DotA2 eSports event TI8: Chinese teams face worst standings

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After four days of battles during the group stage of the China Dota2 Supermajor (DotA 2) between 18 teams from around the world, the Chinese players are facing the toughest situation in the history of "The International" (TI) eSports tournament.

Plenty is at stake with the rewards of this year's event (TI8) surpassing 24 million US dollars so far.

A fun fact about China's participation in TI is that Chinese teams have nabbed the top award in even-numbered years since the beginning of the tournament in 2011. But this year does not look promising.

The results of the group stage of the 2018 "The International" DotA 2 eSports tournament /Photo via Liquipedia

Here's how the six Chinese teams have been faring so far: one didn't make it to the group stage, one is among the higher-seeded teams after a long struggle, and the remaining four are in the lower-seeded teams, which means they cannot lose their next battle if they wanted to remain in the competition.

Team Liquid from the EU section and Evil Geniuses from the North America section are leading the standings with 13 wins in the group stage, while China's LGD ranks fourth.

The main event is kicking off on August 20, and will be live-streamed online with 25 percent of the tickets purchased going straight into the prize pool.

The main event schedule of the 2018 "The International" DotA 2 eSports tournament /Photo via Liquipedia

What is DotA?

DotA, short for Defense of the Ancient, is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) video game in which ten players battle it out in two teams and try to lead their side to victory with the hero characters they choose.

It's one of the first MOBA games that deeply influenced the genre. Later MOBA games like League of Legends, Smite and others all inherited some of DotA characteristics to some extent.

According to German market researcher Statista, the game has attracted over 10 million players every month since at least 2015.

The original DotA game is a community-made program that depends on Blizzard's game "Warcraft 3" to run. Another company, Valve, created a separate game "DotA 2" in 2013.

(Cover image courtesy of DotA 2's official website)