Dota Plus End-of-Summer Update

September 13, 2018 - Dota Team

In the wake of the thrilling conclusion to The International and the culmination of the Battle Pass season, today’s update is focused on bringing some of that summer fun into the perks of Dota Plus.

Leading the way, the Ranked Roles matchmaking queue has been added to Dota Plus. To mark the occasion, we’ve added a welcome quest where players who win 5 times in the Ranked Roles queue will earn 5000 shards.

We’ve also moved In-Game Tipping into Dota Plus, letting you celebrate the joyous moments of battle by sending some free Shards an ally’s or enemy’s way in recognition of their contributions to the game.

Express yourself year-round with select Sound Effects, which are now unlockable with Shards. Once unlocked, you’ll have access to these sounds while your Dota Plus membership is active.

Finally, as a special end-of-summer bonus, any Dota Plus member who plays 4 games this weekend can claim an extra 10,000 Shard reward.

The International Grand Champions

August 27, 2018 - Dota Team

The Road to the Aegis
Congratulations to OG, Grand Champions at The International 2018.

OG defied all predictions, making the journey to this year’s tournament through the gauntlet of the Open Qualifiers.

At first, they struggled in the group stage. But an impressive run over the final two days helped secure fourth seed and a trip to the Upper Bracket of the Main Event.

On the main stage, top-seeded VGJ.Storm were waiting. The North American squad drew first blood and kept on rolling. Riding the play of newly-returned Ana, OG weathered the early aggression, taking game one in a sudden reversal, and maintaining the momentum for a 2-0 series win.

Next would come a grudge match against Evil Geniuses. After a convincing win in game one, OG looked to close out the series, opening up a big lead. But Evil Geniuses showed amazing resilience, clawing back to force a game three. In the rubber match, Evil Geniuses tried to smash OG’s defenses — which bent but did not break. A clutch buyback teamfight wiped Evil Geniuses’ chances, and earned OG a spot in the Upper Bracket Final.

With a spot in the Grand Final at stake, OG’s next series came against PSG.LGD. After trading the first two games of the series, OG outlasted the DPC powerhouse in a tense battle that saw PSG.LGD throw all their heroes at the OG throne. With the help of Jerax’s Earthshaker, OG barely held on, storming across the map to make a victory push of their own.

But PSG.LGD defeated Evil Geniuses in the Lower Bracket Final to set up a rematch, and a five-game Grand Final series for the ages.

There, PSG.LGD would take a 2-1 series advantage before pushing OG to the brink in game four. As they had done throughout the tournament, OG held on. Leveraging plays both crafty and clutch, they were able to outlast PSG.LGD to force a deciding game five. With an unorthodox draft of heroes that hadn’t seen much success in the tournament, OG once again held out against an early PSG.LGD lead, turning the game around at the 25-minute mark and never looking back. Massive underdogs at the start of the tournament, OG took game five, and with it, the Aegis.

As bearers of the ultimate symbol of victory, these names shall forever be inscribed upon the Aegis of Champions:

2018
Anathan “ana” Pham
Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen
Sébastien “Ceb” Debs
Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka
Johan “N0tail” Sundstein

Looking Back
If you missed any of the tournament, or just want to relive the incredible moments and plays, head over to the Dota 2 YouTube channel, where you can find replays of the entire tournament, including broadcast content from in between the games. You can also find a stash of photos from the event over on the Media page and the Dota 2 Flickr.

We would like to thank all of the players, talent, and everyone in the Dota community for helping bring this celebration to life. The International is the crowning moment of the competitive season, and without everyone’s support, none of this would be possible. We hope you enjoyed this year’s tournament as much as we did.

The Days Ahead
In the wake of The International, we’re extending the Battle Pass for two more weeks. So everyone that was busy watching OG’s road to the Aegis can now enjoy their Battle Pass features until Monday, September 10.

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