The Dota 2 International 2016 has come to an end and this year, Wings Gaming is the team that claims the Aegis. The Chinese team, who initially struggled in the group stages, brought home the grand prize of a stunning $9.1 million (about RM36.6 million) – the largest portion of the $20.8 million (about RM83.6 million) prize pool.
This year’s International was all about momentum. Most teams preferred playing a certain meta, but Wings Gaming took a different approach. The team went with unorthodox heroes as well as item builds that they felt would be beneficial to the game, and their gamble proved fruitful.
Their opponents, Digital Chaos (DC), were brought down to the lower bracket by Wings Gaming themselves. There, they had to go up against TI5 champions, Evil Geniuses, to regain their chance at the grand finals. In a best of three series, DC eliminated EG with a score of 2-1 for a second chance at bringing home the Aegis of Champions.
In game one of the finals, Wings Gaming excelled with their Timbersaw and Faceless Void picks. However, Digital Chaos bounced back in game two with their signature hyper aggresive play. In game three, Wings Gaming got their Faceless Void pick again and they managed to flawlessly land their Chronospheres. DC couldn’t keep up with the pressure and the series went into game four.
In the last match, Digital Chaos took dominance in the early game but didn’t follow through with the lane push. Wings Gaming punished them for it and found space for their Anti-Mage to farm. Once the game entered the late game phase, Shadow’s Anti-Mage proved too fearsome to deal with and Wings Gaming pushed till high ground.
Their year-long journey has reached a thrilling conclusion as Wings Gaming are crowned world champions. #TI6 pic.twitter.com/xUNEvcsSaP
— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) August 14, 2016
Wings Gaming’s surprising win proves that in Dota 2, it doesn’t matter how many tournaments you’ve won or how many Major titles your team has. Wings Gaming had a rough start in the groupstages, but they picked up momentum and peaked just at the right moments in the tournament.
Image Credit: Wykrhm Reddy
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