How it unfolded
Two months before the tournament, OG lost two of its core players and effectively fell apart. Captain N0tail registered coach Ceb as a player and brought in the nearly unproven Topson and the retired ana, climbing back up from the open qualifiers. Its opponent in the final, PSG.LGD, was China's dominant team of the season, having swept the year's Majors. The best-of-five went back and forth game by game all the way to a decider, and in the final game OG repeatedly took near-gambling risks to contest Roshan outside the opponent's vision, seizing momentum through it. Topson's unconventional mid-lane picks and ana's carry play came together in the final teamfight, and OG won 3-2 for an $11.24 million grand prize. It was the first time a team that fought up through the open qualifiers had won The International.
Why it still matters
This is esports' most widely retold underdog story, completed the following year when OG won TI9 as well for the sport's only-ever back-to-back International titles. It proved on the biggest prize stage in the sport that capital and system do not always win, and it cemented, within the Dota 2 ecosystem, the value of an open qualifier structure where any team can reach the top.