Six years since Dota 2 was first shown off at Gamescom in 2011, the game has reached a landmark three billion games played. The game has changed so much since the early days and has recently had possibly its most significant update ever in 7.00, that changed the entire landscape of the game adding in talents to heroes and shifting positions of creep camps and runes on the map. But enough on the present, let's take a look at some of the best games of Dota 2 ever.
Evil Geniuses vs Ehome, The International 6:
A game that will live long in the memories of many a fan, this match-up had everything you could ever want from a game of pro Dota 2. Evil Geniuses ended up coming back from mega creeps in order to beat the Chinese powerhouse through some unbelievable plays by Universe on his Faceless Void and amazing support plays from the duo of PPD and Zai. Ehome looked to have the game in the bag when they were able to secure mega creeps for themselves around 45 minutes in, but EG held onto their base valiantly and forced them back before pushing straight into the Ehome base. Universe leading the charge, Rapier in hand hammered on the Dire ancient with little resistance from Fenrir’s Warlock and Old eLeVeN’s Beastmaster, forcing the GG call.
Cloud 9 vs Alliance, ESL One Frankfurt 2014:
The Cloud 9 of old is one of the most beloved teams of all time, with the likes of Sing Sing, EternalEnvy and Aui_2000 appearing against the classic Alliance roster that won TI3. This game is the perfect example of how to split push, with Admiral Bulldog partaking in a ratting master class on his Natures Prophet. Despite how far ahead C9 were in fights, the pushing from Bulldog constantly led to them having to abandon any opportunities to push the Alliance base. Eventually C9 decided that they had to try and end the game and rushed the tier 4 towers, allowing Alliance to capitalize and wipe C9 before tp-ing straight into the Dire base and taking the throne for themselves.
Natus VIncere vs Invictus Gaming, The International 2:
A much shorter game compared to the other two but don’t let that take away from this match's legitimacy as one of the best games ever. It is most memorable for one of the best moments in Dota 2 history, ‘The Play’. A wrap around gank led by Zhou on his Naga Siren leads to the biggest turnaround ever seen in the game, with Light of Heaven and Xboct popping both the BKB on enigma and the Blade Fury on Juggernaut respectively causing the follow up Ravage from IG’s Tidehunter near enough irrelevant. Meanwhile Dendi on his Rubick manages to force staff away from the Ravage and then steal it for himself leading to Na’vi wiping IG and winning the game within half an hour.
Alliance vs Na’Vi: The International 3 Grand Finals Game 5:
The greatest game ever to take place between the Radiant and Dire, Na’Vi and Alliance battled it out for their share of $2.8m and the chance to be known as the best team in Dota 2. Na’Vi were happy to allow Alliance to split push all game as they themselves were taking objectives and looked to be on their way to winning their second international. However the power of the rat became too much for them when two tps were cancelled by S4 in the play now dubbed as the ‘Million Dollar Dream Coil’ as Bulldog on Nature's Prophet and Loda on his Chaos Knight laid waste to the Na’vi base, writing themselves into folklore as one of the best and most beloved teams in Dota 2 history. Without a doubt, the best game ever to take place in Dota 2 so far.
GosuGamers was present at the event in 2013 and had the pleasure to talk with Dendi after the grand finals. You can watch the full interview in the video below:
There has been too many amazing games to talk about when it comes to Dota 2, so many moments to savor and remember. And we can only hope that by the time the six-billionth game is played, we have many more memories to look back just as fondly as those mentioned above.
