The International Format

In its current format, The International features 18 teams and is played in two stages. These teams are selected through a mixture of direct invitations and qualifiers. The invitations are offered based on the teams’ performance throughout the season (or the Dota Pro Circuit), and this performance is in turn measured in points.

The Dota Pro Circuit contains five Minors and five Majors, and each of these tournaments requires all teams to qualify. There are six official regions in total: Europe, CIS, South America, North America, China and Southeast Asia. At the end of the Dota Pro Circuit, the top 12 teams receive direct invites to The International while the other six tickets are distributed to the winners of the qualifiers held in each of the six regions.

As you can see, the system is very well put together and entirely transparent. The best teams get to the top with nothing to stop them other than their opponents. Every match is fair.

The format of The International includes a Group Stage and a Playoffs Stage.

Group Stage

For this stage, the 18 participants are divided into two groups of nine. In each of these groups, one Bo2 match takes place between every two teams. In the end, the top four teams advance to the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs, the following four teams advance to the Lower Bracket, and the 9th team is eliminated.

Playoffs Stage

The Playoffs Stage is played in a GSL format (double-elimination). Apart from the first round of Lower Bracket matches (Bo1) and the Grand Final (Bo5), every match is a Bo3.