Winning The International is the pinnacle of achievement in Dota 2, but defending the Aegis has proven to be a difficult feat.
The Aegis of Champions is more than just a trophy; it’s a symbol of supremacy in the fiercely competitive world of Dota 2. For the few teams that have lifted it in victory, the following year brings an entirely different battle: defending their title at The International. While the road to the top is grueling, staying there is an even greater challenge.
In the history of The International, only one team, OG, has managed to successfully defend their championship, winning back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019. For the rest, the path to repeating history has been fraught with unexpected obstacles, roster changes, and the weight of immense expectations. As we gear up for another thrilling TI, let’s revisit the stories of past champions and see how they fared in the face of their title defense.
Natus VincereChampionship team: TI1
TI2: 2nd place
Dota 2 made its debut, being playable on the show floor at GamesCom 2011, but only for teams invited to compete in Valve's tournament, called The International. The total prize pool of $1,600,000 was the biggest of any esports tournament at the time.
The NAVI went undefeated throughout the whole tournament, taking down EHOME in the Grand Finals 3-1 with a 1-game advantage, winning the unprecedented $1,000,000 grand prize. They became the first ‘Defenders of the Aegis’.
With a succession of wins after wins for the next few months, the team secured five more championship titles and two more runners-up placements in premier tournaments leading up to The International 2. The Ukrainian squad was on fire. At The International 2 they gave one hell of a fight, advancing all the way through to the grand finals. They narrowly missed the mark, failing to defend their title 3:1.
G2 x iGChampionship team: TI2
TI3: 5-6th place
iG were one of the 14 directly invited teams after placing top 6 at The International 2011. They came to The International 2 with an adjusted roster, after replacing three of their players, and went on to dominate the group stage with a 13-1 series score. iG were knocked to the lower brackets by NAVI, but bounced back by having to send packing three other Chinese teams, namely EHOME, Team DK and LGD Gaming. They then took revenge over the defending champions to become the first Chinese team to win The International.
In the following year, iG took third in their group, but it was enough to give them an upper bracket seed. Team DK sent them to the lower brackets where they managed to survive two unforgiving bo1 death matches. It was in the next series, the lower bracket Round 4 that TongFu sent them home.
AllianceChampionship team: TI3
TI4: 11-12th place
The all-Swedish roster (later picked up by Alliance) was one of the most dominant teams of that year, earning first place in over ten major tournaments including G1-League, Star Series V, VI, and DreamHack Summer 2013.
Their most notable achievement was the first-place in The International 3, after a thriller 3-2 victory in the finals against Natus Vincere.
The season leading to The International 4 would prove to be somewhat less successful for the Swedish champions. Then at TI4 Alliance was eliminated in the group stage, coming in at the bottom fourth with a 6:9 record.
NewbeeChampionship team: TI4
TI5: 9-12th place
The International 2014 grand finals lasted a little over one hour, despite having 4 four games played. Game 3 was a 17-minute affair, while game 4 concluded in just 15 minutes. Newbee took the title after defeating Vici Gaming 3-1 in the grand finals.
Almost the entire TI4 Newbee roster retired soon after while the organization faced one of the ugliest exits from the Dota 2 field. The entirely new roster didn't fare nearly as well for the organization.
Evil GeniusesChampionship team: TI5
TI6: 3rd place
With such an outstanding presence and great tenacity, Evil Geniuses overcame various hurdles early in the season to become the first (and to this day only) NA team to win The International.
However, in a shocking turn of events, the news of the reshuffle of the TI5 Championship team, Evil Geniuses would stun the community. The support player Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling, broke the news of his kick from the team on both his Facebook and Twitter accounts. Aui then publicly asked the organization to provide confirmation so that the community would understand it was accurate as many were in disbelief over the news.
Even without Aui TI6 was an equally impressive run as a second Aegis seemed to come within their grasp, but none were unable to lay their hands on the second trophy ultimately taking third place.
Wings GamingChampionship team: TI6
TI7: N/A
Although this was the sixth edition of The International it was only now that the tournament would witness the first huge upset. In the months leading to TI6, no one really knew who Wings Gaming were. For most of the Dota 2 fans, Wings popped up only about a month before the tournament when they reached the grand finals of Nanyang Dota 2 Championships Season 2. It was their immense hero pool and unmatched chemistry between all team members that allowed Wings to have an extremely dominant playoff run in Seattle while also keeping everyone entertained and mesmerized by their unique playstyle.
After all the glory at TI6, the five players would end up leaving the organization after a long dispute over unpaid salaries.
Team LiquidChampionship team: TI7
TI8: 4th place
After dropping to the lower bracket and going through a number of tough series, Team Liquid brought on their best game in the grand finals against Newbee, whom they beat 3-0 to take the title of The International 2017. It was the first time in the history of The International that a team came back from the second round of the lower bracket and won the whole thing. Before this, all the teams that have won have been a part of the upper bracket finals. This is also the first time that a team has won with a clean sweep, in not just a TI grand final, but a Valve grand final.
The team stuck together after TI7 through The International 2018 and even a bit beyond.
OGChampionship team: TI8
TI9: 1st place
Championship team: TI9
TI10: 7-8th place
From open qualifiers for TI8 to a breathtaking grand final against PSG.LGD, OG delivered some of the best and most entertaining games ever witnessed on the TI stage.
What’s more incredible is that the next year, they did it again, and as strange as it might sound, in 2019 despite being the defending champions, most fans were regarding them as underdogs once again.
Following their incredible back-to-back triumphs on the TI stage, the five players stepped down from the roster and let the younger generation build a new legacy.
Team SpiritChampionship team: TI10
TI11: 13-16th place
This was a team that got to TI10 through qualifiers, barely made the upper bracket, dropped to the lower bracket on the first day of the playoffs and after that, just didn’t look back. The only thing they kept mentioning was they were playing for fun. They pulled off the unthinkable when they took down the Chinese juggernaut, PSG.LGD, 3:2 in the grand finals and went from underdogs to taking home the Aegis and a whopping $18.21 million.
The 2021-2022 was not the best season for Team Spirit, but they did end last DPC season on a high by defeating PSG.LGD again, this time in the grand final of the Arlington Major. Going into TI11, Team Spirit was one of the favorites, but massively underperformed, finishing 13th-16th with a first round lower bracket loss in a best-of-1 against BOOM Esports.
Tundra EsportsChampionship team: TI11
TI12: 13-16th place
Tundra were able to display a truly dominant form throughout the entire tournament. They found a perfect way to itemize, almost abusing the strongest aura items in the game, and placed first in their group to then proceed to an undefeated playoffs bracket run and claimed the Aegis with a stunning 3-0 victory over Team Secret in the grand finals.
Following TI11, Tundra Esports dealt with multiple external factors, as Aui_2000 would tell GosuGamers in an interview held at the last Major before TI12. Some of the external factors were health issues of their position 4 support Martin "Saksa" Sazdov. The competitive season hadn’t been great for them, but it was good enough to ensure them a ticket to TI12.
Championship team: TI12
TI13: TBD
With just one roster change and peaking at the right time in the season, Team Spirit managed to claim The International 2023 (TI12) with a 3-0 win over Gaimin Gladiators in the grand final. Team Spirit dropped only two games in the entire tournament and became just the second organization after OG to win TI twice.
Team Spirit is the current defending champion of the Aegis. This year the Eastern European team has had a mediocre season at best until three months ago when they were able to clinch their first title of the season at PGL Wallachia.
The International 2024 (TI13)
The International 2024 is set to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark in September at the Royal Arena. This will mark the second time The International is returning to Europe after TI1, but the first time when, hopefully, fans will be able to attend. The first time Valve tried to bring its most prestigious tournament back to Europe was in 2020 when the pandemic hit the world. TI10 was postponed for 2021 and moved from Sweden to Romania. Although tickets were sold, a new wave of coronavirus forced Valve to refund all tickets and hold the tournament in an empty stadium in Bucharest. Since then, TI moved to Singapore in 2022 and last year it returned home, to Seattle.
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