaman, and the ability to turn any fight into a gold lead with Bounty Hunter. All of these factors conspired to put Escape, with their midgame focused draft of melee strength heroes, at a disadvantage.

As the game tipped ever more in Fnatic s favour it seemed as if nerves had gotten the better of Escape. Their drafted suggested all-in aggression what do Night Stalker, Axe and Slardar do if not dunk people but they never really committed to it, seemingly too afraid to lose the lead they built up in the early game. They lost it anyway. A cautious Axe is a sad Axe, after all, and an Axe getting two-shotted by a farmed up Templar Assassin is even sadder. Fnatic were pushing high ground at 22 minutes and Escape crumbled. Fnatic didn t have the best group stage, but this was a definite sign of life for the South East Asian team.

Lower bracket: Team Liquid vs. Na’Vi

The heartbreaker. Liquid and Na Vi are fan favourite teams for many good reasons: their playstyles, their players, their legacy. Liquid captain KuroKy and legendary Na Vi midlaner Dendi were both crucial parts of classic Na Vi, a team whose fame and popularity is unlikely to ever be surpassed. A couple of months ago Liquid would have been the clear favourite going into this matchup, but meeting like this after a rough group stage for both teams was unexpected and uncertain.

It started off very well for Na Vi. Their signature aggression came online around the map. They took trades, but they got the better deal in most cases. KuroKy s Bounter Hunter wasn t allowed to control the pace of the game as Dendi s Queen of Pain and GeneraL s Faceless Void created opportunities and capitalised on them. The first real fight was a wash, however, revealing that Liquid weren t out of it yet. Liquid struck back with a pickoff on Ditya Ra s Nature s Prophet, but Na Vi snuck Roshan. Then, KuroKy countered a Na Vi smoke play and killed their courier, opening up the map for Liquid.

Yet the fights were still very close. Once again, defensive supports became the key: Liquid.JerAx s Shadow Demon and Na Vi.SoNNeik0 s Oracle acting as rocks for each of their teams. And once again also Axe, in the hands of Liquid.MinD_ContRoL, became the hero that his team needed. Suddenly the only heroes that Na Vi could pray on became Liquid s supports, while Liquid s cores took the better half of the trade every time they fought. Culling Blade after Culling Blade shifted the advantage over to Liquid, but it was a clutch defensive Disruption at the foot of Na Vi s base by JerAx that won it. After 35 minutes, Na Vi s resolve crumbled. Dendi followed his old captain, Puppey, out of the International. Of that legendary lineup, only KuroKy remains.

The International 2016 is the biggest event in the Dota 2 calendar. Now in its sixth year, the stakes have never been higher: with an extraordinary prize pool nearing twenty million dollars, the winners of this week s tournament will earn a pot that exceeds the total career earnings of top-level players in other games.

Yet the prize itself isn t the reason you should watch this year s International. You should watch because this is one of the most exciting team esports on PC, and because every year Valve improve the production that surrounds the tournament. This is a very dynamic scene, too: Dota 2 is internationally competitive and no one region or team dominates the competitive world. Last week s dramatic group stages were full of upsets, setting us up for a dramatic main event. This year s winner could easily be a team that didn t even exist last year, or from a region that has never won an International before.

This guide is intended to help newcomers to enjoy the event, and to get returning fans up to speed if you ve not followed the competitive scene closely in the last couple of months. Over the following pages you ll find everything you need to spectate the event, along with a summary of the group stage and a beginner-friendly overview of the key heroes and items of the current metagame the pro community s collective sense of which characters and strategies are in the ascendant.

If you re looking for more information on the teams themselves, please check out last week s in-depth round-up, now updated for the main event. It s up to you how you use these resources: you can dip into the team guide when it s relevant to the game you re watching, or you can read it all to help you shape your predictions going into the playoffs. If you're looking for newcomer tips for Dota 2 in general, check out our Dota 2 beginner's guide: some of the resources listed may well help you follow the International, too.

Contents

What happened in the group stage?A beginner s guide to the TI6 metaThe teams of the International 2016

 EVENT OVERVIEW

Dates, times and places

This year s International takes place from Monday the 8th to Saturday the 13th of August at KeyArena in Seattle, USA. Play will begin at 10:00 PDT/13:00 ET/18:00 BST/19:00 CEST every day, with the longest days taking place towards the beginning of the week. The exact timing of each match is variable because Dota 2 games have no fixed length: they end when they end. There have also been unfortunate issues with delays and DDOSing at previous Internationals, so keep checking Twitch and Twitter for updates if there s a particular matchup you want to see.

From the semi finals onwards, expect to be able to gauge the start time of matches with a little more certainty. For a full schedule, check out the official International site.

Where to watch

You ve got a lot of options for watching the International online. The most straightforward are the Twitch and YouTube streams, which, well, y know. They re streams. You can also watch using Valve s own streaming site, DotaTV this is more closely integrated into the game and allows you to manipulate vital stat-tracking graphs and charts yourself. It s also less popular, so the chat is usually less of a trainwreck than you might find elsewhere (no guarantees on that front.)

You can watch the games through the Watch tab in the game client, which allows you to control the camera yourself, pick which commentary team you want to listen to, and so on. You can also load in with a group of friends, which is a great way to watch the tournament if you ve got buddies who share your interests. Doing your own ad-hoc cast of a pro game can be more fun than tuning into the official broadcast.

This year there s also the spectacular Dota VR Hub, if you re lucky enough to own a HTC Vive. This allows you to watch the games on a massive virtual screen surrounded by life-size statues of the heroes being played before leaping down into the game itself to stride the battlefield like a giant: or experience it from ground-level, as I attempted last week. It can be a little tricky to follow games closely in VR, but if you ve got the kit then you ve got to try it at least once.

The format

Six teams were invited to the International directly, at Valve s discretion. Then, a series of four International qualifiers Europe, North America, South East Asia and China provided two teams each for a total of 14. The third place teams in each region entered the wildcard, a mini-tournament that was played last week. The top two teams from the wildcard won spots in the main event, rounding out the final 16.

In the group stages, those teams were divided into two groups of 8. They then played a round robin over three days with a best-of-two format. The top four teams in each group get to begin the main event in the upper bracket, and the very best among them got to choose their first opponents. Teams that did poorly in the group stage will have to fight for their tournament lives on day one of the main event in the lower bracket.

Via the official site, here are the current standings:

The first day will see two games played in the quarter finals followed by all four best-of-ones in the lower bracket. The latter are particularly brutal, as each team and there are some fan favourites in there only has one chance to stay in the tournament. Expect upsets, pocket strategies, and surprises. Don't miss it.

The prize pool

• First place: $8,758,391
• Second place: $3,284,396
• Third place: $2,090,070
• Fourth place: $1,393,380
• Fifth and sixth place: $895,744
• Seventh and eight place: $497,636
• Ninth to twelfth place: $298,581
• Thirteenth to sixteenth place: $99,527 

Expect all of those numbers to go up over the next week, too: for every $1 that is spent on the in-game International Compendium and Battle Pass, $0.25 is added to the pot.

Last year, I measured the size of the International prize pool in killer whales. This year, the winners will be able to afford their own island in Washington state. Trump Island (no relation to The Donald) near Decatur is the perfect place to train for next year's International and will only set them back $8,750,000. If the players don't want to share, however, then their cut of the top prize is enough to get them a large island in British Columbia each.

Those who drop out of the main event early will need to settle for sharing a freehold in Fiji.

On the next page: the drama of the group stage.

 WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GROUP STAGE?

Upsets, is what. If your Compendium predictions weren t in tatters by day three of the group stage, you re Nostradamus. Tournament favourite OG did as well as expected, winning group A. Noted Chinese outfits Wings and Newbee also did well but that's where the expected results end. Wildcard team EHOME emerged as the shock winners of group B, while returning champions EG demonstrated a confident return to form that placed them second only to OG in their group. Underdogs Digital Chaos emerged as another surprise smash in group B, while Alliance and MVP Phoenix dodged the lower bracket by inches.

Wildcard second place finisher Escape Gaming was the clear loser of group A, while Vici Gaming Reborn's pre-tournament visa issues seem to have condmened them to same fate in group B. The surprisingly poor performance of hot tickets Secret, Liquid, and LGD put their place in the top-tier in question, while Na'Vi struggled to find wins consistently enough to make the cut. Through all of this, another underestimated team TNC Pro Gaming snuck ahead and only narrowly missed out on the upper bracket.

Day one

The first day began with an incredibly tense, hard-fought series between OG and LGD suggesting that the latter hadn't been held back too badly by the visa problems that necessitated a last-minute roster switch. Elsewhere, Wings got off to a shaky start against EG and Na'Vi and Escape both traded wins. Alliance cleaned up against TNC before being themselves wiped out by OG. EG and LGD picked up steam against Na'Vi and Escape respectively, but Wings fell short, surprisingly, against underdogs TNC before reclaiming some points against Escape as the remaining group A teams traded even.

In group B, Secret got off to a strong start against Vici Gaming while EHOME beat Fnatic and the rest of the group traded evenly. Secret would later trade wins with MVP Phoenix while Newbee and DC cleaned up. EG, LGD and OG emerged as the leaders of group A while Secret, EHOME, Newbee and DC shared the top spot in group B.

Day two

This was a great day for EG as they won their two sets 2-0 against Escape and TNC. The return of the classic Na'Vi-Alliance matchup went Alliance's way in both games but the Swedes later conceded two to Wings, curbing their momentum somewhat. Na'Vi bounced back with a 2-0 victory over LGD while OG beat Escape and traded evenly with Wings. Continuing on from day one, OG and EG emerged as the leaders of group A.

The real surprises of the day took place in group B, where Digital Chaos a team often overshadowed by the likes of EG, OG and Liquid cleaned up with 2-0 victories over both Secret and Newbee. Secret had a terrible day in general, losing out to both EHOME and Fnatic and plummeting down the standings. EHOME emerged as the biggest winners of the day, cleaning up in all of their sets, while MVP Phoenix, Vici Gaming Reborn, Fnatic and Liquid struggled for position in the middle. When the smoke cleared, EHOME a wildcard team was the clear leader in group B, with DC unexpectedly close behind.

Day three

Several teams knew that their position in the upper bracket was safe going into day three, while others knew that they were going to be fighting elimination in the lower bracket. The day's real drama took place among the teams in the middle, whose hopes of survival in the main event not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars rode on a handful of games. Alliance were the big winners, here, inching close to disaster by trading 1-1 with Escape before scoring a surprise 2-0 victory over EG to earn a spot in the upper bracket.

Na'Vi were less fortunate. Their day started well with a 2-0 win over Wings, but they were outmaneuvered by OG and failed to get the points they needed to avoid the lower bracket. In group B, EHOME and DC continued to clean up, only ceding losses to each other. Meanwhile, Vici Gaming Reborn emerged as the group's clear loser, while Liquid, Secret and Fnatic all tied 5-9 overall: allowing MVP Phoenix to inch into the upper bracket despite having a negative 6-8 record.

On the next page: a glance at the new meta.

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO THE CURRENT META 

This year s metagame is going to present a challenge to newcomers, as Dota has rarely been as varied or competitive as it is this year. Across the group stage, 101 heroes were picked out of the 110 that are available in competitive play. That s an extraordinarily high number, indicating the enormous amount of viable drafts and strategies available to a top-tier team. Even so, a couple of themes are emerging.

Momentum is tremendously important to every team s success in Dota 2. That can mean something tangible, like a gold or experience lead, or it can be subtle: psychological pressure, information about enemy movements, and so on. Teams work to build this momentum during the early part of the game, the laning phase, at which point much of the drama of a match comes from that team s success or failure at converting that momentum into objectives like towers, barracks, and Roshan.

Many of this year s top picks are contested because they re very good at building momentum for their team. Drow Ranger and Huskar are great examples of this, but for different reasons. Drow gives a passive damage boost to all of her allied ranged heroes, making it easier for characters like Invoker to win their lanes. She s also a fantastic siege unit when time comes to push towers.

A well-supported Huskar has a similar effect. This hero, once out of favour, becomes almost unkillable the closer he gets to death. If his supports can sustain him on the brink, the character is almost broken: a snowballing spear-tossing flaming ball of death that ends games very, very quickly. He s been the source of multiple upsets during the group stages.

There are plenty of other examples, many of which are unpacked below. While it s impossible to give a rundown of every character that might be picked particularly in this meta these are characters you can expect to see a lot. Where possible, I ve also included a picture of their Immortal particle effects: cosmetics that alter the way certain abilities look, which is potentially confusing for returning spectators. First, however, let s run through the items that newcomers need to be aware of.

I should stress that you needn't worry if you don't take all of this information in right away. Read it through, and return here if something confuses you later on. Dota 2 is best absorbed slowly, not crammed in all at once. The best way to learn is, as ever, by watching the games.

THE ITEMS

Town Portal Scroll

TP scrolls are a vital part of the game. These allow players to teleport to a friendly structure, saving essential travel time. These cost money and are on a fairly long cooldown, and being caught unable to teleport can be lethal. They can also be used as an escape, but the channeling process can be interrupted by crowd control effects. Look for the telltale circular ring of light.

Blink Dagger

A Blink Dagger allows any hero to teleport a short distance on a relatively low cooldown. This is essential for many initiator heroes like Tidehunter, Batrider and Sand King. You ll hear a lot about a player s blink timing this is how fast they re able to build this essential item. Blink can also be cancelled by damage, meaning that it gains a short cooldown whenever the hero holding it takes a hit.

Black King Bar

Dota 2 s most impactful defensive item, Black King Bar makes a hero immune to magic damage and most crowd control effects. It also makes them huge and gold, which is a bonus. You ll see this come out often on carries, and its arrival is often a sign that a team is ready to take fights as a unit. BKB lasts 10 seconds the first time it is used and then loses a second of its duration with every subsequent use down to 5 seconds. For this reason, you ll often hear casters lament if a player wastes their 10 second charge.

Eul s Scepter

Eul s Scepter allows a character to propel themselves or an enemy into the air atop a swirling cyclone. Heroes are immune to damage while in the air, and it can be used to interrupt channeled abilities and TP scrolls. Sometimes used defensively, it s also often used to catch fleeing heroes or set up combos with skillshots.

Force Staff and Hurricane Pike

Force Staff allows a character to thrust themselves, an ally or an enemy forward a certain distance. It has loads of defensive and offensive applications, and if you see a character suddenly boost out of danger then chances are they or one of their supports just forced them. Hurricane Pike is a new item, an upgrade to the Force Staff with an additional use: when used on an opponent, both heroes will be forced away from one another: but the Pike user will still be able to attack their opponent with unlimited range.

Armlet of Mordiggian

Often just called armlet , this item is one of the most visible momentum boosts in the game. When activated, it gives melee carries a big boost in damage and hitpoints (and purple hands) while draining their health until it is switched off. You re very likely to see a technique called armlet toggling , where a character switches their armlet on and off in between damage instances in order to continually reapply the hitpoint boost and soak up damage. This is incredibly risky, as between each toggle the hero has only a single hitpoint and the bonus health doesn t kick in straight away, but in the hands of a skilled player it s a breathtaking way to absorb obscene amounts of damage.

THE HEROES

Beastmaster

Beastmaster has had a place in the meta for a long time now, and for good reason. His ultimate, Primal Roar, is a lengthy and reliable AoE stun. He s also able to summon a scouting hawk and a boar with a nasty slow, providing his team with good general utility, pushing power, and the potential to secure pick off kills.

Elder Titan

Elder Titan is now a common pick and ban thanks to his unique disable. Echo Stomp activates after a short channeling period, applying a lengthy sleep effect to every enemy caught in its blast. Elder Titan can also project an astral duplicate of himself that casts Echo Stomp whenever he does, extending the ability s area of effect. Enemies that are asleep wake up if they take damage, but skilled players can work around this and its disruptive effect on a teamfight, as well as its power against massed pushes, accounts for the hero s new popularity.

Riki

Once simply the bane of low-level pub games, a reworked Riki has now found a home in the pro scene as a roaming support. His permanent invisibility gives him obvious potential as a scout and he provides control in fights with his silencing Smoke Screen. His new ultimate, Tricks of the Trade, removes him from the map while he invisibly strikes every enemy within a circular AoE. If you see a lot of people dying inside a big pink ring, Riki has happened.

Shadow Demon

Shadow Demon has made a triumphant return to the meta lately as a long series of buffs finally bore fruit. He provides utility to his team as a support hero with much of his power centring around Disruption. This encases an enemy or ally in an orb for several seconds, during which time they re immune to damage and completely disabled. As they emerge they re joined by two illusory duplicates under the control of Shadow Demon. Disruption has offensive potential, particularly in combination with heroes with skillshot disables like Mirana and Elder Titan. It also helps Shadow Demon s team transition into a push, as using it on a beefy ally creates illusions that can help with a siege.

Mirana

Changes to Mirana s abilities and itemisation have given her new life as a roaming carry with powerful magical burst damage. Her skillshot, Sacred Arrow, now instantly kills any creep it hits with the exception of ancients. This makes it much easier for Mirana to farm, as she can start killing high-level jungle creeps from the very start of the game. This farm is increasingly going towards items that boost her magic damage, like her new Aghanim s Scepter upgrade that causes her to trigger her Starstorm nuke constantly as long as she s near an enemy.

Io

Io has been first ban material for a long time, and this was particularly true in the group stage. He plays well into the current meta due to his ability to sustain allies with Tether and Overcharge: he s one of a number of supports that plays well with Huskar. Relocate is still a powerful ganking and map control tool, giving Io and his tethered friend the ability to suddenly appear anywhere on the map.

Drow Ranger

Much of Drow s power in this meta comes from the ranged damage boost that she grants her team, as mentioned earlier. But she has useful control options in her toolkit, too. Gust is a knockback and silence that makes her a little less vulnerable to heroes that can blink on top of her, and players have started picking up Hurricane Pike as a way of giving her increased survivability and control. She's certainly benefited from better item options after the last couple of patches.

Huskar

A Huskar pick is risky because, if anticipated and countered, he s terrible. Get the right start, however, and he s terrifying: a leaping, flaming spearman that becomes more powerful the closer he gets to death. His ultimate, Life Break, is what you re seeing when he leaps through the air at a target. This sacrifices a chunk of Huskar s health in order to rip out an equivalent chunk of his opponent, making him naturally strong against characters that rely on deep HP pools to survive. He needs the right support, however.

Dazzle

Dazzle is one of those supports. The key ability here is Shallow Grave, pictured. For as long as an ally is encased in Dazzle s column of pink light, they can t be reduced below 1 hitpoint. This has obvious synergy with Huskar s love of danger, but it s a powerful sustain tool regardless of the character that Dazzle is supporting. Expect to see a lot of the Shadow Priest at TI6.

Oracle

Oracle is one of Dota s newer supports and also one of the more confusing. The main thing you need to know is that he provides damage, control, damage mitigation and healing, and that all of these things are mixed together and different effects can be produced based on how he times his abilities. The game changer, however, is his ultimate False Promise. This purges most negative status effects from an ally while temporarily pausing all damage and healing done to them. This damage and healing isn t applied until False Promise s duration ends, and healing is doubled. In the right circumstances, this allows Oracle to guarantee that an ally survives a battle and allows them to soak up a tremendous number of nukes while they re at it.

Batrider

A perennial favourite, Batrider s ability to roam the map setting up kills for his allies with Flaming Lasso is once again relevant in the new meta. Batrider can also pump out a respectable amount of magic damage with Firefly, which allows him to fly over obstacles while leaving a trail of flame in his wake.

That s all for now! Hopefully this guide will help you get the most out of one of the year s most exciting esports events. Check PC Gamer Pro every day during the international for highlights, analysis and more.

Dota 2's new VR spectator hub is spectacular and strange. The Dota community cries out for many things: for the absentee hero Pit Lord, for a new patch, for the next round of Immortals, for their +25 MMR back, and so on. Nobody to my knowledge was crying out for the ability to stick their head fully inside a game of professional Dota 2. Nobody has petitioned for the ability to get all up in the game's business, to stalk virtual squirrels through the undergrowth and experience the life of a creep.

Well, I did. But I was joking.

Last night, I decided to watch an entire game of the International's group stage in VR. Not only that, but I forbade myself from using either the lobby, which allows you to watch the game on a relatively ordinary virtual screen, or the zoom-out function that allows you stare down at the battlefield from above like god.

No. I was going to experience this battle from the ground, like the war reporter that my lack of experience, ability, courage and level of physical fitness precludes me from being.

I am sitting on a rock in Na'Vi's fountain. The draft is ongoing, and no heroes roam the battlefield yet. It's very quiet. The shopkeeper, who is very tall, beams at me from across his anvil. I wait. I can hear the casters discussing the pick-ban phase, but without being able to see it the process doesn't hold my attention. The Radiant base is quite pleasant, actually. It reminds me of that part of a garden centre which sells faux-marble statuary to people with terrible taste.

Suddenly, Na'Vi appear in front of me. They're inert and lifeless at first, as I presume their game clients jutter through the transition from drafting menu to game proper. I wave, because it seems like the thing to do. Then they're off, rushing past me: somebody teleports out immediately in a massive flash of light. I consider who to follow and settle on Dendi's Mirana.

This... feels weird. Due to the physical limitations of the Vive my movement chiefly takes the form of short teleporting 'hops', not entire unlike Dota 2's actual Blink power. I get comfortable with it quite quickly, and I'm able to follow Dendi closely has he rushes down to midlane. There's an eerie sense of actually following somebody, which is compounded by the fact that Dendi doesn't know I'm 'there'.

I understand that players must know that they're being spectated, in some abstract sense, but I'm... there. I'm on the map with him! Na'Vi have six team members, and one of them is a me, an idiot! I feel like I'm tresspassing, like I'm about to get chucked out of the game by International security.

Shit! Na'Vi's opponents, TNC, are hidden across the river under the cover of Smoke of Deceit! I can see them because I'm technically a spectator, but Dendi can't. Does he know? Am I on his side? Should I warn him? I jump up and down and wave frantically, like a moron.

Dendi's game sense warns him to the danger, however, and TNC's strike at midlane fails. Or perhaps this was my doing? Perhaps, in some strange cosmic way, Dendi felt that somebody was trying to warn him. Perhaps every time you've thought 'I bet they're doing Roshan' or 'their supports have been missing too long' you've actually been secretly warned by a tiny invisible man.

This almost certainly isn't true, in any way, at all.

I can just about follow the battle over the creep wave in midlane. I stand on Dendi's side of the river and cheer him on as he contests for farm. From down here, creeps aren't just little bags of gold waiting to be cracked open: they're about my height. The heroes are tall, dazzlingly colourful, and very much unlike me, but I find the creeps with their bad posture and silly way of running rather relatable.

They are dying in droves.

Yeah! Early aggression from Dendi and SoNNeikO forces Kuku's Tinker under his tower, and they close in for the kill. I've become rather factional, despite having no horse in this particular wizard race, simply because it was Na'Vi's fountain that I chose to start in. I'm from the Radiant fountain, you see, and therefore fuck this Tinker guy. "Eat it, Tinker!" I jeer, thrusting my controllers back and forth like the shit weedy child that accompanies most schoolyard bullies.

I understand that the control this kill gives Dendi over his midlane is important, and I'm aware from the ambient commentary that first blood has already gone to TNC elsewhere. But my perspective is so localised that this amounts to information that I know but don't feel. My sense of the game as a whole, usually crucial to spectating Dota, is entirely absent. But I feel remarkably attached to this moon-cat-riding archer lady and her ice dragon friend.

I accompany my two new friends on a smoke gank to the Dire jungle. This is excting! I creep up the stairs, where I see TNC's Beastmaster jungling. Assuming that he's their target, I sneak closer for a look: but they're already on their way to the safelane. Very quickly, I become lost in the jungle. It's only when I see the lights of a teamfight that I know where to look.

Jesus Christ. From the ground, a Dota teamfight is chaos. I feel like I've just wandered into the middle of a football match, and I have a pressing feeling that I'm about to get into somebody's way. I can't really tell what's going on. I lose Dendi in the chaos and the fight doesn't seem to go Na'Vi's way. Lacking any kind of UI I have no way of gauging anybody's cooldowns or relative power. This fight between Beastmaster, Faceless Void and Disruptor amounts to three brightly-coloured muscular topless magic men smacking each other in a wet disco.

What a time to be alive.

I find Dendi in the Radiant offlane just in time for a fifteen minute pause. Somewhere, outside of this game I now live in, somebody in a hotel in Bellevue is having a problem with their headset. This all seems rather alien to me as I hear about it from the ground. I have time to wander a little through this frozen, grey kingdom. Here's a fun fact: water never pauses in Dota, but fire does. Makes you think.

Bored, I teleport up to the ward spot near the Radiant secret shop and have a lie down. I lie there, on the floor and/or on the ward spot, and wait. Suddenly colour returns to the sky and the pause ends. I spring to my feet, feeling compelled to shout "I'm up, I'm up!" like I've been caught napping on the job.

Near Dendi's position I discover a stacked camp in the Dire jungle. I'd always thought of camp stacking as a rather benign affair but it's quite intense in person. It's so cramped: particularly for those poor little skeletons, who seem to be having a terrible time. I wonder, for the first time in 2,500 hours of Dota 2, why neutral creeps live in camps.

There is a whole jungle out there, guys! There's a lot of space. You don't need to live like this. What are you afraid of? Who hurt you?

Then it occurs to me that they are afraid of the giant colourful magic men who come and murder them every minute, every day, forever.

Dendi murders these centaurs while I watch, silently. Then he murders some golems. Sometimes he throws an arrow sideways, and I watch it sail through the air until it murders something else. He has his Aghanim's Scepter by this point, I realise, as barrage after barrage of lunar energy brings a terrible unfeeling wrath upon the creatures of the forest. Dendi is farming well, a caster observes far above me.

Then I met a squirrel the size of a dog with a single giant triangle for a face. He can't be killed because he isn't worth any money, which is the law of the jungle and also capitalism.

Dendi dies in an engagement in midlane, I think (I'm lost.) Hiding behind a tree, I watch TNC begin their push. It's very impressive. I instinctively don't want to get in the way of Tinker's March of the Machines or Beastmaster's Necronomicon creatures. Watching a big purple goblin, a bodybuilder, a gnome in an exoskeleton, hundreds of tiny robots, a magic boar, a blue woman, and the angry purple ghost of a bird lady lay siege to a big marble tower with a face, I realise: Dota is weird.

From the steps of the Radiant base, my home, I watch her defenders sally forth. I wonder why they keep running into the March of the Machines: down there on the ground, wading into a sea of knee-high razorbots seems like a terrible idea. Nonetheless, off they go. There are jungle creatures to murder.

I find Dendi again and follow him as Na'Vi stalk under the cover of Moonlight Shadow to Dire's midlane. Somebody drops an item near this ward but I can't tell what it is because it only appears to me as a giant treasure chest and the casters don't mention it. I can see what Na'Vi are trying to set up, vaguely, but unlike them I can spy TNC's position through the trees. The angles don't look right. I attempt to express caution through Vive controller semaphore to no avail. While gesticulating I brush my arm against my office cabinet, which I briefly mistake for a person.

"Hello" I say, to the cabinet.

Na'Vi's aggression in midlane is punished. Most of the action happens on the far side of Shadow Shaman's serpent wards so I don't see much of it properly. That is true generally for most of these fights. Vantage points like stairways and rune spots help, but the precision and decision making that goes into each action is lost on me. I do however make eye contact with TNC's Eyyou midway through the fight. He is a chicken when this occurs, but the condition is temporary.

Having won the fight, TNC enter the Roshan pit. I had always imagined this place as a deep cavern, but it's actually a little small. Roshan himself is pretty impressive, but he clearly doesn't have enough space. This is like those mini 'apartments' in London that are actually somebody's refurbished garage and cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to live in. Roshan is, I suppose, a victim of globalisation, irresponsible marketeering, and insufficient rent control. He is also very presently going to become a victim of being murdered for the magic orb he keeps in his brain.

Imbued with the power of the Aegis and presumably winning a game that I find increasingly hard to follow, TNC lay siege to the Radiant base. Creep meets creep in hand to hand combat. Heroes die and buy back and charge out of the fountain only to die again. I have no idea what is going on and it is terrifying.

I find Dendi surrounded by springloaded clockwork razorbots. A horned goblin holding three eyeballs and a placid expression does yoga poses in the midst of the melee, as an orange samurai finally overcomes the blue woman that just blew up his house. There are bodies and gold coins everywhere. There are voices in the sky and they are shouting.

Na'Vi have one last shot at staying in this and it means laying claim to Roshan or at least preventing TNC from doing so. I know this because the voices in the sky are talking about it. They also say that the Roshan pit is a trap laid by TNC. I understand what this means in principle but I don't really feel it until the trap is sprung. I hang back as Na'Vi charge ahead, and watch as they're caught in a tidle wave of blue and purple magic that blindsides them completely. Dendi vanishes into the chaos.

My god, it's full of wizards.

The battle/disco/massacre at the Roshan pit clears TNC's pathway to the Radiant ancient. It's almost peaceful without Na'Vi's heroes here to oppose TNC's slow siege. Raven's Drow Ranger slays a squat little creep with every arrow, glowing a healthy shade of green as she does so. A tower crumbles at my feet.

Suddenly everybody and everything stops: Na'Vi have called GG. I can't see the words but I see it in the map itself a sudden anticlimax followed by the spectacular detonation of the Radiant ancient. Blue light rockets into the sky and cherry blossoms tumble down around me as the world itself comes to an end.

I have just spectated a game of Dota 2 and now I need a drink and a lie down and possibly a drink while lying down.

The group stages are over and the brackets for the main event are set. The teams you'll find over the following pages represent the best of international Dota, and are testament to the breadth, competitiveness and dynamism of the scene. You ll find many new names on the following pages, from players to the teams themselves. No one region or squad dominates this game, and this year s massive prize pool just shy of $20m at the time of writing could go to almost anyone. There are certainly favourites for the top spot, but it s a sign of a healthy scene when many of those favourites didn t even exist a year ago.

 THE TEAMS

 EHOME

EHOME qualified via the wildcard without dropping a series, which was in line with expectations for a team that wasn t expected to have to fight their way in through the wildcard at all. Even so, their performance wasn t flawless: they dropped a game to Execration and had to work hard for their victory against Escape. If they'd shaken the problems that dogged them since the Shanghai Major, it wasn't necessarily immediately obvious.

It is now, however. EHOME are one of the tournament's great success stories so far, following up on that wildcard performance with a stunning turn in the group stage. Winning their group 12-2, only DC and Liquid took games from them. After a humble start, EHOME could be on track to take it all.

Escape Gaming

Stop-start progress through the wildcard nonetheless carried new European team Escape through to the main event. This is a team comprised of a mix of veteran talent in qojqva, SyndereN and Era and talented newcomers in YapzOr and KheZu. KheZu in particular put in a star turn during the wildcard, keeping his team in the game with a run of fantastic initiations.

As expected, the group stage was tough on them. Finishing 2-12, they only managed to wrest wins away from Na'Vi and Alliance: teams that have also logged inconsistent performances so far. They will need to pull out something special to survive their lower bracket best-of-one against Fnatic. If they can pull together as a team and cut down on mistakes then they've got a shot, however: there's talent there, just not the polish to turn that talent into titles.

OG

This has been OG s year. Founded in 2015 as (monkey) Business, OG achieved a stunning surprise victory at the Frankfurt Major. This talented international squad has gone on to place consistently highly, winning the Manila Major a few months ago as well as ESL One Frankfurt and DreamLeague Season 5. Midlaner Miracle- has emerged from relative obscurity a year ago to become well known as one of the best players, if not the best player, in professional Dota. His virtuoso turns on heroes like Invoker and Shadow Fiend has won him and his team fans and titles.

OG are a safe bet to take it all this year, and their group stage performance backs that up: they were expected to do well, and did. In addition to their impressive track record, they re also notable for their attitude and outlook. In a scene often typified by instability, OG have managed to avoid roster drama and stress the importance of positive relationships and teamwork. The fact that they ve also translated this into success suggests that the Dota scene, in some ways, is starting to mature.

 Team Liquid 

Formerly 5Jungz, the new Liquid is a European team with a strong track record leading up to the International. Former Na'Vi and Team Secret support KuroKy is the heart of a versatile and creative squad that has only just lagged behind OG in terms of success over the last year. A win at Epicenter 2015 broke up a run of second and third-place finishes: Liquid have proven that they can do it, it simply remains to be seen whether they are doing it.

The group stages were rough on Liquid, however: rougher than anybody expected going into the event. Their run was unusually inconsistent. Liquid managed to take a game off EHOME but stumbled against DC and Secret, bested Fnatic but fell to Vici Gaming Reborn. They're simply not showing the sort of consistent form that they have done in the past.

Newbee

International 2014 champions Newbee return with an interesting and effective new lineup. They've picked up legendary support player ChuaN as well as kpii from TI5 fan darlings MVP Phoenix. They're joined by carry Hao, returning to Newbee after a stint at Vici Gaming in 2015, former EHOME support kaka, and midlaner Mu: the only Newbee member to have stuck with the organisation since their decisive victory in 2014.

Newbee begin this year's International in a strong position with a good recent track record. They proved in Nanyang last month that they can win against the best Chinese teams and they placed respectably at the Manila Major and Nanyang. Earlier in the year they pulled off a record-breaking 29 game win streak in professional play, an unprecedented tear that was only curtailed by their encounter with OG. Their games are very much worth watching, particularly for ChuaN's mastery of the support role and Hao's incredible aggression.

Newbee encountered some rough patches in the group stage, and odds are that they're not entirely happy with an 8-6 record and third place: but it's enough to keep them in the upper bracket. The dream of a second Newbee TI victory is still alive.

LGD Gaming

This year's LGD blends new and longstanding Dota talent. Stalwarts xiao8, MMY! and Maybe are joined by former CDEC carry Agressif, who achieved second place at last year's International as part of a phenomenal Cinderella run for the young Chinese team. As a squad, LGD have placed consistently highly and have become known for their tendency to encourage (and win) extremely long matches.

There's one major question mark over their prospects this year, however. Support player September was refused a visa to the United States after multiple attempts, so he's been replaced at TI6 by LGD's coach, Banana. Banana's a great player with a vast amount of experience, but a change like this is hardly ideal on the eve of the biggest event of the year. A rough 5-9 run through the group stage suggests that they are indeed struggling, despite a nail-biting series against OG that indicated that this is still a world-class team. Their best-of-one elimination match against Secret is likely to be equally tense.

 Team Secret

At one point considered the scariest western team in Dota 2, Secret were formed as a supergroup of sorts when multiple longstanding squads dissolved in 2014. Puppey, Arteezy and EternaLEnVy are some of the most recognisable personalities in the professional scene.

Secret have had a mixed year, however. Their standout success was a victory at the Shanghai Major, which followed a second place finish in Frankfurt but other than that, they've logged too many mid-table finishes for comfort. Bombing out of the Manila Major early, last-minute roster drama meant that they had to fight their way into the International via the public qualifier. Their instability and inconsistency, combined with their fame, gives Secret dark horse potential: but that potential spluttered out in the group stage. A 5-9 run on par with Liquid is worse than anybody expected, betraying an inconsistency of performance that they need to overcome if they're going to survive the lower bracket.

Secret's fans are praying for a miracle right now, and they'll be looking to Puppey to provide one. If one of Dota's most famous strategists is holding anything back, he needs to deploy it soon.

 MVP Phoenix

Dota 2 is unusually internationally competitive relative to other esports, which is demonstrated by the fact that Korea is the underdog that everybody roots for rather than the overdog that wins everything. MVP Phoenix have surfed that wave of public support since their impressive performance at the International 2015.

A number of factors including compulsory military service have forced a roster shuffle since then. New captain DuBu is joined by returning players QO and Febby as well as transfers from sister squad MVP Hot6, FoREV and MP. They've continued to do well over the last year, scoring consistent top 8 finishes including a number of wins: at Dota Pit over EG and PLG 2016 over CDEC. The arrival of high-level Korean Dota hasn't meant the end of the world for everybody else, but they are performing better and better. Their group stage performance, 6-8, was just good enough to clinch them a place in the upper bracket. They will need to work extremely hard to hold on to their lead, however, as they lost more games than any other team to make it this far.

 Natus Vincere

The original fan favourite Dota squad is on resurgent form after a few years of uncertainty in the aftermath of The International 2014. The new squad recently took the title at StarSeries Season 2, defeating Team Secret 3-1. They fell to OG at ESL One Frankfurt but nonetheless took second place. After their time in the wilderness, Na'Vi are (at least mostly) back.

Midlaner Dendi remains one of the most famous faces in the Dota scene, but more and more attention is being paid to his teammates. In particular, support and captain SoNNeikO is emerging as one of the most talented team players around. Meanwhile, offlaner GeneraL has turned niche support hero Sand King into a first-ban worth monster that demonstrates his commanding skill in the role.

This didn't quite translate into the group stage they wanted, however, as a run of poor engagements knocked them out of game after game. Na'Vi like to build up momentum early and end the game fast and seemed to struggle whenever that momentum was denied. They'll begin the tournament with a heartbreaker of an elimination match against Liquid.

 Wings Gaming

A relatively new Chinese team, Wings have rapidly emerged as one of the year's surprise success stories: even taking The Summit 5 finals 3-1 from the year's other surprise success story, OG. These are talented players that you may not be familiar with unless you've followed Chinese Dota closely over the last couple of years, but it's likely that you'll be familiar with them after this year's International.

They're tremendously versatile and aggressive, so expect some creative drafts and surprise hero picks. This dynamism is what allows Wings to threaten the championship hopes of better established teams, but their weakness is consistency. They tend to deliver a high-variance performance, which makes them exciting to watch but casts some doubt over their ability to make it the entire distance. They struggled on the first day of the group stage, ceding an unexpected loss to TNC. From that point they rallied to secure third place in their group, but their losses are enough to cast a shadow over their main event prospects.

Alliance 

Another dark horse, Alliance were the kings of the game three years ago. Their victory at The International 2013 is legendary, but they've never quite found the same form since. After a few experimental roster shifts, however, they've put that original band back together and have performed a little better since. This is still a team that can take matches off the best, but not one that you'd expect to turn out another undefeated run through the group stage.

As indeed they didn't. Known for a 'rat' playstyle that emphasises objectives and map control, Alliance have a habit of creating exciting games to watch whether they win or lose. Luckily, they managed to win more games than they lost in the group stage, securing an 8-6 finish and a place in the upper bracket that many would have expected to go to Secret, Na'Vi or Liquid. Despite dropping sets to OG and Wings, Alliance managed 2-0 victories over both EG and Na'Vi: watch the end of their first game against EG for an example of Alliance's charmed lategame in action.

Evil Geniuses

The defending champions, like their old rivals Secret, are arriving at TI6 following a period of roster drama and instability. In fact, the troubles of the two teams mirror each other closely because they keep firing and hiring each other's players. The new EG retains four out of five of the players who lifted the trophy last year, with the addition of briefly-retired support savant zai. UNiVeRsE also returns following a stint at Secret, meaning the power behind the $6m Echo Slam is back where it belongs.

EG's recent form has been hit and miss. They departed from the Manila Major extraordinarily early for a team of their caliber, and underperformed at Epicenter and StarSeries. Their last podium finish took place at The Shanghai Major. The TI6 group stage marked a return to form, however, with a performance second only to OG in their group. They took advantage of the Huskar metagame to crush a few early victories and showed themselves to be on good form overall, despite a few surprising losses along the way.

 TNC Pro Team

World-roaming American support player DeMoN joins an array of talent from the Philipines including former Mineski midlaner Kuku. This is a roster that has proven itself to be competitive within the SEA region after all, they won the SEA qualifier but whose viability on the world stage is questionable. They've not competed in many events of this scale, although DeMoN has been a fixture at the International as part of many different teams over the last couple of years.

What TNC have going for them is the fact that they're very likely to be underestimated by their opponents, and doing so can be fatal at the International. This proved to be the case in the group stage, as TNC surprised viewers with 2-0 victories over both Wings and LGD. They fell short elsewhere, however, and will begin the main event in the lower bracket: but having begun the event in relative obscurity, there's reason to believe that they could survive to cause further upsets in the lower bracket.

 Vici Gaming Reborn

Formerly Vici Gaming's second team Potential, Reborn have performed solidly lately although they're like to be seen as a weaker team than Chinese counterparts LGD and Wings. There's a lot of storied talent in their roster, however, including legendary support players fy and DDC. Midlaner Nono is newer to the scene, having only played professionally for a year.

Like LGD, Vici Gaming Reborn have been hit with visa problems. Offlaner Yang failed to secure his in time to compete in the tournament, so he'll be replaced by coach Mikasa for the duration of the tournament. Mikasa has a lot of history with the team, having filled in effectively for Nono earlier in the year at the StarLadder i-League Invitational, which VGR won. The last minute substitution does appear to have hurt VGR, however, as they came last in their group with a 4-10 record.

Digital Chaos 

DC is a team with a tremendously diverse roster, a grab bag of talent from different teams and regions. Support misery is one of the longest-serving and most versatile players in Europe, while Ukrainian carry Resolut1on joins after a long stint with Empire. w33 is a high level midlaner who became part of DC after falling victim to another Team Secret reshuffle, while Moo and pubstar Saksa are relatively new to the scene.

In that sense, Digital Chaos are a happy byproduct of the Dota 2 scene's instability: an unlikely alliance that is nonetheless capable of placing respectably at top-tier events. And they have emerged as this year's surprising underdog success story, going on a 11-3 tear that is only surpassed by the equally-surprising performance of EHOME. Almost everybody underestimated DC, but they won't any more: they're a rogue's gallery of talent and now they've provided that they've got the coordination and the ideas to translate it into consistent success. Beginning the main event in the upper bracket, they stand to go far.

Fnatic

South East Asian team Fnatic have had a consistent run of mid-table finishes at premier events over the last year, with their disappointing early exit from the Frankfurt Major eventually giving way to better results in Shanghai and Manila. This is a talented but inconsistent team that lives perennially on the fringe of the top tier.

Carry Mushi is one of the legends of the game, an extremely versatile presence with a deep hero pool. He's joined by former pubstar MidOne and veterans Ohaiyo, DJ and 343. Expect diverse picks and impressive role flexibility. If we're very lucky, we'll get to see Mushi play all five positions before the end of the tournament: although a disappointing 5-9 performance in the group stage means that they face elimination on the first day.

Keep reading PC Gamer Pro for news and highlights from the International as it happens.

The International 2016 began yesterday: it s the biggest event in the Dota 2 calendar and, with a prize pool creeping ever closer to $20m, the most lucrative esports event in history. Now that the wildcard bracket is behind us we ve got three days of group stages to look forward to. This massive round-robin will set the brackets for next week s main event.

The group stage has traditionally been a good place to get a sense of each team s condition: if we re in for an underdog success story this year, chances are that it ll become apparent over the next couple of days. Furthermore, the group stage is when the International metagame tends to emerge. While most teams share a sense of how this version of the game is best played at this point, it s not unprecedented for these assumptions to be turned on their head as new ideas are deployed during groups.

If you want to follow the full story of this year s tournament, then, the group stages are worth your attention. Below, you ll find the practical details you need to tune in. If you re looking for more information on a particular squad, check out our International teams guide.

 The format

The group stage divides the teams into two groups of eight group A and group B. Teams will play every other team in their group in a best-of-two match. These games will take place over three days. At the end of that period, the top four teams in each group will advance to the main event upper bracket while the remaining teams will face elimination in the lower bracket.

How to watch 

Matches are played on US west coast time starting at 09:00 PDT (18.00 CEST). Four games will be played concurrently, and as such there are four Twitch streams to follow: one, two, three and four. You can find the official schedule here, and missed matches can be found on the replay section of the official site.

Besides Twitch, you can also watch on DotaTV. There s also a full set of spectator tools within the game client, which allows you to choose your own commentary team and control the camera yourself. This year, Valve have also launched the Dota VR Hub a spectacular way to follow the action on the ground using the HTC Vive.

Keep reading PC Gamer Pro for news and highlights from the International as it happens.

The Dota 2 International begins in earnest on Wednesday, when the sixteen best teams in the world go to war in the group stages in the hopes of securing an advantageous start in next week's main event. Before then, however, we have tomorrow's wildcard bracket. Four teams will fight for two remaining spots in the International in a brutal double-elimination format with everything on the line.

I mean everything. The International's massive prize pool in excess of $19.2m and climbing at the time of writing is split between all sixteen finalists. Even the bottom-place finishers will walk away with close to $100,000. Not only are tomorrow's wildcard competitors fighting for the right to join the International proper, then, but for a prize in excess of the total pool of many smaller events.

The stakes are absurdly high. These four teams Escape Gaming, compLexity, Execration and EHOME all placed third in their respective regional qualifiers. This earned them one last shot at a place among the very best in their sport. Tomorrow, we'll learn which teams made the trip to Seattle in vain.

HOW TO WATCH

The games will be placed on US west coast time tomorrow. Valve don't yet list a time on the official schedule, but expect play to start around 10:00 PST (19:00 CEST).

You'll be able to watch the games on Twitch as well as via Valve's on proprietary Dota streaming service, DotaTV. You can also watch in the game client itself, which allows you full choice of commentary team as well as the ability to control the camera yourself if you prefer. For the first time, Valve are also offering VR spectating through the Dota VR Hub.If you miss any games, check out the replay section of the official site.

THE TEAMS

 compLexity Gaming 

compLexity put themselves on the map in 2015 with a better-than-expected performance at last year's International. Since then they've undergone a roster shift, losing MoonMeander and Fly to OG and bringing in three Swedes: Chessie, Limmp and Handsken. The new coL is a team that has proved itself capable of taking games off the very best, but is yet to place above the mid-table at a top-tier event. The team is also notable for including two sets of brothers in its roster in Chessie/Limmp and swindlemelonzz/Zfreek.

Their track record suggests that they've got a good chance of making it through the wildcard. compLexity are taking the International seriously and have brought in coaches and analysts to help them prepare. This could be the beginning of another underdog run, but they'll need to show something new if they want to escape the mid-table at the most competitive event of the year.

 EHOME

This isn't necessarily a name you'd expect to see in the wildcard. EHOME is one of the grand old houses of Chinese Dota, placing high at last year's International and performing well right up until the Shanghai Major, where their star fell a little. After a reshuffle, the new EHOME boasts a lot of talent, including longstanding Dota veterans like iceiceice and LanM. These are players more used to getting invited to the International than fighting their way in the long way.

As such, it'll be an upset if they don't qualify for the main event and if they do, they ve probably got the best shot out of any team in the wildcard at causing an upset in the group stages. That s not to say that they re a safe bet, by any means: their recent form has been hit and miss, hence why they re playing in the wildcard at all. But if you re assembling your fantasy draft in time for tomorrow s games, you could do worse than to slot in a couple of EHOME players.

 Escape Gaming

Formerly No Diggity, there's a lot of veteran European Dota talent in Escape Gaming including player-turned-caster-turned-player SyndereN, who last attended the International as a player in 2013. He's joined by former Fnatic/NiP carry Era and nomadic midlaner qojqva, returning to pro Dota after a break. That wealth of experience isn't evenly distributed, however: YapzOr and KheZu are both relative newcomers.

Escape have a mixed recent track record and the wildcard is likely to be a real test. But their performance against the top tier isn't what matters, at least in the short term: what matters is how they shape up against the other wildcard teams. In that regard, they have a shot at making the cut most odds favour them over Execration. Much depends on how they match up against compLexity, however, which makes their first game of the event one to watch.

 Execration

This is a team that hasn't competed much, or won, outside of South East Asia. Recent form suggests that they can be competitive with the other top SEA teams, but their performance is very variable. That, coupled with a lack of experience at events of this scale, means that Execration are the underdogs coming into the International wildcard.

That's no reason to count them out, however. Abed is the youngest player in the tournament at 15 and supremely talented the second highest-ranking player in SEA. Execration have the ability to perform at a high level, it's just a matter of whether they can bring that talent to bear when it counts. It's also worth remembering that the wildcard is a dangerous bracket and upsets can and do happen when the stakes are this high. For these teams, it all comes down to a handful of matches. With the right players and the right strategy, Execration certainly have a shot.

We ll be running more guides to the International, its competitors and metagame as the week progresses. You can find it all on PC Gamer Pro.

In this new series, advocates for the best competitive games on the PC explain why this is the perfect time to get into something new and what you'll need to get started.

If you've always been curious about Dota 2 but never taken that first step, then now is the perfect time. The biggest event in the Dota calendar, the International, is only a week away. Start today and you'll be in a great position to enjoy the event, and the event itself is one of the best ways to deepen your appreciation for the game. My relationship with Dota 2 began right before TI2 in 2012, and contrasting my nascent understanding of the game with the quality of play at that tournament including 'The Play', one of the most celebrated moments in pro Dota sparked a four year commitment spanning thousands of hours of play.

This is my favourite game possibly my favourite game ever and I would never have assumed that it was for me before I tried it. I've written almost a hundred thousand words about the game over the last couple of years, but in this article I'm going to dial it back to the start. If you've not played Dota 2, why should you? What do you need to invest? And where can you look for further help?

What is Dota 2, really?

Let's put aside the word 'MOBA' for a moment, because it doesn't help. Dota 2 is a multiplayer game that draws in elements from strategy games, RPGs, and competitive action. Although your objective is simple kill AI minions, gain power, destroy your opponent's outer defenses, and siege their base Dota's appeal lies in its breadth.

There comes a point with most competitive games where you've seen more or less everything. You've fired every gun, captured every objective. Though the details may differ, eventually matches begin to run into one another.

This doesn't happen with Dota 2. You play as one of more than a hundred distinct characters, as do all of your teammates and every member of the enemy team. Between the ten heroes present in any given game there are dozens of special abilities, rules, counters, and interactions. This is further complicated by items hundreds of bolt-on upgrades for your hero that grant new skills and bonuses. Every character and item has, in turn, a differing relationship with the map the eleventh character in the match, a labyrinth of pathways, neutral monsters, buffs, and so on. And all of the above stems from a deep and internally-consistent stat system.

Dota 2 is notably complex even when compared to its closest peers: games like League of Legends, Smite, and Heroes of the Storm. It was the result of years of community development before it was taken under Valve's wing, and as a result it's packed with special rules and exceptions and mechanics that feel like hacks. It's far from elegant, but you'll never stop being surprised by it. A single tree in Dota 2 has more special rules attached to it than some Heroes of the Storm maps.

What do I get out of playing?

If you're fascinated by systems, competition, and teamplay, then Dota 2 has unsurpassed depth and longevity (and honestly, I'm surprised you don't play it already.) This is a game for people who want to commit to something, who are excited rather than repelled by the idea of climbing a mountain. It helps a great deal if the idea of learning excites you.

It's not all work, however. Dota 2's complexity makes it a brilliant generator of anecdotes, and sharing these moments with friends is a pleasure independent of the game's difficulty. Similarly, fluency with the game gives you access to an esports scene with decades of history and a community that, in its brighest moments, feels like a massive exclusive club for people who 'get' Dota.

Also: Dota 2 is fun. That helps too.

What do I need?

In terms of financial outlay, Dota 2 is remarkably generous. The entire game including every character, item and ability is entirely free. You can play at the highest level immediately without spending a penny. The in-game store is limited to cosmetic items and seasonal 'Battle Passes', which amount to minigames and cosmetic collections tied to specific esports events. It's possible to spend a lot of money on Dota 2 in that regard, and if you want the rarest and flashiest cosmetics then you'll certainly need to spend for them but you don't need to.

In terms of time, Dota 2 is trickier to assess. The road to understanding is extremely long, and you need to be okay with the idea that thousands of hours of experience will make you an intermediate player at best. Mastery takes decades. There's also the matter that there's no way to surrender a match in progress, and leaving early carries a punishment. You can't play Dota 2 unless you're willing to give it 45 minutes to an hour at a time.

On the other hand, Dota 2 has no grinding and, while it does have account levels, these don't have anything to do with your in-game capabilities. Everything you can do in Dota 2, you can do from the moment you load the game. Your skill is gated by your own ability, not by an unlock system.

You will certainly need patience. Not just patience for learning, but patience with a community which, at its worst, can be one of the most hostile in gaming. Toxicity is Dota 2's most serious problem, and arguably a bigger barrier to entry than the learning curve. To an extent, this is not the game or Valve's fault. There are in-game reporting tools and punishments for repeat offenders. The issue is simply that the game attracts players with a certain attitude ready to rage at their teammates, ready to say anything to get a rise out of their opponents, willing to make people uncomfortable for its own sake. Play game for any length of time and it is sadly inevitable that you will encounter racism, sexism, prejudice and hostility.

This isn't everyone, however. Dota 2 is able to forge positive bonds between people, too, and it's much more fun to learn if you make the journey with people you enjoy making friends with. You'll make friends playing Dota 2, but you'll need to develop a thick skin on the way.

The best resources for beginners

Over the years, the Dota 2 community has fostered some amazing teachers who make the journey a lot easier. When you begin, you'll want to start by playing against bots with a selection of guides and videos to hand. Only when you feel like you've got a grasp of all of the different factors that go into a victory should you step into the game proper.

Kevin 'Purge' Godec has a longstanding reputation as one of the best tutors in the scene and his beginner's guide, 'Welcome To Dota, You Suck' is a great place to start. His YouTube channel, PurgeGamers, is also helpful. When you're ready to start learning each new hero, check to see if there's a relevant 'Purge plays' video and watch at least the first ten minutes to get a sense of the character's role and item progression. Mind the time and date stamp, however: Dota 2 changes a lot from patch to patch, so information in older videos might lead you astray if you're not careful.

Other great beginner's guides include devilesk's 'Comprehensive Dota 2 Guide' and Flipside3Tactics' YouTube series, 'Dota for Dummies'. Finally, the Dota 2 guides section in the Steam Community is a useful resource of hero-specific builds that can be loaded in-game using the book icon in the top left. Again, look for guides designed for the current patch and use the star rating associated with each to guide you.

Get into the pro scene

This is a very, very good time to start watching professional Dota 2. The International is the biggest event of the year, and boasts the largest prize pool in competitive gaming. The Dota 2 scene is diverse and competitive, with no single dominant team or region.

The best places to watch professional Dota 2 are on Twitch and via in-game spectator tools. Click the 'Watch' tab to see games in progress, which includes professional play as well as pub games taking place around the world. Once you're in, you can control the camera yourself or give over control to a particular commentary crew using the in-game menus. If you own a Vive, you can also spectate in virtual reality using the incredible Dota VR Hub.

While watching pro play is a great way to learn the game, it certainly helps if you already know the basics. Following some of the guides above and getting a couple of bot games under your belt is the way to go if you want to be able to follow the competition.

As the International draws closer, we'll run specific guides to teams and the meta to help you follow along. You'll find all of them on PC Gamer Pro. In the meantime, good luck on your journey, and have fun. Remember: try not to die, buy wards, don't be an ass, and try not to worry about Riki you'll get used to him.

Hot on the heels of the latest batch of Immortal cosmetics and the news that this year's International prize pool is now the largest esports pot of all time, Valve have updated the International 2016 Battlepass with all-new features: including the crazy Dota 2 VR spectator mode they teased back in March.

That's right: if you can't make it to Seattle, you've still got a chance to experience the International in person - if you own a Vive. As initially teased, the Dota VR Hub allows you to watch games on a big virtual screen while surrounded by life-size characters, a huge minimaps, and all of the gold and experience graphs you could want. It goes deeper, however: click the minimap and you can teleport onto the field of battle itself to watch the action from the ground. You can even bring friends in with you, and wear a variety of Dota-themed virtual hats.

Redditor scarecrowman175 has a detailed gallery of VR shots which you can find here.

Let's be honest: this is mad. But it's also incredible, and completely unlike any other esports spectator system ever devised. And it's also eerily similar to a feature I described in a joke article in March last year. YOU'RE WELCOME, I GUESS.

Check back during the group stages for a more involved hands-on with the Dota 2 VR Hub.

This update also adds the now-traditional event prediction minigame as well as a new take on player cards. If you've been playing Dota 2 for a couple of years, you'll remember that the compendium started life as a sticker book: you'd try to collect all of the year's players before the event ended. It was fun but throwaway, and nobody really missed it when Valve moved on from the idea.

This new implementation is much more exciting. Everybody who owns a Battle Pass will earn 15 player card packs right away, and each player can be earned in standard, silver and gold rarities. You then use these cards to assemble fantasy draft rosters for each day of the event, earning Battle Pass points based on the performance of your chosen players. Silver and gold cards come with additional, randomly-assigned multipliers: see above for an example. If OG carry n0tail stacks camps and farms a lot, I'll get bonus points. Hooray!

The International is now less than a week away. Merry Dota Christmas, everybody!