Updated: October 30 (added final results)

The Aegis of Champions returns to its ancestral roots in Seattle for the first time since 2017. The International's 12th iteration will kick off with a bang on October 12 and culminate on October 29 with the Finals Weekend.

Twenty of the biggest and brightest Dota 2 teams from across the world are set to compete for glory and a slice of the famous Dota 2 TI prize pool. The International is known for its unpredictability, with a new winner almost yearly. Which talented team will claim the Aegis of Champions to conclude the 2023 DPC season? Only time will tell.

Read on for the Dota 2 TI schedule, competition format, all 20 teams competing, and the current standings.

The International 2023: Format

Dota 2 The International has a format different from any other Dota 2 tournament, being split into two distinct phases, unlike previous years. Every team has a chance to compete several times to earn their slot in the playoffs, thus creating a fair arena and more hype for fans.

In previous years, the Group Stage format would be two groups of ten teams playing in a round-robin format over two days, but Valve Corporation has tweaked this for TI12.

Read on for the format for The International 2023 below:

Group Stage (October 12 - 15)

Phase 1

• 20 teams are split into four groups of five each, competing in a single round-robin format. (Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D).
• Teams play each other in a Bo2 match.
• The bottom team in each group gets eliminated, while the remaining teams advance to Phase 2.

Phase 2

•  The remaining 16 teams play in eight Bo3 head-to-head matches to determine their playoff seeding.
• The top two teams in each group get matched with opponents from either the 3rd or 4th-placed teams in the opposite group.

Playoffs (October 20 - 29)

• 16 teams play in a double-elimination bracket.
• Eight teams begin in the Upper Bracket, and eight start in the Lower Bracket Round 1.
• The Grand Final is Bo5, while all the other matches are Bo3.

The International 2023: Prize Pool

The Dota 2 The International has famously boasted the largest prize money of all significant esports tournaments, as TI21 reached a whopping $40 million USD. The International money pool is always split amongst all participating teams in different proportions, with the lion's share going to the winner. The Dota 2 TI prize pool is so vast due to the TI Battle Pass that Valve sells for $9.99 to their players.

25% of all TI Battle Pass sales go towards The International's prize pool, and it's increasing daily. As of October 11, 2023, The International's total prize pool is $2,941,975 USD. 

The International 2023: Teams

Twenty of the best Dota 2 teams from across the globe will battle it out to claim the Aegis of Champions at The International 2023. Twelve teams received direct invites based on their Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) rankings. In contrast, the remaining eight teams qualify through regional qualifiers held before TI12.

Let's take a look at all 20 teams competing, how they qualified, and their complete player rosters by in-game ID. Famous teams like Team Secret and Blacklist Rivalry have missed a TI12 slot. Tundra Esports player Saksa is taking “an extended break” due to health issues and has been replaced by Topson.

Invited Teams

Here are the twelve teams invited to The International 2023 through their DPC rankings. We have included each team's number of DPC points in brackets for reference.

• Team Liquid (2,150): miCKe, Nisha, zai, Boxi, Insania
• Gaimin Gladiators (2,140): dyrachyo, Quinn, Ace, tOfu, Seleri
• Tundra Esports (1,660): skiter, Topson, 33, Nine, Sneyking
• 9Pandas (1,496): RAMZES666, kiyotaka, MieRo`, Antares, Solo
• Evil Geniuses (1,470): Pakazs, Chris Luck, Wisper, Matthew, Panda
• LGD Gaming (1,284): shiro, NothingToSay, niu, planet, y`
• Shopify Rebellion (1,170): Arteezy, Abed, SabeRLight-, Cr1t-, Fly
• Talon Esports (1,120): 23savage, Mikoto, Jabz, Q, Oli~
• beastcoast (1,040): Parker, DarkMago, Sacred, Scofield, Stinger
• Team Spirit (1,020): Yatoro, Larl, Collapse, Mira, Miposhka
• TSM (900): Timado, Bryle, kasane, Ari, Whitemon
• BetBoom Team (760): Nightfall, gpk~, Pure~, Save-, TORONTOTOKYO

Regional Qualifiers Teams

As mentioned, eight teams earned their slots in TI12 through their respective regional qualifiers. There are two teams each from Western Europe and South America. At the same time, the other regions (North America, Eastern Europe, China, and Southeast Asia) all received one slot.

• Entity (Western Europe): watson, Stormstormer, Gabbi, Kataomi`, Fishman
• PSG Quest (Western Europe): TA2000, No!ob, Tobi, OmaR, kaori
• Keyd Stars (South America): Costabile, 4nalog, fcr, Kingrd, KJ
• Thunder Awaken (South America): Knight~, SLATEM$, ILICH-, n1ght, Mjz
• Nouns (North America): K1, Gunnar, Moo, Lelis, Yamsun
• Virtus.pro (Eastern Europe): Kiritych~, squad1x, Noticed, sayuw, Fng
• Azure Ray (China): Lou, Somnus, chalice, fy, 天命
• Team SMG (Southeast Asia): MidOne, No[o]ne-, Masaros, ah fu, Jaunuel

The International 2023: Venues, Tickets, Streams

The twelfth edition of the Dota 2 The International has two main venues: the Playoffs Weekend (October 20 - 22) will be hosted at the Seattle Convention Center's Summit. After that, the "Main Event," aka the Finals Weekend (October 27 - 29), will take place at the Climate Pledge Arena, which can host up to 18,000 people!

Any fans wishing to purchase a ticket can do so on Ticketmaster; grab 'em while you can! Prices for single-day tickets begin at $135 CAD.

If you can't make it to watch the event in person, don't worry! You can follow The International on Twitch, where all the matches will be broadcast live. Due to several games happening simultaneously, there are five different channels to follow: dota2ti_2, dota2ti_3, dota2ti_4, and dota2ti_5. The main Dota 2 The International Twitch channel is embedded below for convenience.

Would you like the chance to watch the Finals Weekend of The International 2023 live from the Climate Pledge Arena? If you're an Ontario Rivalry user, you're in luck! Place any Same Game Combo bet of $5 CAD on Dota 2, CS:GO, or LoL between October 1 - 15 to enter Rivalry's giveaway. Your bet doesn't have to be a winner to enter.

Please read this article for more details on entry requirements and what our giveaway includes! GL HF *Ontario Canada account holders only*

The International 2023: Schedule

The International 2023 will officially begin on October 12 with the Group Stage, Phase One. Here's how the teams were split up.

• Group A: 9Pandas, Entity, Evil Geniuses, Team SMG, Team Spirit
• Group B: Azure Ray, BetBoom Team, Shopify Rebellion, Team Liquid, Thunder Awaken
• Group C: beastcoast, Gaimin Gladiators, LGD Gaming, nouns, Virtus.pro
• Group D: Keyd Stars, PSG Quest, Talon Esports, TSM, Tundra Esports

For now, here is the schedule for TI12. All times will be in ET, and match winners will be in bold. 

The International 2023: Main Event Schedule

October 20 (Upper Bracket Quarterfinals)

• 1:00 PM: Team Spirit vs. Virtus.pro
• 4:00 PM: Team Liquid vs. Talon Esports
• 7:00 PM: 9Pandas vs. LGD Gaming
• 10:00 PM: Azure Ray vs. nouns

October 21 (Lower Bracket Round 1)

• 1:00 PM: TSM vs. Shopify Rebellion
• 4:00 PM: Evil Geniuses vs. Gaimin Gladiators

October 21 (Lower Round 2)

• 7:00 PM: nouns vs. TSM
• 10:00 pm: 9Pandas vs. Gaimin Gladiators

October 22 (Lower Bracket Round 1)

• 1:00 PM: Keyd Stars vs. BetBoom Team
• 4:00 PM: Tundra Esports vs. Entity

October 22 (Lower Round 2)

• 7:00 PM: BetBoom Team vs. Talon Esports
• 10:00 PM: Entity vs. Virtus.pro

October 27 (Lower Bracket Round 3)

• 1:00 PM: nouns vs. Gaimin Gladiators
• 4:00 PM: Virtus.pro vs. BetBoom Team

October 28 (Upper Bracket Semifinals)

• 7:00 PM: Team Spirit vs. Team Liquid
• 10:00 PM: LGD Gaming vs. Azure Ray

October 28 (Lower Bracket Quarterfinals)

• 1:00 PM: Gaimin Gladiators vs. Team Liquid
• 4:00 PM: BetBoom Team vs. Azure Ray

October 28 (Upper Bracket Final)

• 7:00 PM: Team Spirit vs. LGD Gaming

October 28 (Lower Bracket Semifinal)

• 11:15 PM: Azure Ray vs. Gaimin Gladiators

October 29 (Lower Bracket Final)

• 12:00 PM: LGD Gaming vs. Gaimin Gladiators

October 30 (Grand Final)

• 3:45 PM: Team Spirit vs. Gaimin Gladiators

October 12

Group A

• 1:00 PM: Team Spirit vs. 9Pandas
• 1:00 PM: Evil Geniuses vs. Entity
• 3:00 PM: Team SMG vs. Team Spirit
• 5:00 PM: 9Pandas vs. Entity*
• 7:00 PM: Team Spirit vs. Entity
• 7:00 PM: Team SMG vs. Evil Geniuses
• 7:00 PM: 9Pandas vs. Team SMG

Group B

• 1:00 PM: BetBoom Team vs. Thunder Awaken
• 3:00 PM: Team Liquid vs. Azure Ray*
• 3:00 PM: Shopify Rebellion vs. Thunder Awaken*
• 5:00 PM: BetBoom Team vs. Team Liquid
• 9:00 PM: Team Liquid vs. Shopify Rebellion
• 9:00 PM: Thunder Awaken vs. Azure Ray

Group C

• 1:00 PM: Gaimin Gladiators vs. LGD Gaming
• 3:00 PM nouns vs. beastcoast*
• 5:00 PM: nouns vs. LGD Gaming
• 5:00 PM: Virtus.pro vs. Gaimin Gladiators
• 7:00 PM: beastcoast vs. Virtus.pro*
• 9:00 PM: Gaimin Gladiators vs. nouns*

Group D

• 1:00 PM: TSM vs. Tundra Esports
• 3:00 PM: Talon Esports vs. Tundra Esports
• 5:00 PM: Keyd Stars vs. PSG Quest*
• 7:00 PM: Tundra Esports vs. Keyd Stars*
• 7:00 PM: TSM vs. Talon Esports
• 9:00 PM: PSG Quest vs. TSM*

October 13

Group A

• 7:00 PM: Evil Geniuses vs. Team Spirit
• 9:00 PM: Entity vs. Team SMG*
• 9:00 PM: Evil Geniuses vs. 9Pandas*
• Evil Geniuses vs. Team SMG

Group B

• 1:00 PM: Shopify Rebellion vs. BetBoom Team
• 3:00 PM: Thunder Awaken vs. Team Liquid
• 3:00 PM: Azure Ray vs. Shopify Rebellion*
• 5:00 PM: BetBoom Team vs. Azure Ray

Group C

• 1:00 PM: LGD Gaming vs. beastcoast
• 3:00 PM: Virtus.pro vs. LGD Gaming*
• 5:00 PM: nouns vs. Virtus.pro*
• 5:00 PM: beastcoast vs. Gaimin Gladiators

Group D

• 1:00 PM: Keyd Stars vs. Talon Esports
• 1:00 PM: Tundra Esports vs. PSG Quest
• 3:00 PM: TSM vs. Keyd Stars*
• 5:00 PM: Talon Esports vs. PSG Quest

The International 2023: Group Stage, Phase Two

October 14

• 1:00 PM: Team Spirit vs. Shopify Rebellion
• 1:00 PM: Keyd Stars vs. LGD Gaming
• 2:55 PM: 9Pandas vs. BetBoom Team
• 3:25 PM: TSM vs. Virtus.pro
• 5:45 PM: Evil Geniuses vs. Team Liquid
• 6:25 PM: nouns vs. Tundra Esports
• 7:45 PM: Gaimin Gladiators vs. Talon Esports
• 8:45 PM: Azure Ray vs. Entity

Final Thoughts

That's all the information we currently have on The International 2023. The battle for the Aegis of Champions is set to be a tight one, as Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators are the two top contenders. Follow the action with Rivalry as we'll update this article with upcoming match schedules and the current Dota 2 TI standings.

For avid bettors, check out our dedicated Dota 2 The International betting guide, featuring the best odds, our favorite teams to win, and our expert betting tips. Want to put your big-brain betting knowledge to use? Try our Same Game Combos for Dota 2, and win big today!