Dota 2 esports: Top 5 comebacks in The International history

OG made a historic comeback to win The International 8 (Image via Valve)
OG made a historic comeback to win The International 8 (Image via Valve)

3) Team DK vs LGD at The International 4

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Team DK faced LGD in the International 4 Lower Bracket. The match was hyped up by a lot as they were two of the strongest Chinese teams. However, DK was firm favorites to win the game and the tournament.

In the first match of their series, DK had a 24k gold lead over LGD. They had taken down two lanes of barracks, and Daryl "iceiceice" Xiang's Nature's Prophet was constantly pressuring the third lane. It should have been an easy win for DK, but LGD managed to pull off one of the biggest comebacks in Dota 2.

Rallying behind Xu "Lin" Ziyang's Lycan and Xie "DD" Bin's Alchemist, LGD managed to win fight after fight without losing anything. They managed to rush DK's throne and win the game against all odds.

Although DK won the series 2-1, LGD's comeback in the first game is considered one of the best ever in Dota 2.


2) OG vs PSG.LGD at The International 8 (Grand Finals)

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As mentioned earlier, OG faced PSG.LGD in a rematch at the Grand Final of TI8. Somehow, the former managed to pull off two more insane comebacks here. OG won the first game of the best-of-5 and lost the next two games. With their backs against the wall, the team claimed the last two games to win the series 3-2.

The fourth game of the series has gone down as one of the most iconic in Dota 2 history. LGD took a 9k gold lead over OG and was dominating the map. In a series of team fights, both teams exhausted all of their buybacks except Ame.

Taking advantage of this, LGD killed Topson and looked to kill off Anathan "Ana" Pham's Phantom Lancer to secure the game. However, Sebastien "Ceb" Debs landed a crucial Axe call to turn the fight around. Ana cleaned up LGD's heroes, forcing Ame to buyback.

With renewed confidence, OG managed to push into LGD's base and destroy their throne to win the game. They will pull off another 7k gold deficit comeback in game 5 to win their first-ever Dota 2 International.


1) EG vs Ehome at The International 6

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When a team destroys all three lanes of their enemy's barracks, they get mega creeps. Mega creeps are insanely strong and give much less gold on death. As a result, winning against mega creeps is considered to be impossibly difficult.

The first pro team to ever come back against mega creeps were Evil Geniuses. At The International 6, EG faced Ehome in an Upper Bracket match. In the first game of the series, EG came back against mega creeps in what is considered by many to be the best game of Dota 2 ever played.

Ehome was nearly 20k gold ahead at one point and got mega creeps at 71 minutes. However, EG did not give up. Sumail, Peter "ppd" Dager and Ludwig "zai" Wahlberg built triple dagons and managed to hold on to their base and kill off Ehome's heroes.

Playing around Saahil "Universe" Arora's Faceless Void, EG managed to push into Ehome's base and take down their ancient despite the mega creeps. There have been a few mega creep comebacks in pro Dota 2 since, but none have been as dramatic or legendary as EG's mega creep comeback against Ehome.

Note: This article reflects the author's views.

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