The International 10 Favorites (Top 3)

The International 10 is just one week away. The teams have had 3 months to prepare for the tournament since the end of the regional qualifiers and the entire Dota 2 community is dying to see what they’ve prepared for the most important event of their careers. There are 18 participants in total and all of them are strong, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. But relative to each other, some are much stronger than the other.

The International 10’s Top 3 Favorites

The top 3 teams that are likely to win The International 10 are PSG.LGD, Evil Geniuses, and Virtus.pro.

PSG.LGD

PSG.LGD is by far the strongest Chinese team and also one of the best teams in the world. Recent events, such as ESL One Fall 2021 and OGA Dota PIT Invitational, have clearly proved that PSG.LGD is stronger than at least two-thirds of the other 17 TI10 participants. And the fact that they finished DPC 2021 in 2^nd place by winning the 2^nd Major of the year is proof that this team can realistically be expected to finish the tournament in the top 3.

It isn’t clear at this point whether or not PSG.LGD can win The International 10. All we know is that the organization finished in the top 3 at the previous 3 editions. It’s true, with a different roster, but their current one looks just as strong as the one they had before.

If PSG.LGD is to lose the trophy, it will most likely get eliminated by a regional rival or by teams like EG, Secret, and OG, who are versatile and creative enough to surprise the Chinese crew with completely novel strategies.

Keep in mind that PSG.LGD’s captain is y`, who was the captain of the Wings Gaming squad that won The International 2016. Two other superstars on PSG.LGD’s roster are Faith_bian (former Wings member and TI champion) and Ame, who is one of the best carry players in the world.

It’s hard not to see PSG.LGD as the favorite to win TI10 when there are so many exceptional players on its roster and their synergy has already been proved by the team’s results in 2021.

Evil Geniuses

EG has had its best season in the last 5 years, finishing the Dota Pro Circuit in first place with 1700 points. The team got 2^nd place at both Majors and regionally it had great results as well: 1^st place for Season 1 and 2^nd place for Season 2. Fly and his crew were very strong all year and now it’s time to reap the rewards and the most important tournament of 2021.

EG’s biggest obstacle? Probably Arteezy. The community called it the Arteezy curse. The player simply cannot win, even though he’s absolutely formidable in the carry role. Jokes aside, EG’s roster has superstar players on every role.

Fly is the captain and he’s arguably one of the best captains in the history of the game. Cr1t- is second to none when it comes to playing position 4. The only other roamer who used to be on par with him is RodjER, but he’s been out of shape for a while.

The offlaner is iceiceice, who needs no introduction at this point. The 31-year-old veteran knows perfectly well what it means to win trophies and finish in the top 4 at The International.

In the mid lane, EG has Abed, one of the most versatile players in the game, with an MMR of over 11,000. And finally, the carry is Arteezy, who’s also above 11K MMR and knows what it means to play in the Grand Final of big tournaments. He may not know how to win such matches, but he’s certainly capable of leading his team to a great result. Because of that, a top 3 result at TI10 shouldn’t be a problem for EG.

Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro changed the entire roster in November last year, giving its academy team the chance to become the main lineup of the organization. The bet paid off. Since then, VP has won important tournaments such as EPIC League Season 2 Division 1, as well as both seasons of DPC 2021 Eastern Europe (Upper Division, of course).

At the two DPC Majors of this year, VP didn’t do so well and somehow lost to teams it wasn’t supposed to lose against. Its placement was 7^th – 8^th at ONE Esports Singapore Major and 9^th – 12^th at WePlay AniMajor. However, at ESL One Summer 2021 and ESL One Fall 2021, the team got great results: 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively.

After seeing VP finish 3^rd in DPC with 1200 points and then get encouraging results at the most recent international competitions, it’s hard not to regard this team as one of the favorites to win TI10.

 

Photo credit: Valve