The most awaited event of the year in DOTA 2 eSports begins tomorrow in Shanghai, China.

An entire year of qualifiers and events builds up to this mega event.

The International 2019 is now lit. ? All teams have checked in and the media days have begun. HYPE! #TI9 pic.twitter.com/hJDk2QJyUz — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) August 13, 2019

The tournament will be held in China for the first time this year. Hosted by Valve Corporation in Shanghai’s Mercedes-Benz Arena, over 18,000 fans will witness 18 of the world’s best teams go head to head to lift the Aegis of Champions.

The tournament is in its ninth iteration this year, and the prize has increased exponentially every year. The International 9 currently has a prize of over 32 million $, which in turn means that the winners take home a prize of over 14 million $.

18 teams have been divided into 2 groups of 9 each. The event is two weeks long, which includes the 4-day long group stage, a 2-day gap followed by the 6 days long playoffs stage.

Format

The event is divided into 2 parts: Group Stage and Main Event.

Group Stage: August 15th – 18th

Two groups of nine teams. Teams play every other team in their group in a best-of-two. Top four teams in each group advance to the upper bracket of the main event. Teams in 5-8 place in each group advance to lower bracket of the main event. Bottom team from each group is eliminated.

Group Stage – Day 1: August 15th

Group Stage – Day 2: August 16th

Group Stage – Day 3: August 17th

Group Stage – Day 4: August 18th

Potential tiebreakers are resolved on the last day.

Main Event: August 20th – 25th

Sixteen teams play in a double-elimination bracket over six days. Bracket placements are decided through group stage results. First-round Lower Bracket games are best-of-one. Grand Finals are best-of-five. All other matches are best-of-three.

Main Event – Day 1 (UB Quarter Finals, LB Round 1): August 20th

Main Event – Day 2 (UB Quarter Finals, LB Round 2): August 21st

Main Event – Day 3 (UB Semi-finals, LB Round 2): August 22nd

Main Event – Day 4 (LB Round 3 & 4, All-Star Match): August 23rd

Main Event – Day 5 (UB Finals, LB Round 4 & 5): August 24th

Main Event – Day 6 (LB Finals, Grand Finals): August 25th

The broadcast beings at 6:30 am IST for group stages and 7:30 am for playoffs every day.

Talent List for the event includes:

Hosts:

Redeye (Paul Chaloner)

Sheever (Jorien van der Heijden)

Richard (Richard Campbell)

SirActionSlacks (Jake Kanner)

PyrionFlax (Ted Forsyth)

Kaci (Kaci Aitchison)

djWHEAT (Marcus Graham)

Observers:

Weppas (Johan Westberg)

Pimpmuckl (Jonathan Liebig)

skrff (Rikard Holm Melin)

Commentators:

Capitalist (Austin Walsh)

Dakota (Dakota Cox)

GoDz (David Parker)

GranDGranT (Grant Harris)

Lyrical (Gabriel Cruz)

ODPixel (Owen Davies)

TobiWan (Toby Dawson)

TrentPax (Trent MacKenzie)

Tsunami (Neal Khanderia)

Analysts:

BananaSlamJamma (Brian Canavan)

Blitz (William Lee)

Febby (Kim Yong-min)

Fogged (IoannisLoucas)

Gunnar (Nico Lopez)

Kyle (Kyle Freedman)

Lacoste (Dominik Stipić)

Nahaz (Alan Bester)

Purge (Kevin Godec)

syndereN (Troels Lyngholt Nielsen)

Interviewers:

Hot_Bid (Ken Chen)

Tokki (Helen Xu)

Being a truly global event, TI has onsite Russian and Chinese talent as well.

Only a few players playing at TI9 have won a TI before. Here are the 2 times TI hopefuls:

The International now has its own twitter handle, which you can follow for all exclusive content.

Stream List:

International can be viewed using various methods.

All games can be spectated in-game in the DOTA 2 client under the “WATCH” tab.

The tournament will be broadcast on twitch.tv as well on the following channels

The games will also be broadcast on Valve own streaming platform: steam.tv

Be sure to follow all Dota 2 official channels for up-to-date content surrounding The International.

Fan Favourites going into TI:

Fan Favorites going in to The International 2019. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/ka1t6R87v7 — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) August 14, 2019

This concludes our survival guide for the event.

May the best team lift the Aegis of Champions after 2 weeks.

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