Team Spirit, the newest two-time TI Champions receive a surprising in-game celebration from Valve.
Team Spirit became this past Sunday the second organisation to boast a two-time The International victory. Four of the Team Spirit players have also become two-time TI champions and much like at TI10, when they lifted the first Aegis, they put a strong mark on the meta and on the heroes that they played in Seattle this year.
In 2020, Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov’s Magnus was invincible. This year, his signature hero at TI12 became Spirit Breaker. He played the hero 6 times through all stages at TI12, the last pick for him coming in the third and final game of the grand finals.
Team Spirit Breaker
Spirit Breaker was one of the most contested heroes at TI12 with 36 picks and 74 bans in 150 games played in Seattle. The hero boasts an overall 58.33% modest win rate at TI12. However, in the Team Spirit drafts, Spirit Breaker had an 83% win rate as Collapse played it in one of the just two games the TI12 champions lost through the whole tournament.
Collapse’s most picked hero at The International 2023 is now celebrated by Valve with an in-game name change from Spirit Breaker to Team Spirit Breaker
TI12 Champions Stickers
Additionally, Valve has also added Team Spirit Champions Stickers in the game. The fans can purchase a sticker capsule for $1 and get a random player sticker or the team’s logo. The TI12 Champions Stickers come in four styles: basic, glitter, hallo and gold.
The Aegis that can be clicked in the Radiant and Dire fountains have been also updated by Valve and now display Team Spirt’s name and the full roster.
Team Spirit is the second organisation after OG to win The International twice. They became two-time TI champions by claiming the Aegis in 2021 at TI10, and in 2023 at TI12, however, OG still hold the record of winning TI two times in a row and doing it with the same roster. OG’s back-to-back TI victory was registered in 2018 and 2019 at TI8 and TI9.
