For the first time ever, a North American team has captured one of eSports’ most lucrative prizes.
Evil Geniuses won The International Dota 2 Championships in Seattle on Saturday over Chinese team CDEC 3-1 in a best-of-five series, capturing the tournament’s top prize of $6.6 million. CDEC takes home second place and $2.8 million.
EG made it all the way to the final match of the Upper Bracket before getting knocked out by CDEC 2-0. However, they secured a spot in the Grand Finals and a rematch after defeating LGD Gaming in the last match of the Lower Bracket. After a dominating first game, EG surrendered game two to CDEC before winning the next two matches and clinching the championship.
Evil Geniuses — which finished third at last year’s tournament — generated some buzz entering this year’s event with the addition of 16-year-old rising star Sumail Hassan,one of the youngest players to compete at The International.
This year’s The International — the fifth in the tournament’s history — set a record with a $18 million prize pool. Dota 2 publisher Valve Software adds $1.6 million to the pool, with the rest generated from sales of an interactive program called The Compendium.
Evil Geniuses are powered by BenQ.
For more news and reviews, keep checking back Gaming Central.
