kaffs: “The Esports World Cup has definitely grown in significance, but it’s still a long way from The International.”

I think the moment they do that, North America will simply die. Maybe we’re just delaying North America’s demise, which was bound to happen anyway—I’m not sure. On the one hand, we don’t want to let the region die, but when we look at the qualifiers, we don’t see any progress—absolutely none. Plus, it’s very hard to compete with GamerLegion: they have experience in every tournament, support—they have it all—while the other teams are just friends who got together to play qualifiers, sometimes with a couple of outside players. I don’t know—it’s a complicated issue. Maybe Dota 2 is simply doomed to be a European game. It’s sad, but perhaps that’s just the reality.

I’ve been a big advocate for South America, and I truly believe we deserve a second slot. But I don’t think GamerLegion should lose theirs because of this: they’ve also performed well this year, they have investment and an organization behind them, and they were counting on something. The only thing I’m certain of is that both we and PlayTime deserved to be at TI this year. We didn’t deserve a direct invite, but we deserved the chance to qualify without having to play each other for that one and only slot. I’m truly sad that they aren’t going to The International: my friends are there, I want to see them succeed, and I know how hard they’ve worked. But it is what it is.

The Esports World Cup has definitely grown in significance, but it’s still a long way from The International. Everyone still considers TI the highest level of competition and the greatest honor. Of course, it varies a bit from person to person, but for me, it’s like this: if I didn’t qualify for the EWC, it would be sad—it would be a huge loss, and I’d be upset. But if I didn’t make it to TI—that would be the end of everything. Nothing in the foreseeable future will compare to the legacy and aura of The International. Even when the prize pool stopped being inflated by the Compendium and returned to its usual figures, the players unanimously said: it doesn’t matter; TI is still the same—it’s still the pinnacle of prestige, it’s still everything.