Team Information:
IG is a Chinese multi-gaming organization. Invictus Gaming was born in 2011 and its banners are defended in Dota 2, StarCraft II, League of Legends, Hearthstone, Overwatch and CSGO.
First impression
The IG tag first appeared on Esport radars in 2011. In August, the first lineup was unveiled, which included the following:
- Zhou
- SanSheng
- Xiao8
- DDC
- Ferrari
With this squad, IG played in their first tournament, the first The International in history. At TI1, Invictus Gaming finished in 5th-6th place, which did not match the ambitions of the players.
After the end of The International, personnel changes in the team began, which lasted until 2012.. IG continued to experiment with the lineup until mid-2012. As a result, it was not until May of that year that they were able to create a stable roster for the remainder of the – Season . It included:
With this lineup, IG played in a number of small tournaments. They finished 5th-6th at the Gigabyte Dota 2 Masters, 3rd-4th at It’s Gosu Montly Madness Asia, 5th-6th at the Prodota 2 Worldwide League, and 2nd at the BeyondTheSummit World Tour.
IG’s epic achievement was at The International 2012, which the Chinese team won. In their second World Championship, IG managed to become the first Chinese team to win the Aegis of Champions.
After TI 2012, they continued to play in the championship lineup. Thus, they played until the end of The International 2013.
During this time, the team won the 2012 World Cyber Games and G-League – Season 2, and finished 3rd in the 2013 Alienware Cup – – Season 1.
In the decisive tournament of the year, The International 2013, IG was unable to defend its title. The team finished 5th-6th, which led to changes in the composition.
In September, Zhou left the team and his place was Hao. IG was later joined by Banana, resulting in 6 players in the lineup.
IG started quite well in 2014. They finished 2nd in the 2013 WPC ACE Dota 2 League, won the Red Bull ECL 2013 Grand Finals and the 2013 G-League. Despite the success, there were changes in the squad in February: hao left the team and Luo took his position. Later, in March, banana also left.
With the renewed IG roster, preparations for TI4 have begun. IG won a number of championships, including: WPC 2014, GEST The Challenge # 5, WVW National Electronic Sports Claasic June and ESL One Frankfurt. It seemed that such results were enough for a successful performance at TI4, but the reality was different.
At The International 2014, IG finished in 7th-8th place, which led to changes in the list.
At the end of TI, YYF announced that he was retiring from professional dota. Faith also left the band. The former players were replaced by Chisbug and June, but the former left the team before the end of 2014.
Finding the best option
In 2015, IG began searching for a squad that could fulfill the hopes of the TI champion club. Early in the year, June left the team and after a few days, BurNing and Faith joined the team. With this lineup, IG performed at TI 5, where they placed 9th to 12th. Obviously, this result influenced the rest of the roster.
In September, a real wave of restructuring began. Rabbit joined the team first. Faith, BurNing, and Chuan later left the band. Super, XDD and XuaN took their place. However, the reshuffle continued in 2016.
At the beginning of the year, Yuno joined the team to replace Ferrari_430 and Luo along with XuaN. Rabbit left the team in March. In a constant maelstrom of replacements, the IG skipped The International for the first time since 2011. In general, the team managed to win the 2016 National Electronic Arena and finish second in the 2016 G-League in one year.
By the end of 2016, the IG had completed the list.
After less than successful performances in the past, the IG partially regained its status as China’s title team in 2017. In a roster of BurNing, Op, Xxs, BoBoKa, and Q, they spent almost the entire – Season until the end of the 2017 Internatinal. During this time, the team finished 4th in the Dota Pit League – Season 5, won the 2017 Dota 2 Asia Championships, and finished 3rd -4th in the 2017 Dota 2 Professional League S1: Top, The Kiev Major 2017, and StarLadder i-League Invitational – Season 2.
Before the main tournament of the year, IG finished 5th-6th in the Manila Masters, EPICENTER 2017, Mars Dota 2 League 2017. At TI7 itself, IG also finished 5th to 6th.
Dota 2
Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena title from Valve. The successor to the extremely popular Warcraft 3 modification DotA (Defense of the Ancients), Dota 2 was the company’s first strategy game and was released on the download platform Steam on July 9, 2013. The game is a free-to-play title that can be played completely free of charge and is financed through in-game microtransactions, similar to Team Fortress 2.
Dota 2 is – unlike other big MOBA titles like League of Legends – free to play with all heroes. However, game items can be purchased in the Dota 2 store, but all of them have no effect on the gameplay. Only cosmetic items like different skins for the heroes can be purchased. Just like in Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Portal 2, it is possible to create your own content via the Steam Workshop.