Reigning Dota 2 champions OG have just won the ninth International (TI9), taking the trophy – sorry, – home to Europe from Shanghai, China alongside a cool £15m in prize money. They also set a new record, becoming the first team – and first individual players – to win the championship twice.
Earlier in the day, after technical issues made for a delayed start, PSG-LGD, part-owned by oil-rich football club Paris Saint-Germain, saw themselves knocked out in the semi-finals by runners up Team Liquid. Had they gone through, PSG-LGD would have faced OG in a rematch of last year’s final. The Chinese team’s status as the last remaining “home” side in Shanghai meant their earlier best-of-three match played out in front of a raucous, packed-out Mercedes Benz Arena, and despite their team being knocked out in the morning that atmosphere continued throughout.
Both finalists were previous winners of the tournament, guaranteeing us a record-breaking two-time winner. Team Liquid won the tournament two years ago at TI7 in 2017, earning $10.9m, while OG came out on top last year for TI8, earning $11.2m along the way – that was despite OG’s status as huge outsiders, when they lost half of their team to a rival side, EG, a few weeks before the tournament. OG’s two wins in a row means the players have amassed nearly $27m (approximately £22m) between them in the last 13 months.