The International 8 Set To Kick Off Tomorrow

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August 15 marks the start of the group stage for The International 8 (TI8). Teams from around the globe that have qualified for the event over the past twelve months and will be gathering in Vancouver to determined who the best team on the planet is. TI8 is a unique event for the Dota 2 scene and esports and is unrivaled by anything else in esports.

The event is spilt into two parts, the group stage and the main event. The group stage features two groups of 9 playing best of two matches over the course of four days. Each team has eight matches, so no crossover between the two group until playoffs.

The playoffs are a six day grueling double elimination tournament were the top 12 from the group stage have a chance to compete for over $24 million in prize money. The top 8 form the upper bracket while the next four start out in the lower bracket. The playoffs culminate in the grand final on Saturday August 25th.

Even for teams that don't make the playoffs, TI8 will be one of their biggest paydays of the year with every team walking away with a minimum of $60,000. The real money starts getting doled out for team making the playoffs. Nine to twelve, the first teams eliminated from the playoffs, earn an impressive $350,000. Prizes only go up from there with the winning team taking home over $10 million. The prize pool isn't just large for esports, it's one of the largest prize pools in all of sports. Prize totals will continue to grow as the event is crowd funded through item sales within Dota 2, we could see the total surge over $30 million by the time the tournament ends.

I strongly believe that TI8 is the biggest and best esports event of the year. The quality of the product is in a league of it's own in the esports realm and the massive prize pool brings out the best in the teams and players. One of the interesting thing in a tournament of this caliber, is watching how the game evolves over the course of the tournament. You will hear many comments about the "meta" which evolves as the tournament progresses. Teams may not figure out the best strategies until the playoffs resulting in some amazing runs through the lower bracket of the tournament, creating some very interesting story lines.

I'm exciting for some Dota 2 binge watching starting tomorrow. I plan on having the games on at work and when I get home afterwards.