The International 12 (TI12) is about to begin in a few weeks time. It certainly feels different this time around, as TI12 did not have Battle Pass funding its prize pool. Hence, we frankly don’t know how much is at stake for TI12 participants.

Credit: Dota 2

Regardless, our TI12 power rankings will be quite a dis-balance in regional representatives, especially from Western European teams.

DOTA 2 The International 12 Power Rankings

In our take on TI12 power rankings, we consider various factors, which include team line-up, playstyle, and their overall performance in the Dota Pro Circuit 2023 (DPC 2023). After all, Dota 2 has had its fair share of new meta and updates since Dota 2 Update 7.33. Hence, what was good six months ago wouldn’t be as effective in today’s standards per se.

Additionally, we will also look into several honorable mentions. In fact, we will feature more honorable mentions in TI12 power rankings and lesser top teams because of how big the power gap is between most TI12 teams versus the Big WEU teams. Needless to say, the TI12 power ranking this year is in favor of the Big WEU Trios.

5. Team 9Pandas

With honorable mentions done, 9Pandas is the fifth team on our TI12 power rankings.

What’s even more outrageous is that 9Pandas is the bottom of the barrel here, when it comes to the top five. In terms of DPC 2023 accomplishments, 9Pandas debuted during mid-season, qualifying for the Berlin Major 2023 and winning third-place instantly. Since then, they were recognized by many opponents as one of the only teams to fair up well against the Big WEU Trio, at least to a certain extent.

On paper, 9Pandas has many winning factors going for them, such as having the “father-son” duo, Alexey “Solo” Berezin and Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev. The two earned fame as the strongest EEU team during their prime in Virtus.pro, but went their separate ways after TI9. Fate brought them back together at 9Pandas, and fans are rooting for the pair to potentially become TI12 Champions themselves.

4. Quest Esports

A newcomer among the top five teams on TI12 Power Rankings, Quest Esports’ latest accomplishment in DPC 2023 is securing fourth place at Bali Major 2023.

This puts them well above the level of other regions, and only the Big WEU Trio stand in their way. Even then, when put on the spot against their regional rivals, Quest Esports has what it takes to often snatch a series or two from Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid and Tundra Esports.

That said, it’s important to note that the roster than played well at Bali Major isn’t identical to its current roster. Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf no longer plays as Quest’s offlaner since the major, but the team with a stand-in seems to be relatively consistent at Riyadh Masters 2023 and TI12 WEU Regional Qualifiers.

3. Tundra Esports

The first of the Big WEU Trio is Tundra Esports. While placed third, Tundra definitely has the calibre to potentially sweep Liquid and Gaimin, thanks to an unexpected helper. Earlier, Tundra announced that two-time TI Champion, Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen will be competing as their mid-laner at TI12.

Topson, being the legendary player he is, means that Tundra is more powerful than ever. Whereas the same can be said for Topson, who is in his element now that he plays with a WEU team. With Topson onboard, he might just be the edge Tundra needed to close the gap between themselves and the other two WEU rivals.

Image source: The International 11

2. Team Liquid

Throughout DPC 2023, second place seems to be synonymous to Team Liquid, but for good reasons. Being this consistent and strong, such that only Gaimin Gladiators could give them a run for their money, means that being at TI12 Grand Finals is very much guaranteed.

At least that’s what Liquid fans are expecting, that Gaimin will be the one and only opponent that Liquid has trouble against. However, as mentioned earlier, there are many odd balls at TI12, namely 9Pandas, Entity, and of course, Tundra Esports with the Topson magic.

We already saw Liquid eliminated at DreamLeague S21 recently, but we will sweep that under the rug with “saving strats for TI12” as an excuse.

1. Gaimin Gladiators

For the record, Gaimin is the undisputed strongest team of DPC 2023, bagging three Major victories, DreamLeague S19 and S20.

Although Gaimin never have a clean record of winning every match in a tournament, they somehow manages to always make it work. While that sounds ambiguous, the key takeaway from Gaimin being a strong team is in their execution. Winning Dota 2 today revolves more around playing viable meta and strategies than it was ever about unique drafts.

Hence, why Gaimin always look astonishingly good in the fights that they deliver.

Verdict: All Hail Gaimin Gladiators

It’s tough not to side Gaimin Gladiators as the potential TI12 Champions after such a phenomenal season. Even after considering they got prematurely eliminated by Talon Esports at Riyadh Masters 2023, only for Team Spirit to claim first place alongside a whopping $5M prize pool winnings.

Hence, if we exclude that flop, yes, Gaimin is still untouchable as it stands. There just aren’t any other region with prominent teams that could go head-to-head against Gaimin, so this year’s TI12 might be WEU region to claim.

Image source: Gaimin Gladiators

Honorable Mentions

Even in the honorable mentions category, there’s a slight power ranking among the teams.

Starting at the bottom, we have Entity. For many fans, Entity has somehow risen from the dead, after their absence in DPC 2023. They haven’t had any luck qualifying for majors since Lima Major 2023, plausibly because of how stacked the competition is in WEU.

Yet, they managed to defeat the two highly-anticipated WEU veterans, Team Secret and Nigma Galaxy, to claim a TI12 slot. That’s surely not all that we considered before putting them among the honorable mentions, as Entity has once again proven that they can even Team Liquid and 9Pandas a run for their money at DreamLeague S21.

The other regional qualifier winner hails from China, Azure Ray, which comprised of ex-PSG.LGD players from TI8-9. For the diehard fans, you would know this team gave the two-time TI Champion, team OG, a run for their champions’ title back in their prime. With three of its players back in action, Azure Ray’s first recognition came from Bali Major 2023, where they placed seventh. Not too shabby for an all-star squad that recently came out of retirement.

The Eastern European representatives, BetBoom Team and Team Spirit, follow suit. They have done well to always qualify for every major and even advance to playoffs frequently, but never could reach the peak like their rival, 9Pandas. Nevertheless, it’s worth mentioning the TI10 Champions not just out of respect but also the fact that Spirit won the Riyadh Masters 2023. For the unwary, while Team Spirit is the TI10 Champions, one of its founding player, Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, competes under a different namesake, BetBoom.

Finally, beastcoast and PSG.LGD are superior among the honorable mentions. After an underwhelming major performance earlier in DPC 2023, they finally come forth with decent improvements by placing seventh and fifth place at Bali Major respectively.

Read next: The International 2023 Opening Ceremony: Performers & Dates

The International 10 Power Rankings

The International 10 (TI10) is about to begin in just days. It certainly feels different this time around, as TI10 will not have a live audience for the first time. However, we are seeing quite a disbalance in regional representatives as well, with prominent European powerhouses, such as Team Liquid and Nigma missing out. Needless to say, the TI10 power ranking this year is very unique.

In our take on TI10 power rankings, we consider various factors, which include team line-up, playstyle, and their overall performance in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021 (DPC 2021).

After all, Dota 2 has had its fair share of new meta and updates since TI10 was postponed. Hence, what was good three months ago wouldn’t be as effective in today’s standards per se. Of course, we will also look into the rumors and COVID-19 scenario happening at TI10.

The International 10 Power Rankings

10. Elephant

For a team that barely qualified for TI10 through the China regional qualifiers, some may argue Elephant wasn’t worthy. And there is truth to that statement, considering Elephant did not live up to our hype and expectations.

Yet, Elephant still has what we call an all-star roster of the decade. Former PSG.LGD and Vici Gaming veterans joined hands to form this powerhouse to rock the Chinese scene. Perhaps after an entire DPC season’s worth of practice, Elephant might be looking forward to tramp on its opponents at TI10.

We will give Elephant a second chance to redeem themselves since they did have their moments, notably the one time Xu “fy” Linsen had a 145K gold lead as a support player.

9. Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro, the second runner-up in DPC 2021. Now, at first glance, VP being in ninth place on the TI10 power ranking raises quite the debate among Dota 2 fans. However, if we look back at how VP earned their DPC points, it wasn’t much to brag about.

They won the Eastern European regional league twice, earning themselves a good chunk of DPC points, but disappointed big-time in the majors. Hence, despite VP’s dominance in their region, they have been underwhelming even against teams that didn’t make it into the top 10 list here.

8. Vici Gaming

Vici Gaming is another Chinese candidate that has been very consistent throughout the DPC 2021. Sure, it’s nothing fancy like scoring a top-three finish, but they landed fourth in WePlay AniMajor and seventh in Singapore Major.

After all, it’s their consistent objective-based playstyle and discipline that made VG one of China’s most established teams in TI10. Not particularly high tempo, such as the Southeast Asian team, T1, but VG is certainly the personification of Chinese Dota.

Hence, we can rely on VG to give even the upcoming higher-ranked teams a run for their money.

7. Quincy Crew

Ah, one of the North American candidates, Quincy Crew. Despite the hate that the NA Dota scene gets, Quincy Crew deserves every bit of respect for making it into TI0. At the seventh place on this TI10 power ranking, but frankly, QC could go way above and beyond in situational matches.

Before that, a quick backstory on QC is a walking contradiction of what describes NA teams, short-term. Quincy Crew’s roster has been together for two years, definitely much longer than the average team in the region. With the team’s persistence and loyalty paying off, QC is definitely a decent force to be reckoned with.

Just goes to show that the NA region isn’t all that bad, if a bunch of seasoned players stick it up and played it for the long run.

6. Team OG

Finally, the team with the biggest fanbase in Dota 2. OG somehow made it onto the list because they are kickstarting a new journey with Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan. It’s a fresh start for a team that doesn’t have two of its founding members that brought them glory.

Then again, is SumaiL really good news for team OG? Now, don’t get us wrong, SumaiL is arguably the best mid player of his time. Considering his young age and cunning playstyle, the kid’s got unlimited potential up his sleeves. However, SumaiL never really found success in any teams he played for, besides his first team, Evil Geniuses.

Since then, he has been team-hopping for so long that OG picked him up again. Well, this isn’t the first time OG announced their refurbished roster with the TI5 champ in it. Nevertheless, there are still key players in the team, namely, Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen, Sébastien “Ceb” Debs and captain Johan “N0tail” Sundstein.

5. Team Secret

Finally, on our upper quartile of TI10 power rankings, we have Team Secret. It’s the TI1 champion, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov’s brainchild. Some might even claim that he found more success running Team Secret than what he was known for during his first three Internationals debuts. Puppey carries his pride and fame as one of the few pro players to attend the Internationals since TI1.

Besides Puppey, Team Secret’s rest of the league are no joke as well, housing TI champions and well-established players alike. As far as regional rankings are concerned, Team Secret has been Western Europe’s strongest representative for the past three years.

Nevertheless, Team Secret does have some caveats, where they aren’t too effective playing against more disciplined opponents, notably Chinese powerhouses. And this could still be Team Secret’s downfall if they were to face some of China’s best teams.

4. Invictus Gaming

Hailing at fourth place, is the Singapore Major champions themselves, Invictus Gaming. Unlike the many featured teams on the Dota 2 The International power ranking, IG started off as a typical Chinese candidate.

They were decent, but nobody anticipated them to deliver a clean flip on EG. During the Singapore Major grand finals, IG was down by two games, and about to lose the decisive third too. However, things begin to turn around after they managed to hold out EG’s high ground push.

What sets off the game was Zhou “Emo” Yi starting to taunt EG in all-chat. It’s mental warfare, to get EG to lower their guards, and EG fell for it. It was what IG needed to create a comeback and claim the major champions title.

Although IG has fallen off in the second major, many speculated that IG was giving way to other teams to secure DPC points to qualify for TI10.

3. T1

SEA teams don’t usually scream performance, consistent playstyle or champions. However, T1 was the exception when they landed third in WePlay AniMajor, much better than anyone could have hoped.

T1 is often depicted as a team of ruckus, that caused chaotic team fights to go in their favor. It worked effectively at dismantling teams that relied on consistent and calculated pace of games. Even against EG and PSG.LGD, this SEA team still managed to snatch a game off the series.

Oftentimes, T1 seemingly excels in dragged-out matches, that give them leverage going into late game.

2. Evil Geniuses

EG is one of the select teams that needs no introduction. It’s North America only powerhouse with three founding members of their TI8 run. What’s new in the team is the addition of two SEA prodigies, leveraging their playing field even further.

It’s “Abed“ Azel L. Yusop, whose elusive playstyle often makes him a one-man army in matches. Given the right conditions, Abed would lead the entire enemy team on a goose chase, a massive disrespect on his opponents. Yet, in most scenarios, Abed still somehow survives the ordeal, which technically makes space for his team to strive.

1. PSG.LGD

Despite EG’s considerable strength as the first runner-up on this TI10 power rankings, EG did not even scratch the surface of what PSG.LGD could perform. A good example is how EG lost 1-3 to PSG.LGD in the WePlay AniMajor grand finals.

It’s an absolute loss for EG, who found their playmaker, Abed, completely countered by PSG.LGD’s high level of drafting and playstyle. It goes without saying that PSG.LGD is undisputedly the strongest team in TI10. From third-place finish in Singapore Major to going on to win the second major, PSG.LGD has an ultimate prodigy, who goes by the name, Wang “Ame” Chunyu.

You can take our word that every TI10 participant knows that defeating PSG.LGD will be key to winning TI10 altogether.

Verdict: All Hail PSG.LGD

Hereby concludes the TI10 power ranking, which in its simplest form, is a mashup of what these teams have delivered on stage. Regardless, this Dota 2 The International power ranking did not take into account the teams affected by COVID-19. Which unfortunately will affect the teams’ stability and performance when TI10 goes live.

Anyways, we highly encourage that you keep track of the International 10 as the days unfold. The big reveal on the strongest teams in the group stage will be a major factor in rearranging our TI10 power ranking. Alternatively, you can bet on the International 10 for some cheap thrills, which we offer daily International 2021 predictions too.