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This is not meant to be %100 definitive as even I'm just a slightly more than casual watcher of e-sports and Dota 2 but just the basics and info on a few of the teams and players. If you have any questions post in the comments and I'd be happy to try and answer.
So what’s up with the International 3
So the International 3 begins this weekend, If you don’t know what Dota is at all I’m sure a quick google search or looking around joindota.com will help a lot more than me trying to explain it in a couple of paragraphs. It’s a 5 on 5 game where teams try to capture each other’s bases while also earning gold to buy items and experience points to level up and boost your characters abilities by killing A.I. controlled creeps that spawn every 30 seconds. There’s a lot more to it obviously but basically, kill creeps, earn gold, buy items, try to kill people on other team. Also there's a draft before the game where players pick the heroes they will use and can also ban characters from being used in that game. This is a huge part of the game and once in awhile the casters will say "this team is screwed what a horrible draft" Probably won't happen often this weekend or next but it's still fun to watch.
The International 3 is a tournament for the Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2). It takes place in Seattle and is hosted by Valve, the company that is developing the game. The total prize pool is about $2.8 Million and the winners get to split $1.3 million dollars. That’s mostly why it’s a big deal. It’s the biggest e-sports tournament of the year and the winners get a ton of money so this is the tournament most of the teams have been training specifically for the last couple months.
The e-sports scene is kind of weird. There’s nothing really comparable to it in the the world of pro sports as far as I know. There is no main league or regular season, it’s just a bunch of tournaments and some smaller leagues that last a couple months but nothing to get really worked up about and give you a real reason to say “this team is the best team in the world.” In my opinion that’s the biggest draw of The International. This is the one tournament all the top teams are legitimately trying to win. Players switch teams fairly regularly, new teams are formed and disbanded but if you want a chance to win this tournament you have to be an established team that has been playing together for several months and has proven you can be competitive with the best teams in the world. Some big name players are even retiring at the end of this tournament.
As far as scheduling goes the prelims are this weekend, playoffs with double elimination brackets are next weekend. All teams fly in as it’s a LAN tournament and games start at 9 PST August 3.
How do I watch it.
On twitch.tv for free or if you have the game you can watch it in the game client by buying the compendium for 10 dollars and you can watch every game in the client with multiple casters. Who is casting isn’t really important just find one in your language. Check out the dota 2 page on twitch and the most popular casts this weekend and next will be International 3 streams. I mostly watch TobiWan, he’s an Australian guy, pretty funny knows his stuff, actually gets excited sometimes and sounds like a real sports announcer and has some personality. He’s on the JoinDota channels on the twitch streams and just Tobiwan in the client when you select the caster.
What’s up with the teams. Who should I root for?
Tough question to answer, I’ve been watching streams of pro players for the last few months and sort of root for some of the guys that speak english well and are pretty funny since all the big teams are from Europe and Asia mostly.
For the purposes of this site Team Liquid is big on the Starcraft scene and they have a team. They are based out of America and have 4 Americans and a Canadian. Team Dignitas also has 3 Americans and 2 Canadians. That’s about it as far as rooting for a local squad, every other team is based out of Europe or Asia.
Na’vi is probably the most popular well known team on the scene. They are based out of Ukraine. They won the first International tournament and finished second last year. They have Dendi, one of the best solo mids in the world. Puppey, the captain, and XBOCT (pronounced havost..sort of) who have been there for all 3 tournaments. Kuroky and Funn1k just joined this past calendar year around February. Puppey is pretty cool, his streams are funny when he does them and he’s one of the best players in the world. Dendi is just a funny goofy dude who everyone loves and is apparently super nice and is probably the most famous Dota player in the world.
Last year Invictus Gaming from China is the team that beat Na’vi in the finals. Ferrari 430 is their solo mid, he’s pretty good and they have a great team overall. DK is another big name Chinese team. Burning is their captain and one of the best carries in the world, he’s announced he’s retiring after this tournament.
All the teams in it are great and have great players, so if your not going with the local angle you can just kind of pick whoever and start watching and you’ll find a reason to root for them.
Here's a few links for more info...
http://dota2.gamepedia.com/The_International_2013
http://www.dota2.com/international/home/overview/
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/The_International/2013
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