A recap of the grand finals of The International 10, the most prestigious Dota 2 tournament in the world.

Originally Published: 18th October 2021 on eGG Network

Game 1

PSG.LGD drafted comfort picks for the first game of the series, Ursa, Io, Lycan, while Team Spirit pulled out a new weapon to complement Elder Titan and Tidehunter – Naga Siren. The game started off pretty slowly, with barely any blood spilt. With Naga left untouched, she easily out farmed Ursa and enter the midgame with a fast Aghs Scepter and Bloodthorn. This led to Team Spirit going around the map securing kills and objectives.

Naga Siren’s upgraded Ensnare was the silver bullet against PSG.LGD’s evasive heroes. With the clutch initiations by Collapse’s Tidehunter and Mira’s Lion, they easily closed out the first game in their favour. Team Spirit take the lead in the grand final series, 1-0.

Game 2

Team Spirit were allowed to pick Collapse’s signature Magnus, while LGD drafted the classic Earthshaker-Morphling combo. This game was a bit slow as well, but Yatoro didn’t have as much space to farm as before. LGD learnt from game 1 and constantly invaded the jungle to hunt him down. With Io and Leshrac, PSG also went around the map claiming towers quickly, while Team Spirit struggled to defend the early pushes.

Midgame is when things turned around – once Collapse farmed his blink dagger, Team Spirit shifted into the next gear, getting pick off after pick off. Things didn’t get better for PSG.LGD when Magnus got his Shard and Horn Toss. Despite what Xiao8 said during the interview about anticipating Team Spirit’s Magnus, it looked like they weren’t ready at all. Team Spirit 2-0 PSG.LGD.

Game 3

For the third game, it feels like LGD didn’t think Magnus was the problem and as expected, the CIS squad snapped it up as their first pick. However, PSG.LGD drafted two unpopular heroes in the Bloodseeker and Tinker.

For the first time this series, LGD started in control of the game. Their tankier lineup was much more survivable to Spirit’s early initiations, and Spectre’s haunt allowed Ame to participate in fights earlier than before. With the copious amount of crowd control and spells that provided vision and Spectre had its Aghs online, LGD’s lineup morphed into a ferocious global ganking squad.

By the midgame, things looked bleak for Team Spirit due to their lack of lockdown for the Tinker, who had purchased an early Scythe. This made the team fights unwinnable for Spirit and they lost the bottom lane of barracks at 40 minutes. The second lane of barracks were destroyed 6 minutes later, followed by complete decimation in Spirit’s base shortly after an Aegis pickup. Turns out, LGD didn’t need to ban the Magnus. Team Spirit 2-1 PSG.LGD.

Game 4

Team Spirit drafted an unorthodox lineup this game, trying to take LGD’s strategy of picking Spectre against Magnus. However, LGD drafted a fast pushing lineup around Luna instead to end the game before Spectre came online and what a whomping it was. LGD only conceded two deaths this game, while getting away with 23 kills on Team Spirit. Not much to say here other than PSG.LGD equalize the series with Team Spirit 2-2.

Game 5

One game to decide it all. Both teams on their tried and true comfort heroes, with Collapse Magnus, Miposhka Wyvern, while PSG.LGD went with their Tiny/Lycan combo. PSG.LGD secured an early gold lead with their faster early game farmers but Team Spirit didn’t let up, matching their farm on their cores despite losing towers. Team Spirit continued playing patiently, getting items on their Ember Spirit, Terrorblade and Magnus.

Once LGD’s cores came online, the Tiny/Lycan combo failed to secure any important kills while Team Spirit continued farming. Thanks to the massive initiations from Collapse on his signature Magnus, Team Spirit had no problems picking off cores and securing objectives around the map. Team Spirit never let up the pressure and eventually pummeled LGD into submission. When they knew LGD had no more buybacks, Spirit marched down the Dire base to end the game 3-2.

Congratulations to Yatoro, TORONTOTOKYO, Collapse, Mira, Miposhka and Silent – Team Spirit are the champions of The International 10. They walk away with a whopping USD 18,208,300 and the Aegis of the Immortal. What a fairy tale story for the CIS squad. From playing tier 2 tournaments to getting knocked down to the lower bracket in the first round of the playoffs of TI 10, they’ve displayed that they’re the best Dota 2 team in the world today.