With the field for the International 2021 set, many Dota 2 fans have started to talk about the event’s potential winners. In a tough Dota Pro Circuit, many teams have emerged as strong contenders but at the end of the day, only one team stands tall after TI.
The Dota scene has created so many stories over the years. You can look at some of the teams and you will see the quality of players. TI9 was seen as the apex of talent in the Dota scene but it looks like TI10 will be an even better event even without teams like Team Nigma and TNC Predator.
Esports tournaments usually have solid games but TI is still the best that the scene has to offer in almost every aspect. Now, let’s dive into the teams that can be considered favourites in one of the biggest esports events of all time.
OG
As the final team that qualified for the tournament, most people would not favour them. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, that team is two-time defending TI champs OG. They are an awesome team that has all of the qualities that you want in a championship-level team. They still have three of their TI-winning core with midlaner Topias ‘Topson’ Taavitsainen, Sébastien ‘Ceb’ Debs, and team captain Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein.
Since they still have this core, you can expect they will emerge as strong contenders for the event. They might not have performed well during the DPC season but their qualifiers run was amazing. They had to go through fellow TI9 finalists Nigma in the lower bracket finals and they managed to upset the surging Tundra Esports in the grand final.
With their core three, most people would already favour this team to win the event but the other two players are stars of their own right. Martin ‘Saksa’ Sazdov is one of the most underrated supports in Dota history and he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves with OG. However, the star player on the squad is former Evil Geniuses superstar and TI5 winner Syed Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan who was the MVP of their qualifiers run in Western Europe.
PSG.LGD
Since OG is at the top of the scene, their rivals PSG.LGD is still in the running for TI. This is not the same squad that played against OG a few years ago because only Wang ‘Ame’ Chunyu is left from the TI8 and 9 squads. However, they did not fall off because their squad is still strong. With the likes of former TI winners Zhang ‘y`’ Yiping and Zhang ‘Faith_bian’ Ruida on the squad, they have the experience that the other LGD teams struggled with before.
You should expect this team to perform well since they have the talent and the legendary Zhang ‘xiao8’ Ning serving as the team’s coach. This is a dangerous side and they will be a top contender for the event.
Team Secret
As the team that dominated the DPC for the past two years, Team Secret needs to meet expectations. They need to prove why they were the best team during the online era of the DPC. With Clement ‘Puppy’ Ivanov as the captain, he wants to win his second TI a decade after he won his first one with Natus Vincere.
His reliable teammates Yazied ‘YapzOr’ Jaradat, Ludwig ‘zai’ Wåhlberg, and Lasse ‘MATUMBAMAN’ Urpalainen will be needed in this event since they have experience. MATUMBAMAN himself is a TI winner too. However, the deciding factor for this team will be their star Michał ‘Nisha’ Jankowski since he has the highest skill ceiling out of any Secret star.
Those are just some of the favourites for one of the biggest esports tournaments but there are always some surprises at TI. It will be a fun event and we will see if OG can defend their title.
