TI6 (The International 6th Year) News and Updates: The World's Largest e-sports Tournament is Here; Event Schedule, Details and Teams
This month, eSports fans will have their eyes set on The International 6, an international competition commonly known as TI6.
The tournament hosts the best DOTA 2 players from all over the world as they compete for the largest prize pool in all of eSports: more than $20 million and still climbing. The International is one of best and biggest international gaming tournaments in the world. The production value and broadcast quality alone sets it apart from any other eSports event. All the matches on TI6 are being broadcasted live and for free, on several YouTube channels and Twitch.TV.
Event schedule and format
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TI6 will be held in Seattle's KeyArena from August 1 until August 13. The tournament has a format of a best of three elimination Wild Card round brackets in the first few days, which will then be followed by a best of two round robin group stage.
The 16 qualified teams will then be divided in two groups of eight teams. The main event of the tournament is a double elimination bracket that runs from August 8 to August 13.
Aside from featured matches, there will also be several side events, including an all-star match, a cosplay contest, and several features and interviews with the gamers.
What's at stake?
The prize pool has once again broken world records as one of the highest ever offered for competitive online gaming competitions. The tournament has long been known as one of the most lucrative competitions in online games.
It had broken the previous record of $300,000 with its inaugural tournament in 2011 that featured a prize pool of $1.6 million. Ever since then, the prize pool has grown each year, continuously breaking its own record as the highest prize pool in the history of eSports. This year marks a new high in the prize pool, of over $20 million in prizes, eclipsing last year's record high of $18 million.
DOTA 2 is the successor of the widely successful DOTA (Defense Of The Ancients) game, a Warcraft 3 mod. It's classified in the multiplayer online battle arena or MOBA genre, where there is a 5-vs-5 battle on a set map.
Game mechanics
Each player can select from a hundred different kinds of heroes as they attempt to destroy the core building, called the ancients, found in the opposing player's base. Each hero has its own unique skills and powers that help each team achieve its goal. These heroes grow stronger as they gain experience and level up, but also from purchasing a myriad of items available at shops all over the map.
The two favorites for winning this year's TI are Team OG and Team Liquid. Each team has had good results in this year's majors and tournaments. OG is led by well known polish gamer "Miracle" while Team Liquid is led by Finnish "MATUMBAMAN". Other teams contending for this year's title includes Chinese teams LGD and Wings Gaming, as well as the the defending champions Team Evil Geniuses.
