Dota 2's The International is now underway
Without its planned live audience
Dota 2's The International is now underway. The group stages for Valve's wizard flinging esports tournament began today, with 18 teams competing to progress into the knockout stages.
You can view matches, see results, and view the upcoming schedule via the TI website. When you visit that page, it'll ask you if you want a 'standard' or 'spoiler free' version of the page. Pick the latter and it'll hide the results of any match you haven't yet watched - nice.
The International was originally due to take place this year in Romania, with a live audience returning after 2020's event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately the event was cancelled earlier this week due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with Valve citing the rise of Covid rates in the country and the "introduction of new local restrictions in Bucharest." Valve automatically refunded any ticket sales.
The group stages split The International into two groups of nine teams. Each team will play all other teams within their group twice, with the lowest placed team in each group eliminated. The top four teams of each group will advance to a winner's bracket, while the lower four move to a loser's bracket. The group stages finish this Sunday, October 10th before the main event kicks off on Tuesday 12th. Winners will claim from a prize pool of $40,000,000 (£30m).
You can hit up this post on the Dota 2 blog for more info on how to watch, with options available in-client, on Twitch, or on various other streaming platforms.