The International 5: How to Make 6 Million Dollars in a Week

After a long, intense series of twist and turns, Evil Geniuses takes home the Aegis of the Immortal at The International 5! 

The Stage is Set

Boasting the largest prize pool in eSports history, The International 5 was always going to be one for the books. The prize pool of $18 million towered over the likes of Wimbledon, the Masters, and even the SuperBowl, while the event took place in Seattle, home of Valve HQ, inside the multi-purpose 17,000-seater KeyArena next to the iconic Space Needle.

TI5 represented the culmination of a year’s hard-work for 80 players from 16 different teams. A top 6 placement would secure a player at least $200,000 in cash, with MVP. Phoenix’s Korean player March joking ahead of the event that he would buy his parents a car or give them half of his winnings if his team did well.

Heading into the competition, the all-star Team Secret was expected to take the tournament by force with Evil Geniuses and Vici Gaming at their heels. Blessed with a TI winner in Gustav “S4” Magnasson, two runners-up and two bronze medallists, the Secret swagger was real as they waltzed into KeyArena donning shades.

 Team Secret endured two losses in the group stages, but the last time they had lost a full series was in April 2015. They were unbeatable for four months and won four major offline tournaments back-to-back. As they sat down to face EHOME, the question on everybody’s lips was not could they win but by what margin.

Dawn of a New Age: Fresh Blood Renders Veterans Obsolete

What the ESL One and Summit 3 winners did not expect however, was resistance, and EHOME led by the fiery character of RotK, who reached the Grand Final last year with Vici Gaming, took Team Secret to the cleaners.

Earlier the same day, CDEC (another open qualifier team) had disposed of top 4 favourite Cloud9, and the success of the last-minute additions to the tournament was the defining storyline.

CDEC and EHOME were deemed not strong enough to receive a direct invite, and like their American counter-part compLexity, had never won a LAN.  Now they were competing in the largest eSports tournament in history, schooling veterans and leaving the community both bewildered and amazed. All three teams had one thing in common: strong leadership, and more importantly, no expectations weighing heavy down on their shoulders. 

"In the qualifier we were nervous, because our goal is to reach the main event; once we reached that goal, we feel relaxed, we're not nervous at all," said Agressif of CDEC, the Chinese open qualifier team who went all the way to the Grand Finals undefeated.

The ASUS ROG G501-equipped analyst panel also quickly picked up on the rise of the two Korean teams, in particular MVP.Phoenix. A year ago the team was considered a charity case at their first LAN finals at Starladder, but at TI5 they made it further than any of the previous TI winners at the event, reaching top 8 after eliminating TI4 winner Newbee and Russian poster boys Team Empire. Their prize for a 7-8^th finish was over $829,000, more than enough for March to hook his parents up with some new wheels.

 

Team EG - A Recipe for Success

Whilst the formula for success seemed to have failed for Team Secret, Evil Geniuses captain Peter “ppd” Dager had masterminded yet another major victory for his team, having also come out the victors of the Dota Asia Championships back in February. It was not all smooth sailing however, with CDEC’s drafter Q literally outwitting the American in the first encounter between the two teams in the Winner’s Bracket.

During the tournament, a roaming Bounty Hunter had been prevalent, disturbing the peace in the mid lane, hunting couriers who deliver important item to the opponents, and putting pressure on a very crucial part of the map. When CDEC picked Bounty Hunter, ppd drafted accordingly to extinguish the threat… or so he thought. The Bounty Hunter never made it to the mid-lane, and instead Q baited out ppd’s picks only to send the hero to the off-lane. ppd was bamboozled and the Evil Geniuses captain was humble in defeat on Twitter: “This Q guys a genius. Going to be a hard fight for another shot at CDEC, GGs.”

Evil Geniuses, who had lost two players in the western reshuffle at the end of last year, had weathered storms before and they came back with a vengeance in the Grand Finals to the sound of “USA, USA, USA” from the home crowd. It was not as emphatic a finale as Alliance’s TI3 victory, but no team had put in more hard work over the course of the year than Evil Geniuses, and taking home the first TI for North America was a just reward, not to mention the $6.8 million.

The Epilogue of TI5

In the aftermath of TI with roster changes, it is evident that TI5 hammered home the importance of the human factor within a team. CDEC, compLexity, MVP.Phoenix, and EHOME all seemed in it together, dedicated to their cause. There were no fingers pointed, angry tweets, or insults traded between members after their exit. Camaraderie reigned, and as we look to the Majors, the future is bright. There is no better time to be a Dota 2 fan.