Dota 2 International Invitational Announces New Format for 2025
2025-04-02 08:33
Dota 2 developer Valve has made major changes to the format of The International (TI) 2025, including the addition of a Swiss group stage and special knockout rounds.
TI 2025 will be held in Hamburg, Germany from September 4 to 14 this year, and the knockout stage will be held at the Barclays Center. This TI is divided into two main stages: "The Road to The International" and "The International proper".
The "Road to TI" includes the Swiss group stage and special knockout stage, while the "official TI event" includes the knockout stage. The group stage and special knockout stage of TI 2025 will be held from September 4th to 7th.
The group stage uses 16 teams to play five rounds of Swiss system matches, with each match consisting of three games and two games. In this competition system, teams will only play against teams with the same record, for example, a team with a record of 2:0 will play against another team with a record of 2:0.
Teams must win 4 games to advance to the knockout stage, and teams that lose 4 games will be eliminated. After the group stage, the leading 3 teams will directly advance to the knockout stage, the last 3 teams will be directly eliminated, and the remaining 10 teams will enter the special knockout stage.
The higher-ranked team in the special knockout match will play against the lower-ranked team. The winner will advance to the knockout match, and the loser will be eliminated. In the end, a total of 8 teams in the "Road to TI" stage will advance to the "official TI event."
The "official TI event" will be held from September 11 to 14, continuing the familiar double-elimination format. The TI 2025 knockout stage will still be a best-of-three format, but the finals will be a best-of-five format.
Valve explained in an official blog that the adjustments to TI 2025 are intended to ensure that every game is crucial and that both participating teams and spectators understand its importance. They hope that the new competition system can avoid the problems that have occurred in the past few years.
