DoTA 2 Clan "Alliance" Takes Home The International 3 Gold

[Steven Bogos]

DoTA 2 Clan "Alliance" Takes Home The International 3 Gold

The Sweden-based clan will take home $1.43 million in prize money.

The International 3 [http://www.dota2.com/international/home/overview/], Valve's annual international DoTA 2 tournament, wrapped up this weekend, with Sweden-based clan "Alliance" taking home the gold. Alliance won the grand final after besting Na'Vi from the Ukraine in a best-of-five format. They will take home $1.43 million in prize money, which divided among the five members nets them with $286,000 each. Not bad for being really good at a videogame.

The International 3 started back on August 3, in which the 16 best DoTA 2 teams in the world were flown in to Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington, to compete for the massive $2,874,407 prize pool.

As well as being the largest prize pool in competitive gaming history, what was particularly interesting about the International is that fans could purchase an "Interactive Compendium," which allowed them to predict winners and win special in-game items. A percentage of all proceeds from compendiums sold was then put directly into the event's prize pool, effectively allowing fans to support the event from their own pocket.

Na'Vi will be awarded $632,370 for second place, while Malaysian team Neolution Orange placed third, and will be awarded $287,441 in prize money. Surprisingly, no Chinese teams placed in the top 3 this time around, a first in the event's three-year history.

At the 2012 International, Invictus Gaming from China took home $1 million for first place, and in 2011, 2013 runner up Na'Vi took first place with a prize of $1 million.

Source: DoTA 2 [http://www.dota2.com/international/mainevent/schedule/sunday/]

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[FancyNick]

Was an amazing event. Alliance and Na'Vi played some of the best games of Dota I have ever seen.

 

[RaNDM G]

How long before someone calls collusion?

 

[teebeeohh]

The bo5 was really good, great final, definitely worth staying up till six in the morning.
Still, Orange won my heart this year, really fun to watch and they were in half the games I managed to watch.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

The bo5 was really good, great final, definitely worth staying up till six in the morning.
Still, Orange won my heart this year, really fun to watch and they were in half the games I managed to watch.

Yup. And last year I thought of Oranges as underdogs and look at them now! God damn Mushi. TeamLiquid also won my heart, especially Bulba with his insane hookshots. Overall, an amazing tournament with amazing games, amazing comebacks, amazing Pudge by Dendi and amazing sportsmanship.
<img src=http://i.imgur.com/A5D1EEZ.png>
<img src=http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2013/08/DendiTaunt.jpg>

 

[The Forces of Chaos]

Dendi "good" comment during the interview had me in hysterics. he's&#65279; like a observer ward. Sad that Navi didn't win though.

 

[teebeeohh]

The bo5 was really good, great final, definitely worth staying up till six in the morning.
Still, Orange won my heart this year, really fun to watch and they were in half the games I managed to watch.

Yup. And last year I thought of Oranges as underdogs and look at them now! God damn Mushi. TeamLiquid also won my heart, especially Bulba with his insane hookshots. Overall, an amazing tournament with amazing games, amazing comebacks, amazing Pudge by Dendi and amazing sportsmanship.
<img src=http://i.imgur.com/A5D1EEZ.png>
<img src=http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2013/08/DendiTaunt.jpg>

Oh god dendi, those fountain hooks. Or the puck fountain refill. You really shouldn't let dendi get near a fountain. And navi were such good sports after beating Orange, there is a reason everyone and their dog loves navi.
Mushi is so fun to watch because he picks his heroes by throwing a coin and picking whatever hero that lands on. Orange also fills the underdog role very well, we don't see a lot of Malaysian players and they got kicked into the lower bracket Syu early.

 

[captainballsack]

Only 3 gold? I thought they promised $1.4 million.

Terrible jokes aside, this is a milestone in e-sports. Hopefully it should drive developers to create more competitive and interesting games, or at least convince publishers to fund them.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

You know what, I'm gonna post some photos just to show what kind of event that was, just to show that despite very hostile online community Dota is still an amazing game with amazing players who show the meaning of real sportsmanship.
<img src=http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5449/9465189345_bb44ecfd57_z.jpg><img src=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3777/9465190405_915937a0f2_z.jpg><img src=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3798/9465190991_84e4160c7a_z.jpg><img src=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3727/9465193619_f7b78b5249_z.jpg><img src=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3696/9465194887_1ff7e1d8dc_z.jpg><img src=http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2862/9465197575_e91f77b7d5_z.jpg><img src=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3734/9467183646_e88ba1c26a_z.jpg><img src=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3733/9461021461_4250cda8a4_z.jpg><img src=http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2822/9458940633_9e72ceae62_z.jpg><img src=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3705/9428153271_2c6a67fc3c_z.jpg>
Note that people on majority of those photos are not teammates, but actually rivals! Rivals, who battle for more than $1.4 million and who are simply having fun playing their favorite game.

 

[ksn0va]

The Allstar match was crazy! For me that was the highlight of the tournament outside of the grand final.

 

[Forobryt]

The only sad thing was I couldnt be there in person to watch, the atmosphere of the hall seemed insane. The uproars on first bloods or ganks, the applause, must make it a point to try and go next year even if it is a fair journey there.

But Alliance deserve that victory, the fact they only lost 1 match before the grand finals shows that they are damn good players. And the fact that they then lost twice in the finals shows that Na'vi are also incredible players.

Was a damn fine tournement and a pleasure to watch.

 

[NathLines]

Watching this made me realize how much LoL has struggled. LoL wasn't built from the ground up to be an e-sport while Dota 2 obviously was. This all makes me sad because I still enjoy LoL's gameplay more so I play that instead, even though I think Dota 2 just is the better game of the two.

Anyhow, I couldn't follow the whole tournament, but what I saw was a treat to watch.

 

[BlindTom]

I watched the tournament with League playing friends, and despite the fact that we will continue to play League together it proved that Dota is the better game, especially to watch. I started on Dota and got pulled away by friends to play League, and had more fun with it, so it's definitely more accessible, but when you want to see the crazy shit from the cream of the crop you go Dota.

 

[Denamic]

How long before someone calls collusion?

These matches were some of the best I have ever seen, especially the final match. It was insane. It was 5-ish in the morning here, and I think I woke up the neighbors. It just isn't possible to fake games of that caliber. No one who has seen the matches can honestly cry collusion.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

The only sad thing was I couldnt be there in person to watch, the atmosphere of the hall seemed insane. The uproars on first bloods or ganks, the applause, must make it a point to try and go next year even if it is a fair journey there.

But Alliance deserve that victory, the fact they only lost 1 match before the grand finals shows that they are damn good players. And the fact that they then lost twice in the finals shows that Na'vi are also incredible players.

Was a damn fine tournement and a pleasure to watch.

Just watch their reactions!


The crowd, the players... AdmiralBulldog's reaction is HILARIOUS! (He's the closest one to the camera on the bottom left)

 

[Denamic]

The only sad thing was I couldnt be there in person to watch, the atmosphere of the hall seemed insane. The uproars on first bloods or ganks, the applause, must make it a point to try and go next year even if it is a fair journey there.

But Alliance deserve that victory, the fact they only lost 1 match before the grand finals shows that they are damn good players. And the fact that they then lost twice in the finals shows that Na'vi are also incredible players.

Was a damn fine tournement and a pleasure to watch.

Just watch their reactions!


The crowd, the players... AdmiralBulldog's reaction is HILARIOUS! (He's the closest one to the camera on the bottom left)

s4 was the clear hero of that match. Beautiful Puck play, and I'm not just talking about the coils, which were indeed awesome, but his Puck play in general. He's made so many excellent Puck plays in TI3. Like phasing out from a nearly point blank INVISIBLE Alch stun. He had less than half a second to react, from a complete surprise gank. I've always loved Dendi's Puck play, but I have to say s4's Puck was the best in the tournament this time.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

s4 was the clear hero of that match. Beautiful Puck play, and I'm not just talking about the coils, which were indeed awesome, but his Puck play in general. He's made so many excellent Puck plays in TI3. Like phasing out from a nearly point blank INVISIBLE Alch stun. He had less than half a second to react, from a complete surprise gank. I've always loved Dendi's Puck play, but I have to say s4's Puck was the best in the tournament this time.

s4 brought Alliance back in, but I think Na'vi panicked and threw the game a little after s4 stopped their TPs back to base. They should have went straight for throne to force Alliance to respond instead of running back to defend.

I'm also kinda disappointed that Fnatic didn't make it further in the tournament. H4nn1 hinted at a possible N0tail Meepo pickup if they made it to the best of three games.

 

[Denamic]

s4 was the clear hero of that match. Beautiful Puck play, and I'm not just talking about the coils, which were indeed awesome, but his Puck play in general. He's made so many excellent Puck plays in TI3. Like phasing out from a nearly point blank INVISIBLE Alch stun. He had less than half a second to react, from a complete surprise gank. I've always loved Dendi's Puck play, but I have to say s4's Puck was the best in the tournament this time.

s4 brought Alliance back in, but I think Na'vi panicked and threw the game a little after s4 stopped their TPs back to base. They should have went straight for throne to force Alliance to respond instead of running back to defend.

I'm also kinda disappointed that Fnatic didn't make it further in the tournament. H4nn1 hinted at a possible N0tail Meepo pickup if they made it to the best of three games.

They couldn't afford to force a response from Alliance. By the time they would have gotten the mid barracks, Alliance would have gotten their bot and top, and would still be able to TP back home to defend the ancient. That would have been a clear loss for NaVi. TPing back to defend was the correct response by them, but they made a huge mistake by TPing so close to Alliance's base, a mistake s4 made the most of by interrupting Enigma's TP and delaying the other's with a perfect coil. That was a clear game changer and I'd argue that it was the moment NaVi lost. s4 later sealed their defeat with two more TPs interrupted, but by that point, I don't think NaVi could have salvaged the game even if they got back home, because they were already slapping the ancient. Even if they'd manage to beat them back, they would never be able to move out of their base, or NP would just push into their base and Io would have ported in with CK to kill off the ancient.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

They couldn't afford to force a response from Alliance. By the time they would have gotten the mid barracks, Alliance would have gotten their bot and top, and would still be able to TP back home to defend the ancient. That would have been a clear loss for NaVi. TPing back to defend was the correct response by them, but they made a huge mistake by TPing so close to Alliance's base, a mistake s4 made the most of by interrupting Enigma's TP and delaying the other's with a perfect coil. That was a clear game changer and I'd argue that it was the moment NaVi lost. s4 later sealed their defeat with two more TPs interrupted, but by that point, I don't think NaVi could have salvaged the game even if they got back home, because they were already slapping the ancient. Even if they'd manage to beat them back, they would never be able to move out of their base, or NP would just push into their base and Io would have ported in with CK to kill off the ancient.

When Na'vi took the mid rax, they still had both their towers up. That's why they thought they could TP back to defend. But when s4 stopped their TPs, in the time it would take for them to run back to base, they were guaranteed to lose both rax already. There was no way they could stop the push without every member of Na'vi back. By going straight for throne, they'd either force Alliance to go for a base race, which Na'vi would win seeing how much damage PA was putting out, or ALLIANCE would TP back to defend, which would result in two ways:

1) Alliance would abandon taking the rax to TP back immediately, which would put Na'vi out on top because their rax was still standing.

2) Alliance would take the rax and then TP back to defend, which would also put Na'vi on top, because the tier 4's would be dead or dying, allowing Na'vi to do what Alliance did at the end of that game and go straight for the throne.

Alliance didn't have the damage or the lockdown at the time to beat Na'vi in a straight base race. If Na'vi had pushed instead of running back to defend, I'm 70% sure they'd have won instead.