Popular Dota 2 teams in esports history

As more players get the chance to learn the mechanics of Dota 2, the better they understand the esports scene surrounding the game. With the increasing popularity of the game, the rise of its esports market also grew to now being one of the most profitable industries in the world. 

Naturally, professional players are going to spring up to the scene and make the most out of their skill sets to showcase to enthusiastic fans. There have been legendary teams that participated in major tournaments like The International (TI). 

But, which teams are the most popular that contributed to the growing success of Dota 2’s esports? Here are some that made a great impression in the league throughout the years:

Natus Vincere 

Natus Vincere or ‘Na’Vi’ is the team that made the Dota 2 esports a remarkable market. In fact, Na’Vi will forever be remembered as the first team to win the first The International against EHOME. 

Popular players like Danil ‘Dendi’ Ishutin and Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov made a name for themselves with Na’Vi and became legends in the esports scene. Their amazing combos and spectacular plays like ‘Fountain Pudge’ is just the cherry on top. Natus Vincere was established in December 2009 as a Counter-Strike team rather than Dota 2.

Evil Geniuses 

Evil Geniuses is one of the older organisations in the esports industry established in 1999. EG is also one of the teams that shaped the Dota 2 esports landscape by providing exceptional talent in the market. 

In the history of its organisation and its affiliation with the game, they had a lot of talented players like Artour ‘Arteezy’ Babaev who is now regarded as one of the most influential players in esports. 

Furthermore, EG won the 2015 The International against CDEC that secured their first Dota 2 championship. To top it all off, they also earned $6,616,014 for their amazing display and pursued to become better the following years. 

While they have never gained back the title after their first championship, they still made a lot of influence due to sheer talent and grit alone. The 2015 TI was known for EG’s incredible combo use of Ice Blast and Echo Slam in quick succession. 

Arguably the greatest play ever that secured them $6 million, EG will forever be remembered as one of the top teams in the history of Dota 2 esports. 

OG

Team OG is another team that brought Dota 2 to popularity among younger audiences after winning the 2018 TI. It’s one of the greatest achievements for any Dota 2 team due to how the game ended. 

Prior to The International 2018, OG wasn’t really the team to look out for. Instead, they hit-rock bottom before the tournament even began and were struggling to make it to the top. 

However, Sebastian ‘Ceb’ Debs’ Axe made perhaps the play of the century by activating Berserker’s Call that kept OG’s hard-carry Phantom Lancer alive. With that simple play, OG completed their incredible run after being underdogs throughout the tournament and won about $11 million. 

This is heavily documented as one of the most impressive wins in TI history. With that simple ‘Q’, it ended the game against PSG.LGD and rallied through the TI victory. 

Alliance

Alliance is one of the most popular Dota 2 teams and have made one of the best plays during The International. Alliance is a gaming organisation that was founded in 2013 and is currently owned by Jonathan ‘Loda’ Berg. 

The glory days of Alliance started early in its lifespan. Alliance has always played the game the right way in that they hold each player’s positions seriously to take down as many towers as possible. 

Facing off the defending champs, EG, the tournament was a close fight that could’ve gone either way. This showed a more exciting gameplay, especially when Lone Druid was the main carry for Alliance. 

In the latter parts of the game, Jonathan Berg’s Lone Druid was left alive and defended the Ancient all by himself. This is where LD’s position was encapsulated being a strong defender with his bear unit. 

It seemed as if Team Alliance was about finished when the Throne was attacked to crisps, but the Lone Druid was able to fend off the attackers which left the throne surviving at exactly 200 HP.

What you won’t be expecting next is the fact that Alliance was able to rally past the mid lane and sacked the ancient throne and secured the win for TI8. 

Team Spirit 

Team Spirit is the latest team to get crowned as champions in TI10. Team Spirit is regarded today as the best team in the league and looks to repeat their title aspirations in TI11. 

With players like Illya ‘Yatoro’ Mulyarchuk and Magomed ‘Collapse’ Khalilov. Team Spirit seeks to become more dominant in the 2022 season as well. 

Team Spirit carried the squad to the championship with a win in the last game after squandering a 2-0 lead early in the best-of-five finals, including a painful fourth-game defeat that left the team with a 2-2 record. Team Spirit, which is based in Moscow, will now collect the greatest prize payout in esports history: $18,208,300.

The fact that they almost didn’t qualify at all is even more astounding. TS failed to acquire enough Dota Pro Circuit points during the regular season to qualify for the event. 

In addition, the team failed to win the open qualifiers, causing people to distrust their chances of winning the TI. It goes without saying that their preparation, which included physical and mental conditioning, as well as playing a huge amount of Dota, was crucial to their success.

With all that’s happened during the 2021 Dota 2 tournaments, Team Spirit deserved the title more than anyone. 

How each popular team is contributing to the success of Dota 2

There are a lot of reasons why the most popular Dota 2 esports teams are giving the game much more appreciation. Here are the biggest ways they helped in cultivating viewership and new fans to play Dota 2:

Players seeking to play like the pros 

Popular players in the most famous Dota 2 teams encourage other newcomers to improve their skills and be better at playing the game. Not only will it attract more new players to the game, but it will also retain their gameplays due to more practice times devoted. 

Publicity 

Just like real sports, publicity usually promotes the brand of games sports persons are trying to convey to the world. As one of the leading games in the esports industry, Dota 2’s popularity can all be thanks to the popular teams because they glue fans to seats during tournaments. 

Meta game

Pro players are usually the spearheads for the metagame. Whichever hero they’ll make famous for will spread throughout the game and players. For instance, Riki’s Meteor Hammer meta was made famous by Topias ‘Topson’ Miikka Taavitsainen. 

Metagames like this provide more publicity to already existing players to keep playing the game despite logging in thousands of hours. 

The top Dota 2 teams are one thing, but if they make the game more accessible and enjoyable for the players, it’s a huge win for the esports industry as a whole. Popularity is certainly subjective, but with how the most famous teams are playing, it should go without saying that they lent a hand to the success of Dota 2 as a whole.