Since, everyone in the Dota universe knows that August is a TI month, here is a short rundown of the final eighteen teams that will battle it out in Shanghai, China for a prize pool of over a $30 million dollars and ultimately the Aegis of the immortal.

The International 9 is being held this year in Shanghai, China from Aug 15 – 25, 2019. The venue for the mega event will be the famous Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Team Secret

Team Secret is like a mixed bag of talents. With dota 2 veterans led by the legendary dota 2 player “Puppey”. Recently, Team Secret has performed very well and is pretty much on a roll winning tournaments after tournaments in a row. Team Secret is known for its fantastic synergy, strategies and individual gameplay.

Active roster for The International

Puppey. Clement Ivanov

MidOne. Nai Zheng Yeik

YapzOr. yazied Jaradat

Zai. Ludwig Wåhlberg

Nisha. Michał Jankowski

Team Liquid

Team Liquid can be seen struggling to close outtournaments with a win. Of course, nobody can blame them because of the recent change in their active roster Swapping out Matumbaman for W33ha and Miracle shifting to safelane carry position. We’ve seen Miracle using his artistry skills in pub games trying out Arc Warden safelane and now Shadow Fiend as well. We, as the audience can perhaps see some exciting matches and interesting picks coming out from Team Liquid.

Active roster for The International

Miracle. Amer Al-Barkawi

W33ha. Aliwi Omar

MinD_ContRoL. Ivan Ivanov

GH. MarounMerhej

Kuroky. Kuro Salehi Takhasomi

TNC Predators

TNC Predators are the dark horses of The International, hands down. TNC caught the public eye when in TI6 they absolutely upset the OG fans by winning the series 2-1. TNC Predators are performing well all things considered. They have a new coach “Heen” who previously coached Team Liquid.

We can see a newly reformed TNC with good co-ordination and decision-making skills.

Active roster for The International

Gabbi. Kim Villafuerte

Armel. Armel Paul Tabios

Kuku. Carlo Palad

Tims. Timothy Randrup

Eyyou. Nico Barcelon

Alliance

Team Alliance, The International 3 winners. This team has gone through a lot of roster shuffles. But finally, they built the synergy that they craved and needed. With their recent win at the Dota Summit, Alliance are heading into TI with a good mood and a positive mental attitude. Micke’s troll really stands out, his quick farming ability on any carry hero makes him one of the best carry players right now.

Active roster for The International

miCKe. Michael Vu

qojqva. Maximilian Bröcker

Boxi. Samuel Svahn

Taiga. Tommy Le

iNsaNiA. Aydin Sarkohi

Virtus Pro

Virtus Pro (VP), is a team that is known for its extremely aggressive playstyle of Dota. Under the leadership of Solo, the team has prospered well. Off late, they are struggling in many tournaments. Mostly, because of teams figured out how to counter VP’s aggressive playstyle. But this is TI we can surely count on VP for giving us a good, intense series this TI.

Active roster for The International

RAMZES666. Roman Kushnarev

No[o]ne. Vladimir Minenko

9pasha. Pavel Khvastunov

RodjER. Vladimir Nikogosyan

Solo. Alexei Berezin

Team OG

Infamous team, OG known for its true friendship and positive attitude. Team OG are the current Aegis holders, they won TI 8, with sheer passion for the game and next level harmony in the team. Under the leadership of their captain N0tail, OG has surely blossomed into a top tier team. N0tail knows how to properly utilize his team’s potential & the hero pool of his teammates.

Active roster for The International

ana. Anathan Pham

Topson. TopiasTaavitsainen

Ceb. Sébastien Debs

JerAx. Jesse Vainikka

N0tail. Johan Sundstein

PSG.LGD

PSG.LGD is a Chinese team, known for their sheer flexibility. This particular team knows how to Improvise, Adapt and Overcome, period. They simply play every series depending on the opposite team. They know when to be aggressive and when to play patiently. PSG.LGD is a team that is well disciplined, the organization restricted the use of mobile phones and social media for the dota 2 roster, so that the players are more focused on their game and ultimately improve & win on their home ground

Active roster for The International

Ame. Wang Chunyu

Somnus `M. Lu Yao

Chalice. Yang Shenyi

fy. Xu Linsen

xNova. Yap Jian Wei

Vici Gaming

Vici Gaming (VG) is another team that represents the Chinese Dota 2 community. This team is known for its individual plays and absolutely destroy their opponents. VG’s core players are highly skilled individuals. Ori & Paparazzi sure know how to carry their team towards victory. But, ultimately dota is a team game, team gameplay carries more weight here, individual plays are not enough to cut it. Hopefully, we as audience get to see a newly reformed gameplay and team synergy from team Vici Gaming.

Active roster for The International

Paparazi. Zhang Chengjun

Ori. Zeng Jiaoyang

Yang. Zhou Haiyang

Fade. Pan Yi

Dy. Ding Cong

Evil Geniuses

Evil Genuises (EG) are for sure both geniuses and evil. Their evil and at the same time genius playstyle is what differentiates them from the rest of the NA teams. EG have one of the best core players in the history of dota who are known for their individual plays. After their miraculous run at TI6 and also for giving us the infamous “10 million $ echo slam” had a roster shuffle and post that the team is struggling to close out any tournaments. It almost feels like they’re cursed to always finish at the third place. They have mad potential, if they win this TI, they will be the first organization to win TI twice.

Active roster for The International

Arteezy. ArtourBabaev

SumaiL. Sumail Hassan

S4. Gustav Magnusson

Cr1t- Andreas Nielsen

Fly. Tal Aizik

Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP)

Team NIP is a team that has literally mad potential this TI. Under the leadership of TI6 winner, ppd. The team has weaponized their ability to draft better and utilize individual plays plus hero pools of the team. Surprising opponents with out of the book picks and still managing to win, that’s NIP for you! With Ace and Fata being the core players with mad individual plays and 33 the playmaker this team can give us a good series!

Active roster for The International

Ace. Marcus Hoelgaard

Fata. Adrian Trinks

33. Neta Shapira

Saksa. Martin Sazdov

ppd. Peter Dager

Keen Gaming (KG)

Keen gaming is a Chinese team managing to accumulate enough DPC points to get directly invited to TI. This roster features, some of the legendary Chinese dota 2 players that have a lot of experience. Keen gaming is a team that isn’t so active in the Dota 2 scene but this might be the trump card that they have. If you remember team CDEC, Fly to Moon, Ad finem all these underdogs destroying the best teams in Dota 2. Keen gaming aren’t completely new in the scene. Kaka position 4 support player is an insane playmaker he showed his skill in ti7 while representing Team Newbee. Keen gaming may be the underdog team but they have the potential to destroy others.

Active roster for The International

old chicken. Wang Zhiyong

一ZhaiJingkai

eLeVeN. Ren Yangwei

Kaka. Hu Liangzhi

dark. Song Runxi

Team Mineski

The legendary organisation in SEA.ButMineski had a torrid 2018-19 season, with their squad not able to achieve much, apart from a good showing at ESL One Mumbai. Multiple changes made throughout the year didn’t help the team either. After adding Nikobaby and Bimbo for the TI qualifiers, no one knew how Mineski will perform, but they somehow managed to qualify to TI via the SEA qualifier, beating Team Jinesbrus in the final, with excellent performances by Moon and Nikobaby. The current iteration of Team Mineski are heavy underdogs at the International.

Active roster for The International

Nikobaby. Nikolay Nikolov

Moon. Kam Boon Seng

kpii. Damien Chok

Bimbo. Ryan Jay Qui

ninjaboogie. Michael Ross Jr.

NatusVincere (Na’vi)

The legendary organization, TI1 winners. After failing to qualify for TI for three years in a row, they finally managed to do it this time, battling out in the open qualifiers. Under the captaincy of SoNNeiko, this team can surely put on a good fight against the best teams in the world, with the huge hero pool of Blizzy and their star Mid lanerMagicaL, team Navi can definitely pull out some upsets in TI.

Active roster for The International

Crystallize. Vladislav Krystanek

MagicaL. IdanVardanian

Blizzy. Evgeniy Ree

Zayac. BakytEmilzhanov

SoNNeikO. Akbar Butaev

Infamous

Team Infamous are the representatives of the South American dota 2 scene. They are the underdogs going into the The International, they can surely upset some dota 2 teams. Known for their aggressive out of the blue playstyle, they can surely represent their region well.

Active roster for The International

K1. Hector Antonio Rodriguez

Chris Luck. Jean Pierre Gonzales

Wisper. Adrian Cespedes Dobles

Scofield. Elvis De la Crus Peña

Stinger. Steven Vargas

Royal Never Give Up

Royal Never Give Up (RNG) is a Chinese team that battled it out in the Chinese open qualifiers and managed to secure a slot in TI9. This team hosts some of the experienced players in the Chinese Dota 2 history featuring LaNm and the infamous ah fu known for his aegis steal at TI7. Under the guidance of Super, these chinese representatives can definitely pull out some surprises at TI with hometown advantage.

Active roster for The International

Monet. Du Peng

Setsu. Gao Zhenxiong

Flyby. Su Lei

LaNm. Zhang Zhicheng

ah fu. Tue Soon Chuan

Chaos Esports Club

Chaos esports club, consists of highly skilled individuals. With the recent addition of Matumbaman and vTfaded this roster is now complete and is all set for mass destruction of teams! Under the guidance of Misery who was the captain of Digital Chaos (DC) that shook everyone and finished at second place at ti6. This roster is newly formed yes but the players have mad potential can definitely intensify the games and make it entertaining for the audience.

Active roster for The International

vtFaded. Cheng Jia Hao

MATUMBAMAN. Lasse Urpalainen

KheZu. Maurice Gutmann

MiLAN. Milan Kozomara

MISERY. Rasmus Berth Filipsen

Team Newbee (Ex Forward Gaming)

With a recent organizational shuffle, this is a Chinese organization consisting of NA players. With the recent shift in the roles between the players, Yawar shifting to the position 1 and CCNC to position 2, it seems that the team is performing and have adapted well. This team are purely the NA underdogs going into the international.

Active roster for The International

YawaR. Yawar Hassan

CCnC. Quinn Callahan

Sneyking. Jingjun Wu

MSS. Arif Anwar

pieliedie. Johan Astrom

Team Fnatic

Team Fnatic has had a lot of ups and downs in the 2018-19 season. At some events they had exceptionally good runs, and looked like the best SEA team out there (for example, they finished 3rd at the Stockholm Major: Dreamleague 11, beating a lot of good teams on the way) and then there are events like MDL Paris Major and Epicenter Major, where Fnatic finished dead last. As a result of the 2 last-place finishes at the last 2 majors of the year, Fnatic made a roster change, replacing MP with DuBu, while shifting Jabz to the role of carry. No one has seen the new Fnatic team in action. Only time will tell, if they will perform at their full potential at TI9.

Active roster for The International