ELEAGUE will conclude its four-part Dota 2 series with a behind-the-scenes view of The International 7 with NBA professional Jeremy Lin.
The fourth and final instalment of ELEAGUE | Road to The International Dota 2 Championships will air on Friday August 25th at 10pm ET/PT on TBS. The show is also available for streaming in the United States through the Watch TBS mobile app as well through other international distributors.
ELEAGUE will continue its CS:GO coverage with the “ELEAGUE Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Premier 2017”, beginning with a preview of the elite teams to air on Friday 1st September at 10pm.
Jeremy Lin is no stranger to those who follow Dota 2. It’s well known that Lin is a huge fan of the game after his brothers introduced him to it years ago and the affinity is again showcased by ELEAGUE in the episode. Lin reflects in the programme about his love for the game, the similarities between the game and basketball and his respect for those at the top of the game.
The cameras followed Jeremy as he took in the action at The International 7 as well as Dota 2 team OG through their run at the tournament. OG are one of the best Dota 2 teams in history, having won four out of five Valve Majors but The International continues to elude them. They managed an eighth place finish and took home just shy of $1,000,000 but it’s not the $10,000,000 and Aegis of Champions they would have hoped for before the tournament got underway.
The eventual winners were Team Liquid, the only Western team to finish in the top four. They did it the hard way too, battling through the lower bracket of the tournament knocking out Team Secret, Team Empire, Virtus.pro, LGD and LGD.Forever Young on their way to the grand finals. The final obstacle was another Chinese team in Newbee but they proved no problem as Liquid continued their momentum and took the finals by three games to zero.
As a result they took home the bulk of the largest esports prize pool ever. Currently the Dota scene is in pre-season mode which sees roster shuffles aplenty as players look to find the perfect team for upcoming tournaments. With eleven Dota 2 majors and an equal number of minors this year there’s going to be a huge amount of action. Strong performances at events will provide players with ranking points which will then be used towards qualification for The International 8. Details are scant at present, as is often the case with Valve but it’s set to fundamentally change the Dota 2 scene; one would hope for the better.
Esports Insider says: We’re looking forward to watching this. Not only are Dota fans treated to Jeremy Lin but a chance to follow a team behind the scenes at the biggest esports tournament in history should be epic, too.