EPT
Every once in a while, there's just something we have to tell everyone. We have to say that "THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER." Yes, it's hyperbolic, but sometimes you just want to gush about how much you love something. Nerds love to talk about what they're into. This is how I indulge that impulse. Welcome to Best Thing Ever, a regular segment where I talk about something that's awesome, regardless of its flaws.
Today's Topic: The International (particularly 2014)
If you regularly follow gaming news (or are an esports fanatic like myself), you've probably already heard about The International. For those who haven’t, The International is an annual Dota 2 esports tournament hosted by Valve, masters of addiction* and makers of the game itself. As such, this tournament is the heart of the Dota 2 competitive year. Every summer, the greatest teams in Dota travel to Seattle in order to give their all for victory on the largest stage in the Dota scene. Teams live and die around The International, forming just for a chance at the tournament's trophy, the Aegis of the Immortal, and disbanding if their squad cannot handle TI's world-class competition. Dota is unique in the wide world of esports because of its wealth of top-tier tournaments throughout the year, including as Star Ladder, DreamLeague, and the Summit. In spite of all the quality pervading the Dota 2 esports year, the grandeur and style of The International sets it apart from its competition, both within and without Dota, making it the best thing ever.
* Curse you Steam sales!
The Buildup
If there is one thing Valve knows it's how to get people hyped. If there is one other thing Valve knows, it’s how to get people to toss their wallets at them. These two factors make the lead up to The International extraordinarily fun and exciting, as they did in an unprecedented fashion this year. The countdown to The International begins in earnest when Valve releases The Compendium, a purchasable in-game item that simultaneously advertises the tournament, improves the in-game Dota 2 experience, and adds to the event's already-massive prize pool. It cannot be overstated how genius/devious The Compendium really is. Buying The Compendium not only helps Valve improve Dota 2 (by heavily lining Valve's pockets), but supports the beloved esports pros at the event and even earns the buyer special in-game rewards of their own. Rare items and badass hero accessories are just the beginning: this year, Compendium purchasers raised enough money to get new game modes, new visual effects on the classic Dota map, and new matchmaking options, all incredible additions to an already astounding game. How much did Dota lovers pay for these features? Somewhere around $40 million (at $10 a Compendium), a fourth of which went directly into the prize pool for The International. With that $10 million prize pool, The 2014 International is the biggest esports event in history. Even watching the Compendium totals grow during the weeks preceding the tournament exponentially increased my excitement for the event. The buildup to The International is an incredible event in its own right, an interactive experience that improves the tournament for everyone involved*.
* though, let’s face it: mostly for Valve
The Personalities
The only way to meet the incredible expectations set by the lead up to The International is to bring the best players, the most thrilling casters, and the most perceptive analysts in Dota together at the event. For most of the year, the personalities of the Dota 2 esports scene stick to their own regions, organizations, and favored tournaments. When it is time for The International, however, they come together, Voltron-like, for the best possible games and the best possible coverage thereof. With shoutcasters like LD, TobiWan, Synderen, and Luminous, no play or teamfight is presented without its due enthusiasm. With analysts and statisticians like Merlini, Godz, 2GD, and Bruno, no important information goes unexplained, nor strategic possibility unacknowledged. The female personalities at The International this year, such as Sheever (a top-tier analyst) and Kaci Aitchison (an excellent host and interviewer), are of particular note because they demonstrate that there are opportunities for equality in esports, something sadly rare in the scene. The International's phenomenal casting team makes the tournament an incredible show, and that’s just the English-speaking team. A plethora of languages and regions are represented at The International, proving that Dota 2 and esports are phenomena that reach all around the world.
The Teams
As important as excellent personalities are to an esports event, the teams who participate in The International are what make the tournament the nail-biting, fist-pumping, cheer fest that it is. In games like Starcraft 2 and League of Legends, international tournaments tend to be boring and predictable. In these competitions, the winners can usually be foreseen far in advance simply because one or two regions are monumentally stronger than the others*. In contrast, the lines of skill at international Dota competitions are not so explicitly drawn. Chinese teams are typically acknowledged as the best, but they are regularly (if not always consistently) defeated by the talented European squads. North America is widely regarded as the weakest region, but even that doesn’t prevent them from taking games from their opponents. The teams invited to The International this year included past champions Na’Vi, iG, and [A]lliance as well as the strongest teams from all over the world such as NewBee, EG (NA’s ace in the hole), Empire, Vici Gaming and more. The final five spots in the 16-team tourney are filled after a set of regional qualifiers and a small wild card tournament that lifts the best of the underdogs to the tournament's main stage. The International's methods of selecting teams for the tournament is almost perfect and makes for the most entertaining event on the esports calendar.
* I’m talking about you South Korea
The Main Event
Despite the event's incredible month-long hype train, the tournament’s perfect hosts, and the amazing lineup of competitors, The International itself always manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. With TI, Valve discovered a kind of esports alchemy that turns the gold of the individual components into... better gold. Over the course of the tournament, fans watch an obscene amount of Dota as the group stages/round robin (depending on the year) weeds out those unworthy to claim the Aegis and mind-boggling first-place winnings. This year the first phase of the main event was a full round-robin: an almost-exhausting 120+ games (for both spectators and competitors) that truly demonstrated which squads could consistently rise to the incredible challenge of The International. Those teams that ascend to the ranks of TI's elite eight leave the intense quantity of games behind for a double-elimination bracket with best of three sets, a huge leap for match quality that develops each team’s story and ceaseless generates excitement. The aforementioned stories never fail to be compelling, and the incredible surprises and unpredictable results of this year’s competition made it awesome to watch. Of particular note in 2014 is the all new “noob stream” that introduces new players to Dota with commentary which provides insight into the basics of the game while still showing the best games of the year. Valve’s mainstream TI hype also paid off this year: the elite eight played their matches in Seattle’s Key Arena, the same games were streamed on ESPN3 (ESPN's online channel), and the finals themselves were previewed on ESPN 2 (an actual TV channel and a huge step for esports in the US). As an esports fan, I see The International is a step forward for esports as a whole, both into the view of gamers unfamiliar with its world and into the minds of those who’ve never played a video game in their lives. Above all, The International possesses an energy, a livewire excitement that stirs the blood and keeps me up late into the night, waiting for the next matches. It’s this energy more than anything else that makes The International the best thing ever.
You can read this unnecessary explanation and many, many more at the N3rd Dimension.
