The International 2023 Power Rankings

This year will be one of the more unusual tournaments to date, featuring a changed format and one of the lowest prize pools in nearly a decade. But perhaps even more impactful is the recent patch release, which will severely impact the preparation the teams have made for the tournament and shake up the balance of power.

However, while there are some unknowns with TI12, we can put together fairly accurate power rankings and order the teams based on their strength and chances to win the whole thing.

The teams that have little to no chance of winning TI and will likely be the first in line to get eliminated early include mainly Regional Qualifier squads, which are widely considered some of the weakest entering The Internationa 2023.

South America's Keyd Stars (201.00) have not looked good this season and haven't accomplished much. They even dropped to Division II for ther final tour. However, they played well in lesser events, then found some momentum in the Regional Qualifiers and produced a shock run, which saw them attend TI.

North America's nouns (201.00) attended Bali Major, but they didn't make it out of the group stage, and they hardly accomplished much more in several smaller online events, even against teams that are a tier below them.

Virtus.pro (51.00) aren't one of the weakest teams attending TI, but they're nowhere near the top. The lacklustre performances throughout the season leave very little room for optimism, and the fact that they've consistently struggled against their regional opponents suggests that VP might not have the tools to make it far.

Thunder Awaken (151.00) have a solid record at TI, with a fifth-sixth place finish from TI11; however, this doesn't mean they'll do well this season. With a different roster, Thunder Awaken doesn't look very solid, and they are in a similar boat to Virtus.pro – as a team that struggled to accomplish much domestically; however, they did find some success in various online events.

As we move up the power rankings, we have to create another category called Outsiders +. Even though these teams likely won't make it very far, and it's highly unlikely for either of them to win the tournament, we also can't put them in the same basket as the aforementioned squads.

Entity (26.00) deserve some respect simply because they hail from the Western European region, and they even produced some solid results this season. However, most of Entity's success came early into the year, and as the season went on, they slowly started to lose traction.

That was most notable at DreamLeague Season 19 and 20, and at the Riyadh Masters, where Entity failed to produce much. They placed sixth at DreamLeague S21; however, this does not necessarily indicate any improvement.

Some might argue that TSM (101.00)  belong in the lowest tier of The International power rankings, but this team has done well in NA DPC Tours, which counts for something. Unfortunately, TSM haven't won much internationally, which puts a huge question mark above their heads.

Beastcoast (23.00) are in a similar spot. They have won two of three South American tours, but their performances internationally leave much to be desired. They placed fourth at BetBoom Dacha and were seventh-eighth at Bali Major. Not the worst results, but we would like to see more from them.

Evil Geniuses (34.00) won the final DPC SA tour, and they placed fourth at ESL One Berlin Major. However, since then, they've failed to make much noise at any of the international events they've attended.

Team SMG (51.00) will play The International with a stand-in coach and Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov. It'a also said that Clement "Puppey" Ivanov will help the team, in which case Team SMG are quite an enigma. They haven't won much this season, but with the recent changes, we could see an entirely different version of Team SMG. Will it be any stronger remains to be seen.

There are a few teams that can make serious noise if the stars align, and while it's tough to expect any of these teams to go all the way, it's still fair to say that they're stronger than any of the aforementioned squads.

Azure Ray (13.00) are priced as seventh-favourites on the International outright betting markets, which sounds fair, but this team is hard to figure out. Azure Ray formed in the final stage of the season and placed in the top eight in Bali before making it through the Chinese qualifiers.

Even though Azure Ray haven't produced any remarkable results, they're not to be ignored, mainly due to the experience the team's players bring. Will that translate to good results remains to be seen.

9Pandas (19.00) are one of the most consistent teams of the year, but despite being fairly stable, they didn't accomplish much internationally. 9Pandas belong in a group of teams that are good but not great. However, with the changes in meta, 9Pandas can definitely find more traction.

Shopify Rebellion (15.00) has one of the strongest synergies of all the teams attending TI12. This roster has been together for years, which is a big plus; however, the results are all over the place. They were third in DreamLeague S19 and made the finals in Season 209. 

However, in Berlin, DreamLeague S21, Bali, and Riydah, Shopify Rebellion could only manage a top-eight finish.

Talon Esports (23.00) looked great domestically, and they achieved some success internationally with a fourth-place finish at DreamLeague Season 20 and a bronze medal from Riyadh Masters and Lima Major. Talon Esports have shown enough to believe this team can do extremely well, but a lot will come down to how quickly they can find traction.

BetBoom Team (8.00) could easily be considered one of the main favourites to win The International 2023, but they've not shown enough consistency to make this very believable. They can beat good teams and are bound to shake up the power rankings; however, there are many "what ifs" with BB Team – a similar situation as with Talon Esports.

Quest Esports (15.00) got promoted from the second division, but they quickly found their place among the elite European teams. With a fourth-place finish in Bali and seventh-eight place-finish in Riyadg, Quest Esports earned respect from the Dota 2 community, especially considering how quickly they improved.

But most importantly, Quest Esports played great against some of Europe's top teams, which is a good indication of how high they can fly.

Tundra Esports (8.00) are the defending The International champions and definitely a team that can do it again. The roster changes with Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen replacing Martin "Saksa" Sazdov brought some instability and a few questions about how well the role swaps work out. However, if the meta develops in Tundra's favour, it's not entirely unlikely for Tundra to go all the way again.

Even though there are many teams that can impress, there are just a few that should be considered the favourites to go all the way.

While some might argue that LGD Esports (11.00) a to a lower tier, this is a very strong and experienced team that deserves to be considered as one of the main favourites.

LGD haven't accomplished much internationally except for a third-place finish at DreamLeague S20; however, it was exactly their performance at DreamLeague S20 that makes it believable that LGD can go all the way. At DreamLeague, LGD looked extremely good, and if they can find the same traction in Seattle, LGD can make it very far.

Team Liquid (6.00) are priced as second-favourites on the International 2023 outright betting markets, and that's more than fair. They've made the final of DreamLeague S19, Lima Major, Bali Major, and the Riyadh Masters, which is seriously impressive. However, they've not won a single event, which brings up a few questions.

Gaimin Gladiators (5.00), unlike Liquid, have won many Big Events, including DreamLeague S19 and S20, Bali Major, Lima Major, and BetBoom Dacha. And those results alone are very good indicators of how good this team can be.

Lastly, we have 2021 TI champions Team Spirit (3.50), who are the favourites to win their second TI. Even though Spirit looked fairly bad early into the season, they found success later on and won DreamLeague S21 and Riyadh Masters, proving that they're in great shape and ready to take on the world. 

However, whether they're really better than Liquid, Gaimin Gladiators, and LGD Gaming remains to be seen.