Opening Odds for The International 2019: Team Secret Opens as Favorite

• The International takes place August 15-25
• Are Team Secret the clear cut favorite?
• Other teams that could claim the Aegis

The ninth running of The International is set to take place from August 15-25 in Shanghai, and will see the best teams in the world of Dota compete for the biggest prize Esports has to offer.

There have only been three teams in the Dota Pro Circuit this year that have managed to find a win at a Major; Team Secret with two Major wins, ViCi Gaming also with two Major wins, and Virtus.Pro who claimed the first Major of the year.

The International 2019 Odds

Odds taken 07/06/19.

Heading into TI9 all eyes seem to be on Team Secret as they have been on the top of the DPC for pretty much the entire year. Are they the right pick to come out on top at The International this year? Or is there a better choice that offers more value to take the Aegis?

Will Their Great Year Become Historic?

They’ve claimed two of the five Majors on the year and have only placed outside of the top four once so far on the year at all the Major tournaments. If you look at their results, pretty much all you will see for 2019 is gold outside of their performance at the last Major on the year, where they faltered and ended up placing 9-12^th.

Team Secret have been on an absolute tear this season, and rightfully so have been slotted into the favorite spot to take home TI9. If they are able to get it done on the biggest of stages at The International, they will take home a record prize which will end up being millions per player.

Team Secret are the Grand Champions of the MDL Disneyland Paris Major. Congratulations. This is their second Major win this season. #MDLDisney #DPC #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/Z2LvCu0Mi5

— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) May 12, 2019

I am almost a little pessimistic about their chances to get it done at TI9 though. With such a poor placing for their standards at the final Major of the year, I feel like it may have taken the wind out of their sails a little bit. They looked almost unbeatable all year long so after such a disappointing end to the season they may have lost a little bit of their mojo heading into the biggest event of the year.

I would still say that they are the best team in the world of Dota regardless of their placement at Epicenter, and they do probably stand the best chance of taking the Aegis. They just need to put that last event behind them and focus on the big prize, because such a great year all would be for naught without taking the title home in Shanghai.

The Other Guys

It seemed like all year everyone has been hyping Team Secret, but there are other great teams that have a very real chance of winning at TI9. A few I would consider looking seriously at would be ViCi, Virtus.Pro, Liquid, PSG.LGD, and Evil Geniuses, and I would say in that order.

The parity in the world of Dota is greater than a lot of other Esports, and all of the teams listed have a very good chance of being able to upset Team Secret. All five have managed to win games over Secret in 2019, and as last year as an example, anything can happen at The International. All offer better value than Team Secret and all can beat them on any given day.

The Other, Other Guys

The last team I would suggest looking at, and this is solely based off of their performance last year at TI8 where they managed to walk away with the Aegis, is OG. They also can hang with some of the best teams in the world, and after they made the greatest Cinderella run in the history of Eports at the last International, they are at least worth a look. Though I don’t think it’s likely they pull off this year what they were able to last year.

Pick: Team Secret (+250)