Sad Anniversary, Closed Borders, and Return to the Beginning: What Dota 2 Fans will Remember about 2020

While the New Year Countdown is not over and 2020 is living its last days, we decided to remember why 2020 was not so favorable for Dota 2. We gathered all highlights of the year in one place in order to say goodbye to such an unusual but eventful competitive season.

Hello, Online

If “coronavirus” holds the status of the most popular word in 2020, “online” is definitely right behind it. The remote format turned out to be the only right solution for almost all industries in the world but esports managed to adapt better than others.

In Dota 2, we could see only one online and offline major — DreamLeague Season 13, rooted for our favorite teams at two minors in Bukovel and Kyiv. The one in the capital of Ukraine was the last DPC tournament in the year.

Online championships had both advantages and disadvantages that resonated with each other smoothly. Of course, the first thing that emerges in our mind is supersaturation.

Could anyone think that it is possible to have too many Dota 2 tournaments? But in 2020 there were. In 12 months there were 67 tournaments. And these are only Tier-1 and Tier-2 championships. Let us add here smaller events and we will easily get a hundred.

The second plus-minus is the shape of the teams. It is obvious that most grands spent this year half-heartedly. Here we can take a look at OG that have always been indifferent to TI but in 2020 this feeling intensified. Or at Nigma that showed the best results with a substitute. On the flip side, there are esportsmen from Secret who destroyed all the opponents they met on their way but they decided to stop at the end of the year. By the way, Secret.

The Puppey Machine, or How Secret Wiped Out Online

Another bright thing in 202 is Team Secret. We can analyze competition in the region Europe/CIS and we will bank on the absence of Chinese grands and simplicity of playing online. But fact is fact: in Dota 2 the team of the year is Secret. Eight won finals with the statistics 24-0 are a good proof here.

Volvo’s Diretide

Remembering all the events of the year, it will be a crime not to mention Diretide’s long-awaited return to our screen. In 2020, Valve renewed the event and returned it to its numerous fans. Of course, it boosted online Dota, returned olds to gaming and became a reason for lots of heated discussions on Reddit and Twitter.

No Holiday, or First Year Without The International

Unfortunately, the most solid remembrance in 2020 is disappointment after the canceled holiday. For the first time in 10 years of support, Dota 2 and its fans did not get their fest — The International. The pandemic decided to make some corrections, so the European TI is put into cold storage.

The situation gets more bitter with the fact that Riot could have held the League of Legends World Championship in 2020 at the stadium. It was impossible to organize The International#10 even with the help of the prize pool of 40,000,000 or ranting complaints of the community. Let’s hope that in 2021 Valve will make up for lost time.

Summing Up

2020 in Dota 2 was rather confusing. In a long time, the game got some fresh air (Diretide) but suffocated with patches and a standstill in the gaming process. We did not get the main event of the year but we enjoyed watching beautiful tournaments like OMEGA League, EPIC League, and ESL One. We got a new hero, items and additional skills for characters but we did not get global changes of the map, economy, and balance.

This year was rather chaotic. In 2021 we would like to with Dota 2 due respect from developers and even more loyalty from the community.