The East European organization is the second team to become repeat International champions.
The International 2023 closes in spectacular fashion as Team Spirit take the Aegis of Champions. The East European team swept Gaimin Gladiators after an unchallenged run in the winners side of the bracket.
Team Spirit entered The International 2023 rank 10 in the Dota Pro Circuit after multiple respectable finishes in the East Europe tour. They unimpressed in all of this year’s Majors however so they flew under the radar of many teams.
The teams started turning heads during the group stages when they blew past everyone and went undefeated in their group. Team Spirit shared the group with 9Pandas and Evil Geniuses, two of the year’s heavy hitter teams. The fact that they were the only team to go undefeated in the group stage was a sign of how far they would go.
Their dominance would continue all the way into the main event. Team Spirit would take down one tournament favorite after another starting with Virtus.pro and then Team Liquid. LGD Gaming, the last hope of China, stood in Team Spirit’s way in the upper bracket finals. Unfortunately they were no match for the Europeans as they fell to Team Spirit and then to Gaimin Gladiators in the lower bracket finals.
Europe’s Dota 2 might was in full effect for the grand finals as Team Secret fought for the right to have their names etched on the Aegis of Champions. In the end, it was Team Spirit who made history as the second ever repeating International champion.
Banner photo from The International.
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