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The highest earning Dota 2 teams of all time
We take a look at the top ten squads, by winnings, across the history of the game.
The International has a tendency to exceed expectations every single year as the prize-pool continues to grow and break record after record. The International 6 last summer had a staggering $20,770,460 on offer with the eventual winners taking home $9,139,002 between the five of them. Each of the Valve run Majors has $3,000,000 in prize money on offer and tournaments run by ESL have $250,000 up for grabs. It’s safe to say there’s no shortage of reward for the best teams and players in the competitive Dota 2 scene, and equally it’s not a shock that no other eSport comes close to individual player earnings (from competition winnings) than Valve’s title.
So much so, in fact, you have to look down to number 33 to see three time League of Legends world champion Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok appear on the list; and he’s the very first competitor on the list outside of Dota 2, according to esportsearnings.com. We had a look at the top earning teams across Dota 2, and here’s what we found.
10. CDEC Gaming – $3,508,932
The CDEC run through The International 5 remains one of the best fairytale stories in Dota 2. The Chinese roster travelled to Seattle as one of four wildcard teams, still having to qualify for the main event. After squeezing past Vega Squadron by two games to one, they brushed aside MVP Phoenix to make it through to the Group Stages, and ultimately have a shot at the Aegis and their share of the $18,429,613 on offer. From there, they showed extreme strength throughout the Group Stage and looked near impossible to stop as they dispatched of Cloud9, LGD and EG without dropping a game on their way to the Grand Final. They would meet Evil Geniuses again, and Peter ‘PPD’ Dager managed to outthink the Chinese team, leaving the most overpowered hero at the time, Leshrac, in their hands. It was clearly a hero they weren’t comfortable with playing and they would eventually go down by three games to one and finish an almighty second. They took home just shy of $2.9 million which makes up the bulk of their prize money.
9. Natus Vincere – $3,647,986
Natus Vincere are a team that everyone in Dota 2 knows, and often loves. Although their powers have somewhat waned in recent years, their incredible record of three consecutive The International finals is still incredible. Having won the inaugural The International, coming second to Invictus Gaming at TI2 and not quite overcoming Swedish giants Alliance at TI3, their record is seriously impressive. Should they have put the run together when the prize pool had ballooned, they would be sitting considerably higher up the table. The face of Na’Vi, Daniel ‘Dendi’ Ishutin, remains perched atop the Na’Vi leaderboard, with $727,632 from tournament play.
8. Team Secret – $3,899,644.61
Team Secret have always boasted star-studded rosters capable of beating anyone on their day. Across several iterations, they’ve finished third at DAC, in the top eight at TI5 before winning the Shanghai Majorand being pipped to Frankfurt by OG. They’ve also had phenomenal runs in the past, including the lead up to TI5. After wins at Red Bull Battle Grounds, The Summit 3, MDL and ESL One Frankfurt many had Team Secret as their favourites. Sadly, they capitulated at the tournament and failed to live up to expectations finishing in a somewhat disappointing top eight position when they would have hoped for more.
7. Digital Chaos – $3,920,041
Digital Chaos are one of the new kids on the block. Whilst they haven’t been around for long, they’ve definitely left their mark on the Dota 2 scene as we know it today. Largely it comes down to their run at the most recent TI, where they surprised the world on their way to a second place finish netting themselves just shy of $3.5m. The team, led by venerable Dane Rasmus ‘MiSeRy’ Filipsen went on an unprecedented run that saw them dispatch of PPD’s Evil Geniuses in the Lower Bracket Final before eventually falling to the unstoppable Wings Gaming in the Grand Final.
6. OG – $4,153,716
OG are record-breakers in their own right. With the Boston Major title in the bag and the Eaglesong retained, the accomplished team have won three of the four Dota 2 Majors since the inception of the new system. With wins in Frankfurt, Manila and Boston the team ranks highly in earnings, taking home $1.1m from each of their triumphs. The one jewel missing from the crown of Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik and his team is the Aegis of Champions; a win at TI. Despite looking in great form and maintaining a stable roster throughout the year, the Green Army came up short on the biggest stage in Seattle. Should they have performed better than 12th place they would sit comfortably higher in the table.
5. LGD Gaming – $4,969,812
The Chinese team are one of the most long-standing names in Dota 2. With iterations now such as LGD.Forever Young, LGD.CDEC and previously the likes of LGD International it’s safe to say that the name has been around and competing amongst the best in the scene for a considerable time period. Recently a fourth place at the Manila Major is the crème de la crème of their results but the bulk of their winnings come from their run at The International 5 where Evil Geniuses would eventually knock them out in the Lower Bracket Final, granting them a respectable third place and over $2m in prize money.
4. Vici Gaming – $4,987,169
Sitting fourth in the list is another Chinese powerhouse in Vici Gaming, a team that has historically performed very well on the largest Dota 2 stage. At TI4, they fell to only Newbee in the Grand Finals leaving them languishing in an agonisingly close second place and taking home just shy of $1.5m before being runners-up again at DAC for $366,902. Merely due to the way that the Dota 2 scene has grown, their fourth place at TI5 netted them just over $1.5m which is actually more than their second place just a year prior. Since their performance at TI5, their power has somewhat waned with new team Vici Gaming Reborn appearing at the Manila Major and TI6, but struggling to really leave their mark on either tournament.
3. Newbee – $7,197,305
The conquerors of Vici Gaming at TI4 are perched at number three in the list, with their $5,025,029 win in Seattle enough alone to lift them above their peers. The International 4 is not looked back on particularly fondly by the community due to the “death-ball” meta that developed as the tournament went on. The Newbee roster had crafted and perfected the style that would eventually see them immortalised in Dota 2 history. The team haven’t disappeared, though, with last year also proving successful. Although they too experienced an underwhelming run in Seattle, they were part of the OG, Liquid, Newbee triangle that seemed to be above and beyond the rest before the biggest tournament of the year.
2. Wings Gaming – $9,688,187
Wings Gaming have only won money across 17 Dota 2 tournaments but sit second in the list. Compare that to the 90 tournaments that Natus Vincere have competed in and you get some idea of just how new this squad are in the burgeoning eSports world. They were wonderfully inconsistent at every tournament that they qualified to and competed in on the run up to The International 6 just gone; the tournament with the biggest prize-pool in the history of eSports. There was always potential within the roster and the feeling was that once they found consistency they could become a serious force in the world of Dota 2. Their run of form came at exactly the right time, as very rarely did anyone look like they could touch them back in Seattle in August. They won over $9,000,000 in their barnstorming run and from that huge pay-out alone they sit second in the rankings.
1. Evil Geniuses – $13,618,199
The North American team are undoubtedly the most successful team in Dota 2 history and sit firmly atop the earnings table. They’ve achieved an incredible top three in the last three TI tournaments; an achievement almost unparalleled in the Dota 2 world. Whilst Na’Vi may have done the same, there’s no doubt that the competition and level of Dota has exponentially increased since the days of The International or even TI2. EG’s victory at DAC and TI5 saw them net just shy of $8,000,000 but add to that another two top three finishes at TI and two top three finishes at Majors and it’s clear to see why they’re head and shoulders above the rest. Their huge wins came just after taking a gamble on Syed Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan, a relative unknown, and thus changing the landscape of the Dota 2 competitive scene forever.
With DAC set to take place at the end of March and the Kiev Major in April, there’ll be chance for another team to propel themselves up the leaderboard. If previous form is anything to go by, we will have to wait until the summer with The International 7 to see who the big movers will be. There’s bound to be a huge amount of money to be won, but with the crowd-funding element of the prize-pool it remains unknown as to how much the teams will compete for. Surely it can’t get bigger again, can it?
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