Iconic Moments of The International Championship of DOTA2 - TI Archive

Every year the best DOTA2 teams around the world travel to attend the biggest, largest and the most important DOTA2 event of the year The International Championship of DOTA2 hosted and organized by Valve Corporation.

The International is not only the most prestigious tournament in E-sports but also produced a lot of iconic moments in its history. Before more legends and heroes are born in the upcoming TI, let’s take a look back at the iconic moments of The International’s history.

The Fountain Hooks

Game-Breaking. Cheating. Bug abuse. Brilliant. Pure skill. Call it whatever you want but Natus Vincere’s Fountain Hook is one of the biggest iconic moment in the history of DOTA2 and one of the most unorthodox way to win a game of DOTA. 15 minutes into the upper bracket game against Tongfu and Na’vi found their back against the wall. From Tongfu getting the First blood on Navi’s safelane Alchemist to Na’vi losing 3 heroes and a tower at 13 minutes, everything was proving how much the game was in control of Tongfu. There was no possible way to comeback into the game. The game was slowly going out of hands for Na’vi if it was not already gone. Puppey and Dendi, 2 of the legendary players of all time pulled out the ultimate strategy to make a comeback into the game and win it. The Fountain Hook. With Chen’s taste of faith and Pudge’s meat hook they created a disgusting yet brilliant way to hook enemy heroes into their fountain.

From here the game turned and the networth started going high for Na’vi. Even though Tongfu kept controlling the game after that but hook after hook made their life miserable. With a hook on the Gyrocopter with aegis and a 5 man wipe at 39 minutes into the game sealed Na’Vi as the winner of the game. Till today Fountain Hook is the most discussed iconic moment of DOTA2 not just because of NaVi’s innovative ideas but also because of the endless possibilities in this game.

The Mega Creep Comeback

In the 6 years of The International, no team has ever overcome mega creeps to win a game until August 10, 2016, when EG met EHome. From the very beginning, both teams went to blow for blow. The match was a slugfest. Even though the kill difference was unnoticeable EHome managed to get all 3 side of the barracks after playing the game already for over an hour. EG somehow stayed alive in the game and climbed their way back up with the mass Dagon strategy. With Mega Creeps threatening their every step EG fought back and found their way to victory after a complete team wipe. With the victory, EG cemented their legendary status of being the King of comebacks.

The Six Million Dollar Echo Slam

From the Grand Final of TI5, "The Six Million Dollar Echo Slam" is not only one of the legendary two man Wombo-Combo DOTA2 ever saw but it was the winning play for Evil Geniuses. In the game 4 of the BO5 series, EG seemed to be ahead of CDEC but a catch on to Sumail’s Storm Spirit created enough space for CDEC to slay Roshan and claim the Aegis of the immortal to get back into the game.

As CDEC entered the Rosh pit to slay Roshan, PPD on Ancient Apparition and Universe on Earth Shaker shut the window down on CDEC by using their ultimates and destroying team CDEC with an Ice Blast – Echo Slam combo causing 4 CDEC player to die and EG claiming the Aegis. 10 minutes after this play EG wins the game and becomes the first North American team to win The International.

S4’s The Million Dollar Dream Coils

Let’s take a look back at the TI3 Grand Finals. TI3’s Grand Final was the El-Classico of DOTA2. Alliance vs Natus Vincere. The best of 5 series and the Championship Title was hanging between these two teams as they proceed to the 5th game with a 2-2 scoreline after first 4 games. Alliance started slowly in the game giving Na’Vi a lot of early control. With Dendi being deadly on his Templar Assasin the game was going out of hand for Alliance. That’s when they started to do what they do best, Split Push. Na’vi grouped up and started pushing mid forcing Alliance to defend but when Alliance kept counter pushing on two lanes at the same time, Na’Vi tried to fall back. When Na’Vi was on their way to teleport back to base s4’s Dream Coil canceled 3 TPS while Alliance took down Na’Vi’s 2 set of Barracks. As the game was coming down, in a similar situation another Dream Coil canceled 2 TPS including Dendi’s TP back to base.

By the time Dendi got back to defend half of the team was already dead unable to defend the throne against a Chaos Knight, Nature’s Prophet push. Alliance won the game and the Championship. There’s still plenty of debates about which Dream Coil was really the Million Dollar Coil, there’s no doubt both of them was one of the best clutch plays in the history of DOTA2.

The Play

From The International 2012 “The Play” is DOTA2’s most iconic moment. In a crucial game 2 of Upper Bracket against Invictus Gaming, Na’Vi was in control. Na’Vi grouped up on the bottom lane and moved ahead pushing the lane to capture the enemy tier2 tower. Invictus Gaming’s Plan was very simple. Smoke and catch Na’Vi off guard from the behind with their devastating team fight draft.

As Naga Siren caught the whole team Na’Vi with her Ultimate, Dark seer vacuums team Na’Vi and the Tide Hunter hits them with Ravage however Light of Heaven manages to turn on his BKB catching the whole team of IG in a massive Blackhole. At the same time, Dendi manages to Force-Staff himself out of the IG’s attack as he steals Ravage and returns it to team IG, destroying them and causing a team wipe. Na’Vi did not only win the game but the series as well advancing to the Top 3 of TI2. While IG took their revenge by defeating Na’Vi in the Finals, “The Play” became the most famous play in the history of DOTA2 cementing Dendi as a legend of the game.