Congratulations to Team Spirit, Grand Champions at The International 2023 and just the second team ever to claim the Aegis twice. This fearsome squad dropped only two games the entire tournament — finishing with a decisive 3-0 performance in the Grand Finals to secure their spot as the best Dota team in the world.

The Road to The International - Group Stage
The Road to The International began with a dominating 8-0 showing from Spirit, as they racked up 2-0 series wins over 9pandas, SMG, Entity, and Evil Geniuses in the Group Stage. The seeding round would be no different, as Team Spirit endured some early pickoffs from Shopify Rebellion in game one before marching away with another 2-0 series victory on their way to the Playoffs.

The Road to The International - Playoffs
There, they faced their first major test of the tournament, as Virtus.pro snatched a quick victory in game one to force Spirit onto their heels for a change. The following match was a bloody affair in which Spirit built and lost a sizeable lead before reclaiming momentum to force a game three. VP managed to keep the rubber match close for 30 minutes, despite never earning a lead, but after that Spirit took control — choking out VP and sealing the series with a late-game team wipe to earn some well-deserved rest before taking their run to the main stage at Climate Pledge Arena.

The International
Team Spirit's first opponent on the main stage was the consistently-strong Team Liquid, who were looking to make their own deep run to the finals to erase a heartbreaking stretch of second-place results. Team Spirit harried Liquid's supports and bullied their cores in a game-one stomp, but Liquid fought back with a spectacular showing to take game two. Liquid then managed to scratch out a small lead by the middle of game three, but Spirit overcame a kill deficit to build their own insurmountable lead, taking the deciding match to set the stage for a clash with powerhouse LGD Gaming — an intimidating lineup that had only dropped a single match of their own at that point in play.

Game one was a 76-minute brawl. LGD was aggressive early, but Team Spirit held firm before starting to take control. LGD kept clawing back, but Spirit skewered their chances, handing LGD their first loss on the main stage. Game two was Spirit's from the outset, as they steadily built an advantage and forced a tap-out from LGD. After a disappointing showing in Singapore in 2022, Team Spirit showed they'd regained top form as they stormed into the Grand Finals.

Their opponents: the dangerous Gaimin Gladiators, the squad that swept this year's Major tournaments and whose in-your-face early-game tactics had already shattered the hopes of so many lower bracket teams.

Unfortunately for Gaimin and their fans, Team Spirit had their own plans to make short work of their foes — they ran away with a relatively quick game one, building a huge gold and kill lead that left no avenue for comeback by GG. Game two proved a more back-and-forth contest, with Gaimin Gladiators earning a few small leads before Team Spirit broke through to completely dominate the late game and take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Not about to go down without a fight, Gaimin Gladiators managed to take hold of game three early. By 30 minutes, even Dota+ thought GG had a 95% chance to force a game four... but Team Spirit's movement, vision, and team coordination seized that 5% chance and turned it into a stunning comeback, bulldozing GG 3-0 in the Grand Finals to secure their second Aegis in three years and welcome their mid-laner Larl to the champions club. Through both incredible individual talent and stellar team play, Team Spirit cemented their place in Dota 2 history as the last team standing at The International 2023.

As bearers of the ultimate symbol of victory, these names shall forever be inscribed upon the Aegis of Champions:

2023 - Team Spirit

• Illia "Yatoro雨" Muliarchuk
  
• Denis "Larl" Sigitov
  
• Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov
  
• Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov
  
• Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov

Looking Back
If you missed any of the tournament, or just want to relive the incredible moments and plays, head over to the Dota 2 YouTube channel, where you can find replays of the entire tournament, including broadcast content from between the games. You can also find a stash of photos from the event over on the Dota 2 Instagram and Dota 2 flickr.

We would like to thank all of the players, talent, and everyone in the Dota community for helping bring this celebration to life. The International is the crowning moment of the competitive season, and without everyone’s support, none of this would be possible. We hope you enjoyed this year’s tournament as much as we did.

Celebrate the Champions
Special Champion edition sticker capsules are now available for purchase for Team Spirit. Each capsule contains one sticker featuring Yatoro雨, Larl, Collapse, Mira, Miposhka, or Team Spirit. 50% of all sales goes directly to Team Spirit.

The International Compendium
Still have some challenges to complete and rewards to claim in The International 2023 Compendium? Don't panic. You've got two more weeks to hit your goals before the Compendium wraps up on November 16. Pull out some of your favorite new TI strats and you'll have things locked up in no time.

A truly epic Playoffs weekend has come to a close, and eight teams have clawed their way to a coveted spot at the main event: Team Spirit, Team Liquid, LGD Gaming and Azure Ray in the upper bracket, and Gaimin Gladiators, nouns, BetBoom Team and Virtus.pro in the lower bracket. Congratulations to all eight teams as they vie to capture the Aegis at The International — only at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA, and now only a day away.




[h5]TI 2023 Schedule[/h5]
The International Pre-show starts at 9:30 AM PDT on Friday, October 27th, with the Opening Ceremony starting at 10 AM and the first match soon after. Click here for the full TI 2023 schedule.

[h5]Getting In[/h5]
Doors open at the arena at 8 AM daily, two hours before Friday's 10 AM opening ceremony and Saturday's and Sunday's 10 AM first matches start. Be ready to scan your Ticketmaster pass to gain entry (you can save it to your Android/Apple phone wallet for convenience). Make sure you grab a daily wristband once you're in, so you can re-enter if you leave.

[h5]Getting Around[/h5]
Climate Pledge Arena is a pretty big place. If you're planning on attending in person, here's a handy Arena Guide to light your path. (Just a heads-up, their bag policy is pretty strict.) The Arena Guide also has plenty of helpful information with regards to accessibility options, parking and other info you might need getting around the venue, so be sure to give it a look before you go.

[h5]Seating[/h5]
Seating is General Admission — you can sit in almost any available seat other than sections reserved for press and pros.

[h5]Crimson Witness Treasure Drops[/h5]
There are multiple swag bag stations inside the arena once you get in. Each pass holder can pick up one swag bag for the weekend by scanning their pass. Inside each bag is a commemorative badge that has the information, URL, and binding code to tie your Steam account for Crimson Witness drops. This year’s event-exclusive treasure includes updated Immortal items for Dark Seer, Underlord, Templar Assassin, Centaur Warrunner, Enchantress, Nature's Prophet, and Witch Doctor.



You'll get your one drop automatically upon binding the badge, and be eligible for drops the rest of the weekend whenever first blood is drawn in a match. The swag bag, being of necessity bag-shaped, is a carved-out exception to the arena's bag policy for re-entry. Customers will be able to re-enter the venue with it.


If you're one of the millions of Dota fans around the globe planning to watch The International online, check out the list below. From Twitch to YouTube to SteamTV, The International will be streamed on multiple platforms in multiple languages.

[h5]English[/h5]
Twitch | YouTube | SteamTV

[h5]Chinese[/h5]
Twitch | Bilibili | SteamTV

[h5]Russian[/h5]
Twitch | YouTube | SteamTV

[h5]Spanish[/h5]
Twitch | YouTube | Facebook | SteamTV


If you’d like to see how the top eight teams got to where they are in the standings, you can catch up on Playoffs matches here. We've also put up a gallery of images from Group Stage and Playoffs weekends.


Nope, that's pretty much it. Go enjoy The International! We'll see you there.

Twenty teams entered Group Stage weekend. And now, four intense days, four eliminations, 57 godlike sprees, six rampages, 104 heroes picked, and 100 total matches later, eight teams now sit in the upper bracket and eight in the lower, with mere hours before the real fight begins.

That’s right: It’s Playoffs time. If you're a ticket holder, doors open at the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit at 9 AM PDT on Friday, October 20th. The pre-show and livestream start at 9:30 AM PDT, with matches starting at 10 AM PDT.

If you missed Group Stage last weekend and want to get caught up on which team to root for, which teams to watch out for, and which team the other teams better watch out for over Playoffs weekend, here's a YouTube playlist featuring insights into the playoff contenders.

If you're a fan of supporting talent and/or spamming their voice lines in every match of Dota you play, we’ve got good news for you. Some talent missed the initial submission window, but luckily were able to get their content submitted during a new redundant backup emergency submission window we created just for them. This means there are some brand new bundles for talent that were missing from the initial set, and also some new lines for some existing talent.

And don’t think we forgot about one of The International’s most popular traditions: Crimson Witness. This year’s event-exclusive treasure includes updated Immortal items for Dark Seer, Underlord, Templar Assassin, Centaur Warrunner, Enchantress, Nature's Prophet, and Witch Doctor. You’ll automatically be granted one Treasure of the Crimson Witness simply by binding your Steam account to your pass for the Main Event at Climate Pledge Arena. By attending either Playoffs this weekend or The International next weekend, you’ll also have a chance to get a random Crimson Witness treasure drop whenever first blood is drawn in a match.

See you this weekend!

We've fixed a number of issues leading up and during the first day of Group Stage:

• Fixed Earth Spirit being stuck in Rolling Boulder if Centaur Warrunner casts Work Horse while Earth Spirit is transforming
  
• Fixed a bad interaction between Kunkka X Marks the Spot and Impale
  
• Fixed some cases where players were unable to watch matches via DotaTV
  
• Fixed cases where in-game predictions weren't working
  
• Fixed Bingo square progress not being visible on client
  
• Fixed visual artifacts on some talent photos and stickers
  
• Fixed an issue where Roshan could go walkabout again
  
• Fixed Centaur Hoof Stomp wind-up being dispellable
  
• Fixed Invoker not restoring his own mana from EMP
  
• Fixed an issue where Kunkka X Marks the Spot could fail to return a unit with very high Status Resistance
  
• Fixed Lone Druid Spirit Bear receiving experience when using Midas
  
• Fixed Marci Sidekick not displaying correctly on client
  
• Fixed a server crash when using Muerta Parting Shot on a hero that is leashed to Lone Druid Spirit Bear with Grimstroke Soulbind
  
• Fixed Techies Mines triggering for but not damaging flying units
  
• Added a filter option for saved sets in the Armory
  
• Fixed two rare client crashes with dropped items
  
• Fixed retrieval of neutral items from stash sometimes returning another player's item
  
• Changed a number of settings including "Use Extra Large Minimap", "Quick Attack", etc. to be saved in Steam Cloud
  
• Fixed being unable to assign neutral slot and TP quickcast when using Advanced Quickcast Hotkeys
  
• Fixed "Dynamically Scale Hero Icons" option causing icons to flicker in size
  
• Fixed an issue where hero icons on the minimap could jitter
  
• Fixed various Predictions and Fantasy issues

The Road to The International is literally right around the metaphorical corner, and that means a lot of cool and exciting stuff is revving to life. There are more ways than ever to enjoy the matches, meet new people, and show off your fandom, so we've put it all together in a single post so you don't miss out on any of the fun.

The start of Group Stage will be, let's be honest, barely controlled Dota chaos, with five simultaneous streams during the opening two days of Group Stage weekend to seed the tournament. But, starting this year, by this Saturday we'll be down to a single stream — which should make the back half of Group Stage weekend a lot easier to watch online.

And if you're planning to watch online, we've got options for you. From Twitch to YouTube to SteamTV, The Road to the International and The International will be streamed on multiple platforms in multiple languages, making it easier than ever to follow the journeys of all your favorite teams as they vie for the Aegis of Champions.

English
Twitch | YouTube | SteamTV Stream A Stream B Stream C Stream D Stream E
Chinese
Twitch | Bilibili | SteamTV Stream A Stream B Stream C Stream D Stream E
Russian
Twitch | YouTube | SteamTV Stream A Stream B Stream C Stream D Stream E Stream F
Spanish
Twitch | YouTube | Facebook | SteamTV Stream A Stream B Stream C Stream D Stream E

Not seeing your language represented? Don't worry! While the above links represent the official broadcasts, we understand Dota is played by folks everywhere around the world, and we've also handed out 15 broadcast licenses for other languages, so check in with your local communities to find out the best way to get online and watch.

Lastly, everyone in the Dota community is of course welcome to join in on the streaming fun if you're able and interested. We only ask that you follow our community streaming guidelines.

From bars, LAN cafes, movie theaters and even private homes, there's gonna be plenty of opportunities to get in on a "pubstomp" viewing party starting with the Playoffs weekend and throughout The International itself. We're even planning to include viewing party footage live during the final weekend of the event, so if you want to connect with other fans, experience amazing matches in a fun group atmosphere, and be momentarily famous, the time to sign up is now.

If you're feeling ambitious and want to throw your own viewing party, here's a list of organizer guides from Barcraft on how to host an event:

• English - Viewing Party Organizer's Guide
  
• Spanish - Guía para organizadores de fiestas de visualización
  
• Russian - Руководство для организаторов Пабстомпов
  
• Polish - Przewodnik Organizatora Pubstompów
  
• Portuguese - Guia do Organizador de festas de exibição

The International 2023 Secret Shop has a little something for everybody interested in showing off their TI fandom. Looking to measure your mouse movement more accurately? We've got mousepads. Feeling cold and thirsty? We've got hoodies and tumblers. In the market for some mousepads, hoodies and tumblers but not sure how to carry it all around? Unfortunately, science has yet to invent a method of — no, just kidding. We've even got tote bags. Check out the shop here.

The Road to The International's Group Stage weekend officially starts this Thursday at 10am PST. Players have been arriving in Seattle all week, preparing themselves for what promises to be an exciting — and with Group Stage eliminations now on the table, especially tense — round of match-ups.

In this year's Group Stage format, four groups of five teams will play round-robin games over two days, with the bottom team in each group getting eliminated. Then, the second half of Group Stage begins, with head-to-head matches between the remaining 16 teams. Victory in these final matches determine placement for Playoffs weekend: The winning teams will enter Playoffs in the Upper Bracket, the losing teams in the Lower Bracket.

Here are this year's groups:

This year’s talent has officially been announced. Where? In the “Talent” tab of the Compendium.

Are you back? Great. We’re assuming you went and stared at the portraits for a while and eventually thought to yourself “Staring is great, but I wish there were even more I could do to support the talent.” Well, here’s more good news: Talent sticker bundles are now available with 50% of the proceeds going directly to the talent.

There are 4 types of bundles (which sounds complicated, but really isn’t when you take the extra effort to break it all down into bullet points):

• Standard Bundle: Standard Sticker = $0.99
  
• Glitter Bundle: Glitter Sticker + Voiceline = $4.99
  
• Holo Bundle: Holo Sticker + Voiceline + Autograph Rune = $9.99
  
• Gold Bundle: Gold Sticker + Voiceline + Autograph Rune + Voiceline 2 = $19.99

In the past, one complicating factor would be figuring out when the voice lines would go away. The answer this year is simple: Never. Voice lines are now permanent, making them quite possibly the only thing in this fragile, fleeting life that lasts forever.

Patch 7.34d is out now. You can check the notes here.

Over the last few days we've addressed several gameplay issues:

• Fixed an area above the Radiant fountain that heroes could get stuck in
  
• Fixed Player Perspective not sometimes working correctly when spectating
  
• Fixed several issues with Illusions and hotkeys and control groups
  
• Fixed Quick Attack not working correctly when clicking on the top bar of the HUD
  
• Fixed clicking the Lotus Pool multiple times in quick succession interrupting the channeling of the lotus pool
  
• Fixed inconsistent channel bar updates when interacting with the Lotus Pool
  
• Fixed Scan button not showing remaining charges if it is not full
  
• Fixed the cooldown of duplicate items in inventory like Faerie Fire sometimes getting stuck.
  
• Fixed Twin Gates particle effects sometimes revealing usage to the enemy by playing a particle on the last known hero position
  
• Fixed Blade Mail not working correctly on Nyx Assassin
  
• Fixed Lotus Orb reflect interaction with Channeled spells if it was applied by an ally
  
• Fixed Specialist Array applying bonus Crackshot damage when there is only one target
  
• Fixed Giant's Ring effects being visible to enemies when the wearer is invisible. Added a debuff icon when receiving damage from an enemy Giant's Ring
  
• Fixed using Eul's Scepter on a Debuff Immune unit leading them to get stuck
  
• Fixed Arc Warden Tempest Double not preserving both charges of Hand of Midas when re-summoned
  
• Fixed Arc Warden Tempest Double receiving experience from creeps denied by enemies
  
• Fixed Bounty Hunter Friendly Shadow Shard upgrade costing too much mana
  
• Fixed Dawnbreaker Starbreaker not putting Harpoon on cooldown whereas it did for Echo Sabre
  
• Fixed Dawnbreaker Solar Guardian sometimes getting cancelled if the target ally goes out of world
  
• Fixed Death Prophet fear interrupting channeling spells through Debuff Immunity
  
• Fixed Ember Spirit only able to cast Sleight of Fist to the right side while traveling in Fire Remnant
  
• Fixed Enchantress Little Friends not being blocked by Linkens Sphere
  
• Fixed Invoker's EMP shard effect ignoring collisions and allowing to get units stuck to each other
  
• Fixed Kunkka Torrent overriding the target's animations, even if they are debuff immune
  
• Fixed Lich Chain Frost On Death talent display on HUD - the buff icon will now only display when you have the talent, and now has a tooltip
  
• Fixed Lone Druid Spirit Bear Owner not being able to disassemble items on the Bear
  
• Fixed the interaction of Luna's Aghanim's Shard with Silver Edge and Shadow Blade.
  
• Fixed Mars Spear of Mars skewering Lone Druid's Spirit Bear
  
• Fixed a crash caused by Monkey King mischief which occured when revealing a Monkey King Tree Disguise along with other units at same time
  
• Fixed Monkey King Level 25 Jingu Mastery required hits talent not applying to summoned soldiers
  
• Fixed Monkey King Wukong's Command Aghanim's Scepter upgrade not working when Fur Army is off cooldown
  
• Fixed Muerta Parting Shot's target's physical form being able to act if it receives debuff immunity
  
• Fixed Puck Dream Coil being affected by Status Resistance
  
• Fixed Puck Dream Coil effect being removed early if an enemy was affected by two separate dream coils
  
• Fixed Queen of Pain Sonic Wave damage not being applied fully if cast on a target affected by Pulverize
  
• Fixed Queen of Pain Sonic Wave sometimes dealing an extra instance of damage, and incorrectly rounding when duration is affected by Status Resistance
  
• Fixed Sand King Sand Storm Blind/Slow effect staying in the location of the initial cast instead of moving
  
• Fixed Slark Pounce applying to Lone Druid's Spirit Bear
  
• Fixed Templar Assassin sometimes getting stuck in Meld invisibility if the attack target was destroyed
  
• Fixed Treant Protector losing Nature's Guise buff when taking damage while walking on Nature's Grasp. Now has same behavior as when walking in trees
  
• Fixed Troll Warlord being sometimes being controllable during Battle Trance
  
• Fixed Vengeful Spirit receiving Fountain Invulnerability if she swaps places with her Aghanim's Scepter illusion outside of the Fountain
  
• Fixed the interaction of Vengeful Spirit's Magic Missile shard with Refreshing and Reflection
  
• Fixed Warlock Chaotic Offering Aghanims Scepter upgrade creating golems with non-reduced stats if Warlock moves his scepter into the backpack mid-cast
  
• Fixed Shard sometimes causing Weaver Shukuchi invisibility to be dispelled, in particular with the Level 25 +1 Geminate Attack talent
  
• Fixed Windrunner sometimes canceling attacks when casting windrun after Focus Fire with Aghanim's Scepter
  
• Fixing Wraith King getting bombarded with "Can't Attack" messages if one of his skeletons gets disarmed
  
• Fixed Zeus Lightning Hands being affected by dispels
  
• Fixed Mirana Level 25 talent listing incorrect value for Starstorm bonus damage

We're excited to release the International Compendium for The International 2023. Because this is a new shape to previous years’ Compendiums, we wanted to walk you through what it is, how it works, and why we built it.

As we described a few months back, looking at Dota's history made it clear that Battle Passes had steadily grown to consume all the content in a given year, and were inhibiting our ability to ship creative things throughout the year. We wanted to fix this, and so made a deliberate choice several months ago to ship new things more often in a wider variety of forms. This year has been full of experiments: We released a brand new player behavior system, free items to celebrate the 10th Anniversary, a number of gameplay patches, a collection of community sets, and more. This Compendium is another example of something new.


Every Dota update has a variety of goals and part of the work of designing and building an update is choosing where to put the emphasis. An update can be focused on delivering cosmetic content or refining balance. An update can try to generate the largest prize pool possible. Instead of these goals, we chose to focus this update more narrowly: To elevate the players, the teams, and the artistry that is high-level Dota played at The International. We focused entirely on creating a set of activities to make TI more fun while games were going on, and another set of activities to make TI more fun when games weren't going on.

And so that's what this year's Compendium is: a collection of challenges that we've built around the pro players and the event itself. We've brought back and improved some old favorites like Fantasy and Predictions. We're also introducing some new activities, ranging from the light-hearted (Bingo) to the seriously formidable (The Road to the International Challenge).

Everything you'll accomplish through the Compendium earns you progress towards rewards. Like the Compendium challenges, all the rewards this year are built around the players and the event. There's an International 2023 HUD, permanent chatwheel lines, and a physical collector's Aegis, along with lots of new content for your Profile Showcase (see below), including team and player stickers.


In line with the goals we established earlier this year, we've been intentional about ensuring that every update we ship has something for all Dota players, whether that's new gameplay or new features. This update is no different: If, like many, you're a huge fan of watching the spectacle of the International but aren't familiar with the old legends of Arteezy on a cliff, or Emo's research into the deep lore and many varied uses of the question mark, that's alright, too — we've got stuff in this update for you as well.

This update also includes the Profile Showcase, free and available now to all players. Whether you're proud of your record, your in-game fashion sense, or that one time you won a game on Invoker, we've created a canvas where you can show off the parts of your Dota experience you value the most. We could describe how cool it is all day, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, we've put together a whole update page: go take a look at the pictures.


We're already working on future updates with different focuses and we know you're excited to learn more about the next big patch, and the next set of arcanas, and everything else we're working on — but that's for after the champions claim the Aegis. For now, Seattle welcomes a return of the finest players in the world, and we can't wait. We'll see you on the Road to the International.

Invitations have been sent, plane tickets have been reserved, and our old friends the soundproof booths are undergoing their final maintenance and inspections: In just a few short weeks the first teams arrive in Seattle for The International.

Most of the tickets have been sold: Tickets for the Road to the International (Oct 20-22) are completely sold out, and only about a thousand remain for The International (Oct 27-29).

As TI approaches, we have a couple announcements (and reminders of past announcements):

• Pubstomps: For as long as there have been Dota tournaments, there have been Dota pubstomps: opportunities to gather with friends and fans and watch together. This year, for the first time, we're planning on including some of the pubstomps from around the world live in the TI broadcast. We'll be back closer to the event to talk more about how this will work and ask interested pubstomps to register.
  
  
• Short Film Contest: We had a record number of entries this year. We've narrowed the ninety submitted films down to about twenty that will be available for viewing and voting in the client from 9/29 through 10/9. The top ten entries selected by the community will be shown during The International, where we'll also announce the overall winners.
  
  
• Cosplay Contest: Sign-ups for this year's cosplay contest are open until midnight CST on Sunday, 10/1. SteelSeries is sponsoring this year's contest, so in addition to $20,000 USD of cash prizes, winners also get a variety of SteelSeries gear. (And, as a reminder, you don't need to be a ticket holder to enter: If you're selected as a top-ten finalist, you automatically get three-day passes for yourself and one guest.)

For those of you joining us: We can't wait to welcome you to the Seattle Convention Center's Summit Building and Climate Pledge Arena as we once again follow the best Dota team in the world on their path to the Aegis. For everyone who'll be following along from home, we're looking forward to releasing the new International Compendium next week.