Summer usually ushers in the dog days of the sports world. The NBA Finals are long gone, football is a couple of months away and even the World Cup which comes along to save summer once every four years is over. There is baseball and that’s about it.
Luckily, there is an international competition happening right now that has a prize pool of $10 million. It features the deepest talent pool that the game has ever seen, has players from all over the world and its main event will take place this weekend (well, Friday through Monday).
It’s time for the Dota 2 International.
For the uninitiated, Dota 2 is an online multiplayer video game. It is a five-on-five battle where each player controls one hero and tries to coordinate with other players on their team to destroy the opposing team’s base. It is one of the most simple gaming concepts wrapped up in an incredibly complex package.
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There are over 100 heroes to choose from, each with their own unique abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Add onto that the hundreds of item possibilities that you can give use to make your hero stronger and you have a game that can take years to get good enough at to be considered average.
Yet, somehow this incredibly frustrating game (confession: I’ve played Dota and Dota 2 for the past seven or eight years of my life and am still god awful at this damn game) has garnered such an immense following that the Dota 2’s largest tournament of the year, The International, will hand out $10,741,911 in prize money this year with $4,941,279 going to the first place team. That’s nearly $1 million per player on the winning team.
The tournament is currently going through its seeding stages and who ends up in the winners and losers brackets will be decided today. Then, the Main Event will take place between July 18th and the 21st.
So, if you’re looking for some competition with high stakes and don’t mind the fact that it’s pixels fighting pixels, the Dota 2 International is not a bad way to go. Here’s some reasons to not miss this tournament.
