Team Spirit are the champions of The International 2021 (TI10)

After an unbelievable run through the lower bracket, Team Spirit claimed the top prize at TI10 with a 3-2 victory over PSG.LGD.

Team Spirit pulled off the unthinkable when they took down the Chinese juggernaut, PSG.LGD, in the grand finals of The International 2021 (TI10). Coming into the final day against all odds, Team Spirit defeated Team Secret 2-1 in the lower bracket finals and then went on to defeat the tournament favorites 3-2 in the grand finals. It is the first time a CIS team has won The International after Na’Vi did it at TI1 in 2011.

 

PSG.LGDvsTeam Spirit

Game 1: PSG.LGD – 0, Team Spirit – 1 (PSG.LGD Radiant with first pick, Team Spirit Dire)

Playing with an Ursa and Pangolier as their main cores without a Magnus to buff them up, PSG.LGD were on a timer to take control of the game, keep control of Roshan and try to finish the game early before Team Spirit’s Naga Siren came online. But the CIS team didn’t allow that to happen, and in fact, got their own hands on the second Roshan, denying Wang “Ame” Chunyu’s Ursa the Aghanim’s Shard that is extremely necessary for the hero. Eventually, the Chinese team got overrun by Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk’s Naga.

 

Game 2: PSG.LGD – 0, Team Spirit – 2  (PSG.LGD Radiant with first pick, Team Spirit Dire)

PSG.LGD let the Magnus through for a second game running, even though Collapse had shown in previous games why it made for a worthy ban. They went for a Earthshaker-Morphling strategy, and with all their cards on the table, got countered by a faster lineup. Yatoro’s Luna was always an item ahead of Ame’s Morphling. By the time the Morph-Shaker strat came online, PSG.LGD were far too behind. Zhang “Faith_Bian” Ruida did try to stall the game with the usual Nature’s Prophet shenanigans, but it only delayed the inevitable.

 

Game 3: PSG.LGD – 1, Team Spirit – 2 (Team Spirit Radiant with first pick, PSG.LGD Dire)

After game 2, the question had to be asked – should the Magnus be banned? But for a third game in a row, PSG.LGD let the Magnus through, but this time, they immediately picked the Rubick to counter the Magnus. They also had last pick for the first time in the series, which permitted them to pick up the Tinker for Cheng Jin “NothingToSay” Xiang, without Team Spirit having a retort for it. With the global strategy of the Spectre and Tinker, PSG.LGD slowly but surely took over the game. They took their time to finish it, considering only one huge mistake separated them from defeat, but they got there eventually. Game 3 was the first game where XinQ got a playmaking hero rather than the Io, and that seemed to be a key factor in the turnaround in PSG.LGD’s fortunes. The Rubick made life extremely difficult for Team Spirit.

 

Game 4: PSG.LGD – 2, Team Spirit – 2 (PSG.LGD Radiant with first pick, PSG.LGD Radiant)

Team Spirit tried to replicate PSG.LGD’s Spectre domination in game 4, but in that, left themselves vulnerable to an early game snowball draft. Team Spirit tried to put a band aid over their early game damage issues by picking Templar Assassin for Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, but it was ripped off quite easily. PSG.LGD ran over Team Secret in just under 25 minutes. There was no answer to PSG.LGD's fast paced lineup.

 

Game 5: PSG.LGD – 2, Team Spirit – 3 (Team Spirit Radiant, PSG.LGD Dire with first pick)

The momentum was with PSG.LGD after two cruising wins, and it seemed like the Chinese behemoths had made the required adjustments to their game to unravel Team Spirit. Team Spirit let through Tiny, which was a surprising move, but it was well thought out. They got the Winter Wyvern to keep tabs on the Tiny, and a Terrorblade to out farm the stone giant. The CIS team paced the game perfectly, holding out until their heroes were online. Once their cores were online, PSG.LGD didn’t really have an answer to them. A really late enthralling fight ensued at the PSG.LGD Ancient, where they held on, thanks to back door protection kicking in, but that was only to last for a few minutes as Team Spirit took down the Ancient a few minutes later to claim the Aegis and the top prize of $18.21 million.

It is a Cinderalla story for Team Spirit. 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.

A thought has to be spared for PSG.LGD, who have finished 2^nd, 3^rd and 2^nd in the last three TIs, and Ame is the only one who has been part of all three squads. It is really heartbreaking to come so far and have the door shut on you.

Where does Dota 2 go from here? Back to the all the dreamers who will be inspired watching Team Spirit achieve the impossible. The International always brings magical stories with it, and TI10 definitely is near the top of the list.