Dota 2 Teams

The most famous teams of 2018

Evil Geniuses

America’s greatest and winner of The International 2015. EG achieved third place at The International 8 in 2018. The American team might not have their greatest achievements this year but still fields some of the best players in the world. “Arteezy”, “Sumail” and “S4” are some of the greatest playmakers in the game. Expect a comeback any time.

Team Liquid

The International 2017 champion and a favorite to win any event. Team Liquid and its mid player “Miracle” were the undisputed best of 2017. Captain “KuroKy” is a Dota 2 veteran who played for Na’Vi and Team Secret. 

PSG.LGD

LGD is one of the oldest, richest and strongest teams in Dota history. And in 2018, the team entered a partnership with French soccer giant Paris Saint-Germain. The Chinese powerhouse has fielded the best Chinese players in the world. LGD’s biggest achievements in 2018 were victories at Epicenter and the Changsha Major and a heartbreaking second place at The International 2018. Team Captain “fy” is one of the most respected and decorated supports in Dota history.

Virtus.pro

The premier CIS (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) team. Virtus.pro were the team to beat in 2018, winning three Majors. 19 year old carry player “Ramzes666” started playing professional Dota 2 at the age of 15. He is one of the biggest talents in the game.

Team Secret

Team Secret was created by ex-Na’Vi player “Puppey”. The team has featured star players like “EternaLEnVy”, “Arteezy” and UNiVeRsE”. Team Secret was one of the top teams in 2015 but has since seen mixed results. The team recently updated the roster and is looking for a fresh start.

OG

OG is the reigning The International champion. Team Captain “N0tail” created the team himself as a player-run organisation. The team acquired a Red Bull sponsorship in 2017.

Mineski

The premier Southeast Asian team is on the upswing again in the new 2018-2019 season. Southeast Asian legend “Mushi” joined in 2017 to take the team to the next level. The team notably won Dota 2 Asian Championships 2018 over LGD.

EHOME

EHOME is one of the oldest Chinese teams, even back in the original DotA. EHOME took second place at The International 2011 but disbanded a year after. The legendary team made a comeback in 2015. EHOME struggled to reach former heights but is due for a comeback, with a new lineup built around experience player “Faith_bian”. 

Best Dota 2 team achievements

No Tidehunter at DreamHack Winter 2012

The Swedish players “Loda” and “Akke” have been known since the original DotA. The two teamed up with the relatively unknown “S4”, “AdmiralBulldog” and “EternaLEnVy”. Within a month of this inception, the team made an incredible run at DreamHack Winter. The team tore through some of the best western teams including EG and Empire. No Tidehunter’s playstyle consisted of heavily optimized farming. They also showed early signs of the splitpushing that would become their signature playstyle.

The team got signed by Alliance in 2013 and acquired EGM for an all-Swedish squad. This lineup won The International 2013 over Na’Vi.

Speed Gaming at MLG Columbus 2013

Team DK entered MLG Columbus as heavy favorites, followed by Na’Vi. Speed Gaming at this time was a young team led by EternaLEnVy. He was accompanied by “SingSing”, “Aui2000” and “Pieliedie”, good but not great players. “Arteezy” joined the team last-minute as standin.

Speed Gaming managed to upset Team DK 2-1 in one of the biggest upsets of all time. Their heavy usage of forcestaffs to save teammates proved pivotal. Arteezy showed his heavy farming in the midlane and went on to become one of the best players in the world. Speed Gaming got signed by Cloud9 and narrowly lost to VG at The International 2014.

CDEC Gaming at The International 2015

CDEC was a youth team created by LGD. The team showed promise but mainly served to provide LGD with new talent. Chinese player “Maybe” started at CDEC in 2014 but go picked up by LGD for his immense talent.

CDEC had no noteworthy tournament wins prior to The International 2015. The team just narrowly qualified for The International through the Wild Card qualifiers. However, they quickly turned the tables at the tournament. CDEC went on a run all the way to the finals, defeating team like Cloud9, EG and even LGD itself. CDEC tragically fell to EG in the finals and their underdog story ended.

Wings Gaming at The International 2016

Wings Gaming came out of nowhere to win ESL One Manila in 2016. The team consisted of five relatively unknown players. Wings developed one of the most creative playstyles ever. The team didn’t play the popular strategies, but instead created their own using many unpopular heroes.

Only four months later, Wings made the most unexpected run at The International ever. Wings defeated teams like EG and DC against all odds to win the tournament, using their own playstyle.

Best Dota 2 teams of all time

Na’Vi 2011-2013

The original Na’Vi squad featured “Dendi”, “XBOCT” and “Puppey” as key regulars. Na’Vi dominated the western scene, won The International 2011 and got second place at the next two. You could count on mid player Dendi to use his flashy heroes to make plays. Na’Vi made many highlight reels, including ‘The Play’ at The International 2012 and the ‘Fountain Hooks’ at The International 2013. Fountain hooking was a strategy using the heroes Pudge and Chen. They could pull an enemy from anywhere on the map into the Fountain in their own base. It was removed from the game after Na’Vi abuse of the interaction.

Alliance 2013

Alliance popularised splitpushing (also known as Rat Dota) as main strategy. Offlane player AdmiralBulldog often scored the highest net worth in games on heroes like Nature’s Prophet and Lone Druid. He then used this advantage to destroy the enemy base while they were off fighting. Alliance dominated the Dota world in 2013 with this strategy and won The International 2013.

Team DK 2014

Team DK was stacked with the best eastern players in 2014. The lineup was formed to become the ultimate all star team. The team dominated almost every tournament up until The International 2014, where they disappointingly finished fourth. After that tournament all players went their separate ways.

OG 2016

This is the OG that won almost every major tournament in 2016 – except The International. Mid player “Miracle” transformed from a ladder player to one of the best in the world. OG dominated the tournament scene like Team DK, but like DK fell short at the biggest stage.

Team Liquid 2017

As rising OG star Miracle transfered to Team Liquid in late 2016, so did their tournament wins. Team Liquid dominated 2017 with 3 Major wins, 2 second places and first place at The International 2017. The team swept Chinese giant Newbee 3-0 in the finals to complete their domination of the season.