Team Spirit of the Eastern Europe region has done it: they have claimed The Aegis. The CIS team beat PSG.LGD, one of the most favored teams in the tournament, in a grueling Best-of-5 that almost saw a reverse sweep.
Team Spirit, composed of Yatoro, TORONTOTOKYO, Collapse, Mira, Miposhka, and led by captain Silent, reclaims The Aegis for the CIS region, ten years since inaugural champions Na'Vi took the championship home way back in 2011. This keeps The Aegis in the European region, once again denying the East of a championship, and once again keeping PSG.LGD, specifically, at bay.
Four of Team Spirit's members, Yatoro, TORONTOTOKYO, Collapse, and Mira debuted in The International this year, making them, effectively, undefeated in TI. Captain Miposhka once was in The International, finishing 8th place in TI7.
Meanwhile, this also dashed the hopes of y' and Faith_bian, the champions with Wings Gaming back in TI6, from claiming the trophies a second time. In fact, Team Spirit eliminated eight two-time hopefuls, as they removed N0taiL, Ceb, and Topson, two-time champions of OG, as well as two-time hopefuls SumaiL, Puppey, Matumbaman, and the aforementioned y' and Faith_bian.
The most impressive part of this victory is that Team Spirit qualified to The International only through the CIS region qualifiers, not through DPC points. Team Spirit started 0-4 in the group stages, barely making it to the upper bracket in the main event, and was sent to the lower bracket on the first round of the main stage by Invictus Gaming. However, Collapse's Magnus made short work of the lower bracket, and the team managed to beat all odds and survive the lower bracket.
Team Spirit takes home $18,208,300 as cash prize, with $5,202,400 left for PSG.LGD. The DPC season for 2021-2022 will resume later this year, at a yet unspecified date from Valve.
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