Experts vote: Here are The International 2024 (TI13) favourites

“I'd go 1win because I think they're a huge underdog that has the power to upset, we saw them make a surprisingly deep run in Elite League Season 2 so I think the evidence of their skill is there, and TI has a tendency to turn underdogs into under-wolves.”

Picking a TI winner is a very hard feat with the amount of things that need to go right across the entire event for a team to win. In saying that I do believe it is time once again for a Chinese team to rise to the top. Xtreme Gaming is the best bet but I also think both Team Zero and G2.iG can make deep runs as long as the Chinese meta holds up to the EU teams.

“I think Gaimin Gladiators will win. The next contenders for me are Team Spirit and Team Falcons but my gut is telling me it will be Gaimin. They failed last year but this patch and the pace should be good for them.”

“I want to think that Talon Esports will win because no one will be watching SEA much since it has been a very rough year for the region! Memes aside, Team Falcons have looked really good, and I feel like Aui would be able to guide the team to figure out the optimal ways to play for this patch.”

“I think the field is extremely close this year with various winners of the tier 1 tournaments. Falcons probably have the highest average placement out of all of them, but it doesn't feel like they're significantly enough ahead of the competition to confidently consider them a clear favourite. Most of the teams attending I would not be surprised to see beat any of the other teams in a BO3, so it's going to be exciting for sure.”

“I believe that Xtreme Gaming is going to win TI. It feels like they are always on the cusp of winning and have used up all their bad luck in the events gone by. In each event, XG has shown they have what it takes to be at the top and have been quite consistent. This time around Ame will lead them on to an amazing run with an immaculate group stage and an upper bracket run for the ages. Finally, it'll be China’s year in Dota 2 again and all will be right in the world. Totally unbiased, I swear.”

“It's been over a month since we have seen the TI teams play on LAN, with a couple of patches in between, but I think the influencing factor on who could win, is the change in format of TI again. The last few TI's have spanned over months but this year it's back into a condensed form which won't allow teams as much time to "figure out their opponents". I think Gaimin Gladiators are best in situations like this, where they have a playstyle that is tough to quickly find solutions to, so for me, it'll either be them or Team Falcons who have also shown in the past that they're able to figure out patches faster than most teams and gain an advantage that way.”

“I think team Team Falcons will win this TI year. I think their roster is easily one of the most talented we've seen in a while. They'll be the best team at adapting to the new meta, as they've shown through multiple tournaments already. You also can't help but feel an air of supreme confidence when you're around them in person. Let's not forget either, not only are the 5 individual players incredibly talented and hungry, but they've got a coach in AUI_2000 who's not only won a TI as a player but as a coach as well. This is the team to look out for at TI13 if it wasn't already obvious.”

The easy prediction is saying Team Falcons or the likes of Team Spirit, Extreme Gaming or Gaimin Gladiators. As we haven't had anyone else win a tier 1 event this year outside of those 4 teams in 8 different tournaments.Unfortunately in recent years, Dota has had this issue of the top teams becoming so much better than their competitors that they often become untouchable to the rest of the 14+ teams competing in the tournament. For Example, Tundra at TI11, Gaimin in the 2023 season (pre-Spirit winning TI12) and this year with Falcons & the other teams previously mentioned catching up in the 2nd half of the season.So it is not a prediction but just a HOPE that we have a true underdog story emerge and we break this streak of our best teams evolving to become too strong to create fun competition.