Here are the players to watch at The International 2021

Dota 2 has had a chaotic 2021 season with remnants of the earlier yr carrying over whereas many groups host fully totally different rosters which have modified all through the Dota Professional Circuit. All through that interval, we solely had two actual possibilities to see gamers compete at a world degree when the highest groups from every area clashed on the OneEsports Singapore Main and WePlay AniMajor. 

Now, heading into The Worldwide 10, 18 of the most effective groups on this planet will battle it out from Oct. 7 to 17 for his or her share of a $40 million prize pool and an opportunity to carry the Aegis of Champions. 

Yearly at TI, there are groups that stand above the remainder, competing as a unit to dominate the competitors. However there are others which are equally outlined by particular person gamers who shine brighter than ever on Dota’s largest stage. These gamers can flip a messy scenario right into a profitable push or make the impulsive transfer that ends a sport means forward of schedule.

There are many gamers who match that standards at TI10, however listed below are our picks for the most effective, and arguably most pivotal, particular person gamers competing on the occasion. 

Group Secret: Zai

For a workforce as individually grasping as Group Secret, someone often has to surrender one thing to make issues work—and that someone is, most of the time, Zai.

Zai is the one-size-fits-all glove that brings Secret collectively. Immensely versatile and reliable, the 24-year-old is commonly relied upon to shore up the workforce’s in-game deficiencies, whether or not it’s relegating his personal position to a pseudo-roamer to create area or constructing a full equipment of aura gadgets. 

When you tune in to a Secret sport at a random cut-off date, you may assume Zai is having a foul sport based mostly on his internet value and position. And but the veteran can swiftly swap issues up for the subsequent match ought to the sport name for it. It’s not that he performed badly in both match—it’s most likely what was greatest for his workforce.

Zai is his title and consistency is his sport. It’s this stability and imperviousness to tilt that make him nice and assist to supply a pivotal basis for the remainder of Secret’s skills to construct on.

Evil Geniuses: Abed

When you see a Puck going godlike contained in the 15-minute mark, chances are high it’s Evil Geniuses’ Abed. 

The 21-year-old already performs like a veteran mid laner, however his abilities stay that of a prodigy. Few at his place play shedding matchups in addition to Abed, largely due to his absurd mechanical abilities and stellar mid-game decision-making. 

With Arteezy being one of the notoriously grasping exhausting carries in Dota 2 and iceiceice thought to be a selfless offlaner, Abed strikes the right stability between the 2 cores, nearly all the time adjusting immaculately to suit the sport plan.

Abed is equally able to taking part in a space-making position on heroes like Storm Spirit and Puck or taking part in extra carry-oriented heroes like Templar Murderer. He’s additionally famend for his Meepo, which will definitely be on the minds of opposing groups, even when the hero is perceived as weak proper now.

PSG.LGD: XinQ

Maybe the most effective praise to XinQ is that on a workforce with two former TI champions, a 12,000 MMR mid laner, and a carry who SumaiL calls the best player in the world, place 4 XinQ can and can steal the limelight. 

Whether or not it’s via gaudy farm numbers with greed that may put Secret’s YapzOr to disgrace or unconventional picks that befuddle minds and improve his workforce’s drafting flexibility, XinQ’s electrifying play will make you watch from begin to end.

Usually the designated splitpusher for the workforce, XinQ’s signature heroes embody Rubick, Hoodwink, and Mirana. However the 23-year-old breaks metas as shortly as a bull in a china store. If there’s a core hero that may even remotely be shifted to assist—examples embody Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, Tinker, and Faceless Void—XinQ will attempt it no less than as soon as in good religion. With PSG.LGD anticipated to no less than make a deep push into TI10, XinQ might be on the core of the workforce’s success.

OG: SumaiL

The return of the king? 

That was OG’s plan when it initially signed SumaiL to its roster at first of 2020, bringing within the TI5 winner in hopes of bolstering its new-look workforce with the absence of ana, JerAx, and Ceb from the TI8 and TI9 profitable squad. However on account of a mixture of COVID pushing occasions on-line, journey restrictions, and a litany of different points, that preliminary stint didn’t work out for the previous EG mainstay. 

With the departure of MidOne, the return of ana and Ceb, after which ana’s resolution to retire as soon as extra, OG was in a position to convey SumaiL again into the fold and empower him in a means that reinvigorated a struggling roster. 

OG had middling performances via the 2021 DPC, failing to make a single Main or qualify for TI via DPC Factors. SumaiL, nevertheless, got here in forward of the workforce’s regional qualifier run and slipped proper again into being a dominant pressure in each sport. Whether or not it’s on conventional exhausting carries or bringing some mid lane aptitude with heroes like Leshrac and Templar Murderer, SumaiL simply could be the brand new magic ingredient for OG’s potential three-peat.