Shacknews Esports Heroes of 2021 - Team Spirit

2021 didn’t start off in the best way for Dota 2 esports squad Team Spirit. After benching one of its starting players, the group had to quickly adjust to a new team composition. Following the conclusion of the 2021 Dota 2 Pro Circuit, Team Spirit didn’t qualify for an invite to The International 10, the biggest yearly tournament in Dota with the biggest prize pool in all of esports.

Team Spirit would have to fight their way through the bracket at the Eastern European Qualifiers, a tournament in which the grand prize was a spot in The International. Team Spirit was able to eke out a 3-2 win over Team Empire in the Grand Finals, punching their ticket to the biggest tournament in esports.

At The International 10, Team Spirit would come out of the lower bracket, knocking off teams like Fnatic, Virtus.pro, and Invictus Gaming on their way to a Grand Finals match against PSG.LGD. After Team Spirit took the first two matches, PSG.LGD would respond by taking the next two, notting the set at 2-2. In the final match, Team Spirit emerged victorious, taking the set 3-2 and being crowned champions of The International 10 2021. The team took home their $18.2 million USD slice of the prize pool.

Team Spirit bounced back in a year that didn’t seem promising for them early on, and accomplished the seemingly impossible. Team Spirit is just the second-ever Eastern European team to win The International. The adversity that they faced and triumphed through was admirable, and it’s enough to award them as the Esports Heroes for 2021.

Watch the Shacknews Awards 2021 YouTube playlist or read our Year of the Games: 2021 article for all of the awards in one place. We will be announcing our Shacknews GOTY 2021 on December 31.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_