Another Frostivus is upon us, and that means King Kringle has awakened from his hibernation under the wine-dark Blood Seas surrounding Frostivus Castle; sent his legions of abducted goblin-child toy miners to dig in his toy mines; hooked up his twin glowing red-eyed direwolves Lumpo and Rupertus to his bone sleigh; and is likely either on top of your house or inside of it right now.

So if you’re on his Nice List, prepare to have your frosty halls decked with new and returning Frostivus cosmetics, a ton of quality-of-life client features, new Dota Plus premium sets, and gameplay patch 7.35, all of which you can read all about right here.

On the other hand, if you’re on the Naughty List, we’ve got great news for everybody else and bad news for you, because this year is gonna be a bloodbath. You might remember back in September, we got out the ban hammer and permanently banned 90,000 smurf accounts. Since then, we've continued to invest in player behavior monitoring, on both the manual and automatic analysis fronts. Over the last few weeks, we've engaged in an even more aggressive ban wave, including many tens of thousands of smurf account bans today alone.

At The International, some pro players reached out to us to talk about their smurf accounts. Those conversations have continued, and there’s broad agreement amongst pros that banning pro smurf accounts is a win for Dota as a community: The rules should apply to everybody, and from now on they will. And smurfing isn’t even the only naughty thing players are getting up to. Amongst other questionable choices, some bad actors are playing like jerks, ruining games and losing behavior score because of it, then hiring behavior score farmers to drive it back up.

Regardless of how you’ve been naughty, we've been watching you (not while you're sleeping, calm down) and we’re cracking down on all of it. Punishments will be handed out for all of the above, including behavior score penalties — and in serious cases, main account bannings.

As we’ve said before, smurfing (and other negative behavior) makes matches worse, and we want to make sure your matches are as good as possible as we head into the new year. So we’d like to wish everyone a Happy Frostivus Update! Except smurf accounts, who we assume will not enjoy the update as they choke on their richly-deserved coal-flavored just desserts.

Frostivus 2023 Treasure Chest:

• Each chest contains one of 30 items split across 4 Tiers, or a Cosmically Rare Baby Roshan courier.
  
• Items of the same Tier have equal rarity. You will not receive duplicate items from each Tier until you have received each item once.
  
• Five items from the same Tier can be traded up for a random item from the next Tier.
  
• The Cosmically Rare item is contained in 1 out of 100000 chests. Other chests contain an item from one of the 4 Tiers. Starting with Tier 1, each item has a 10% chance to upgrade to the next Tier.
  
• When opening a chest or trading up for an item, there is a 1 out of 300 chance to receive an additional Unusual item -- either a copy of the item, or if it is a set, one of the items in that set. Each Unusual item has a random special effect. The three effects have equal rarity.
  

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where if a hero killed in Chronosphere dropped Gem of True Sight, the Gem's cooldown would remain frozen
  
• Fixed a rare crash with item combines
  
• Fixed an issue where if an ability with a frozen cooldown had its cooldown frozen again, it would unfreeze too early
  
• Fixed an issue where abilities with intrinsic buffs could fail to have them applied when purchasing Aghanim's Shard
  
• Fixed an issue where switching abilities (or gaining Aether Lens etc.) wouldn't update the cast range circle if it was already being displayed
  
• Fixed Chaos Knight's Chaos Bolt particles sometimes losing their location
  
• Fixed Dawnbreaker's Starbreaker providing pure damage immunity without Aghanim's Shard
  
• Fixed Earthshaker's Bindings of Deep Magma set to show the correct (new) particles for the new (10th Anniversary) style and to properly delete particles on expiration
  
• Fixed Hoodwink's Bushwhack cast reticule sometimes highlighting trees outside the area of effect
  
• Fixed some animation issues with Tusk's Walrus PUNCH!
  
• Fixed a bug where Vengeful Spirit's Magic Missile with Aghanim's Shard could bounce to invisible enemies immune to True Sight
  
• Fixed an issue with the Voodoo Restoration particles on Witch Doctor's Awaleb's Trundleweed Immortal weapon
  
• Fixed highlighting on the Neutral Item Slot to only highlight when there is at least one free token in the stash, rather than any item from any teammate
  
• Fixed an issue where casting an ability with Alt held down would also ping
  
• Fixed lifetime timers for wards and summoned units being clipped in the HUD
  
• Fixed talent descriptions sometimes being blocked by hotkey names
  
• Fixed Tower denies appearing as chat messages rather than as combat events
  
• Fixed stickers showing as available in Armory even though the capsule containing the stickers might not be available
  
• Fixed showing sticker capsules from ended events as purchasable
  
• Fixed Item Received popup not showing global items properly
  
• Fixed an issue with Play Unranked where ticking Show All Modes could make the section unusable
  
• Fixed sometimes showing pro players' Steam persona names instead of the correct names
  
• Fixed long names overflowing in History and Battle Stats pages
  
• Added an additional notification for Workshop custom game authors that have not yet updated their custom models away from the deprecated pre-ModelDoc format, as described in the 2022 Spring Cleaning update and the Dead Reckoning Update
  

'Twas Frostivus Eve, and all 'cross the map,
The neutrals were quiet, their camps left unstacked.
We'd gorged on a feast of bluehorn and spiced creep,
And had just settled in for a peaceful night's sleep.

When up on the roof, with a house-shaking thud
A creature had landed, and sniffed for our blood.
A sword could be heard being dragged 'cross the shingles;
Then the chimney exploded, and in came King Kringle.

His silhouette stalked through the splintered debris
Of branches and cinders where'd once been our tree.
He righted an armchair (still quietly smoldering)
And sat down with three sacks he'd been up till now shouldering.

"A DARK INCANTATION," his hollow voice boomed
Like a sepulchral drum being banged in a tomb.
"A SACK OF GIFTS PRESENT, A SACK OF GIFTS PAST,
A SACK OF GIFTS TAKEN (BUT OFTEN BROUGHT BACK)."

"Excuse me," I said, crawling out from the rubble,
"The gift that I'd like, if it's not too much trouble:
Please don't kill my children. Please don't kill my wife.
We'd rather you left and spared everyone's life."

He emptied a sack and adjusted his helm.
"THIS FIRST SACK OF GIFTS IS UNKNOWN TO THIS REALM:
THE NEMESIS CURSE, THE WHISPER OF DREAD,
THE MOONLIGHT TIARA, AND MUCH MORE," he said.

In the ensuing silence not a lone breath was drawn.
I coughed to help jog him. "Well, please do go on."
His gauntleted hand dumped sack two on our floor.
It was full of new items! Wait, I'd seen these before...

"SOME GIFTS I'VE IMPROVED, AND SOME I'VE DERANGED.
ALL THAT NEED CONCERN YOU IS THAT THEY HAVE CHANGED.
THE ORB OF CORROSION, ARCANE BOOTS, BLOODTHORN.
THESE AND MORE I HAVE ALTERED SINCE LAST THEY WERE WORN."

We looked through the items he'd spilled on the floor.
"These are lovely," I told him. "But you'd hinted there's more?"
"THE THIRD GIFT," he said as he grabbed the last sack,
"IS MY FAVORITE KIND... THE GIFT I TAKE BACK."

"Not Ring of Aquila! Please not Titan Sliver!"
"Not Penta-Edged Sword!" I sobbed with a quiver.
"I'M TAKING THEM ALL," he said with a laugh.
"AND QUICKENING CHARM AND GOOD OL' QUARTERSTAFF."

Two sacks were now empty; the third one was stuffed.
He grabbed them and back up the chimney he huffed.
He sprang to his bone sleigh and winked a goodbye.
Then flew from the roof and tore open the sky.

And we heard him exclaim, as he left the facilities—
"THE TORMENTOR AND ROSHAN SHALL HAVE NEW ABILITIES!"

After nearly a year of coordination and production, the multi-week, arena-sized monster that is The International 2023 has come to an exciting close. We've locked up Climate Pledge Arena, we've all seen enough of Spirit Breaker, and we've just shipped Gameplay Update 7.34e. Time for the Dota team to settle down for a long winter's nap, and...

But hark! What's that sound in the festive distance? No, that jingling of sleigh bells you hear isn't early onset tinnitus. It's the magical year-end event we call Frostivus — looming large on the December calendar, and arriving with a sack stuffed to bursting with new features, new cosmetics, and some surprises.

"...and the Arcanas?" little Timmy asks hopefully, holding up his tiny Dickensian gruel bowl. Phew, this is awkward. No, Timmy, not yet. All cards on the table, the event surrounding the Arcanas this year has gained a few more moving parts than we initially planned. Enough that we haven't finished everything yet, and won't this year, but we're looking forward to releasing it in the next few months. And that's not even getting into all the other updates we've got planned, like...

Hark again! We almost said too much. Suffice it to say, with TI2023 safely in the books, we've got a ton of stuff our Frostivus elves are furiously polishing to get ready for the new year.

Until then: Merry Imminent Frostivus, everyone!

Congratulations to Team Spirit, Grand Champions at The International 2023 and just the second team ever to claim the Aegis twice. This fearsome squad dropped only two games the entire tournament — finishing with a decisive 3-0 performance in the Grand Finals to secure their spot as the best Dota team in the world.

The Road to The International - Group Stage
The Road to The International began with a dominating 8-0 showing from Spirit, as they racked up 2-0 series wins over 9pandas, SMG, Entity, and Evil Geniuses in the Group Stage. The seeding round would be no different, as Team Spirit endured some early pickoffs from Shopify Rebellion in game one before marching away with another 2-0 series victory on their way to the Playoffs.

The Road to The International - Playoffs
There, they faced their first major test of the tournament, as Virtus.pro snatched a quick victory in game one to force Spirit onto their heels for a change. The following match was a bloody affair in which Spirit built and lost a sizeable lead before reclaiming momentum to force a game three. VP managed to keep the rubber match close for 30 minutes, despite never earning a lead, but after that Spirit took control — choking out VP and sealing the series with a late-game team wipe to earn some well-deserved rest before taking their run to the main stage at Climate Pledge Arena.

The International
Team Spirit's first opponent on the main stage was the consistently-strong Team Liquid, who were looking to make their own deep run to the finals to erase a heartbreaking stretch of second-place results. Team Spirit harried Liquid's supports and bullied their cores in a game-one stomp, but Liquid fought back with a spectacular showing to take game two. Liquid then managed to scratch out a small lead by the middle of game three, but Spirit overcame a kill deficit to build their own insurmountable lead, taking the deciding match to set the stage for a clash with powerhouse LGD Gaming — an intimidating lineup that had only dropped a single match of their own at that point in play.

Game one was a 76-minute brawl. LGD was aggressive early, but Team Spirit held firm before starting to take control. LGD kept clawing back, but Spirit skewered their chances, handing LGD their first loss on the main stage. Game two was Spirit's from the outset, as they steadily built an advantage and forced a tap-out from LGD. After a disappointing showing in Singapore in 2022, Team Spirit showed they'd regained top form as they stormed into the Grand Finals.

Their opponents: the dangerous Gaimin Gladiators, the squad that swept this year's Major tournaments and whose in-your-face early-game tactics had already shattered the hopes of so many lower bracket teams.

Unfortunately for Gaimin and their fans, Team Spirit had their own plans to make short work of their foes — they ran away with a relatively quick game one, building a huge gold and kill lead that left no avenue for comeback by GG. Game two proved a more back-and-forth contest, with Gaimin Gladiators earning a few small leads before Team Spirit broke through to completely dominate the late game and take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Not about to go down without a fight, Gaimin Gladiators managed to take hold of game three early. By 30 minutes, even Dota+ thought GG had a 95% chance to force a game four... but Team Spirit's movement, vision, and team coordination seized that 5% chance and turned it into a stunning comeback, bulldozing GG 3-0 in the Grand Finals to secure their second Aegis in three years and welcome their mid-laner Larl to the champions club. Through both incredible individual talent and stellar team play, Team Spirit cemented their place in Dota 2 history as the last team standing at The International 2023.

As bearers of the ultimate symbol of victory, these names shall forever be inscribed upon the Aegis of Champions:

2023 - Team Spirit

• Illia "Yatoro雨" Muliarchuk
  
• Denis "Larl" Sigitov
  
• Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov
  
• Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov
  
• Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov
  

Looking Back
If you missed any of the tournament, or just want to relive the incredible moments and plays, head over to the Dota 2 YouTube channel, where you can find replays of the entire tournament, including broadcast content from between the games. You can also find a stash of photos from the event over on the Dota 2 Instagram and Dota 2 flickr.

We would like to thank all of the players, talent, and everyone in the Dota community for helping bring this celebration to life. The International is the crowning moment of the competitive season, and without everyone’s support, none of this would be possible. We hope you enjoyed this year’s tournament as much as we did.

Celebrate the Champions
Special Champion edition sticker capsules are now available for purchase for Team Spirit. Each capsule contains one sticker featuring Yatoro雨, Larl, Collapse, Mira, Miposhka, or Team Spirit. 50% of all sales goes directly to Team Spirit.

The International Compendium
Still have some challenges to complete and rewards to claim in The International 2023 Compendium? Don't panic. You've got two more weeks to hit your goals before the Compendium wraps up on November 16. Pull out some of your favorite new TI strats and you'll have things locked up in no time.

A truly epic Playoffs weekend has come to a close, and eight teams have clawed their way to a coveted spot at the main event: Team Spirit, Team Liquid, LGD Gaming and Azure Ray in the upper bracket, and Gaimin Gladiators, nouns, BetBoom Team and Virtus.pro in the lower bracket. Congratulations to all eight teams as they vie to capture the Aegis at The International — only at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA, and now only a day away.

Watching The International Live



TI 2023 Schedule
The International Pre-show starts at 9:30 AM PDT on Friday, October 27th, with the Opening Ceremony starting at 10 AM and the first match soon after. Click here for the full TI 2023 schedule.

Getting In
Doors open at the arena at 8 AM daily, two hours before Friday's 10 AM opening ceremony and Saturday's and Sunday's 10 AM first matches start. Be ready to scan your Ticketmaster pass to gain entry (you can save it to your Android/Apple phone wallet for convenience). Make sure you grab a daily wristband once you're in, so you can re-enter if you leave.

Getting Around
Climate Pledge Arena is a pretty big place. If you're planning on attending in person, here's a handy Arena Guide to light your path. (Just a heads-up, their bag policy is pretty strict.) The Arena Guide also has plenty of helpful information with regards to accessibility options, parking and other info you might need getting around the venue, so be sure to give it a look before you go.

Seating
Seating is General Admission — you can sit in almost any available seat other than sections reserved for press and pros.

Crimson Witness Treasure Drops
There are multiple swag bag stations inside the arena once you get in. Each pass holder can pick up one swag bag for the weekend by scanning their pass. Inside each bag is a commemorative badge that has the information, URL, and binding code to tie your Steam account for Crimson Witness drops. This year’s event-exclusive treasure includes updated Immortal items for Dark Seer, Underlord, Templar Assassin, Centaur Warrunner, Enchantress, Nature's Prophet, and Witch Doctor.



You'll get your one drop automatically upon binding the badge, and be eligible for drops the rest of the weekend whenever first blood is drawn in a match. The swag bag, being of necessity bag-shaped, is a carved-out exception to the arena's bag policy for re-entry. Customers will be able to re-enter the venue with it.

Watching The International Online

If you're one of the millions of Dota fans around the globe planning to watch The International online, check out the list below. From Twitch to YouTube to SteamTV, The International will be streamed on multiple platforms in multiple languages.

English
Twitch | YouTube | SteamTV

Chinese
Twitch | Bilibili | SteamTV

Russian
Twitch | YouTube | SteamTV

Spanish
Twitch | YouTube | Facebook | SteamTV

Cool, Anything Else?

If you’d like to see how the top eight teams got to where they are in the standings, you can catch up on Playoffs matches here. We've also put up a gallery of images from Group Stage and Playoffs weekends.

Got It. Anything Else After That?

Nope, that's pretty much it. Go enjoy The International! We'll see you there.

Twenty teams entered Group Stage weekend. And now, four intense days, four eliminations, 57 godlike sprees, six rampages, 104 heroes picked, and 100 total matches later, eight teams now sit in the upper bracket and eight in the lower, with mere hours before the real fight begins.

That’s right: It’s Playoffs time. If you're a ticket holder, doors open at the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit at 9 AM PDT on Friday, October 20th. The pre-show and livestream start at 9:30 AM PDT, with matches starting at 10 AM PDT.

If you missed Group Stage last weekend and want to get caught up on which team to root for, which teams to watch out for, and which team the other teams better watch out for over Playoffs weekend, here's a YouTube playlist featuring insights into the playoff contenders.

If you're a fan of supporting talent and/or spamming their voice lines in every match of Dota you play, we’ve got good news for you. Some talent missed the initial submission window, but luckily were able to get their content submitted during a new redundant backup emergency submission window we created just for them. This means there are some brand new bundles for talent that were missing from the initial set, and also some new lines for some existing talent.

And don’t think we forgot about one of The International’s most popular traditions: Crimson Witness. This year’s event-exclusive treasure includes updated Immortal items for Dark Seer, Underlord, Templar Assassin, Centaur Warrunner, Enchantress, Nature's Prophet, and Witch Doctor. You’ll automatically be granted one Treasure of the Crimson Witness simply by binding your Steam account to your pass for the Main Event at Climate Pledge Arena. By attending either Playoffs this weekend or The International next weekend, you’ll also have a chance to get a random Crimson Witness treasure drop whenever first blood is drawn in a match.

See you this weekend!

We've fixed a number of issues leading up and during the first day of Group Stage:

• Fixed Earth Spirit being stuck in Rolling Boulder if Centaur Warrunner casts Work Horse while Earth Spirit is transforming
  
• Fixed a bad interaction between Kunkka X Marks the Spot and Impale
  
• Fixed some cases where players were unable to watch matches via DotaTV
  
• Fixed cases where in-game predictions weren't working
  
• Fixed Bingo square progress not being visible on client
  
• Fixed visual artifacts on some talent photos and stickers
  
• Fixed an issue where Roshan could go walkabout again
  
• Fixed Centaur Hoof Stomp wind-up being dispellable
  
• Fixed Invoker not restoring his own mana from EMP
  
• Fixed an issue where Kunkka X Marks the Spot could fail to return a unit with very high Status Resistance
  
• Fixed Lone Druid Spirit Bear receiving experience when using Midas
  
• Fixed Marci Sidekick not displaying correctly on client
  
• Fixed a server crash when using Muerta Parting Shot on a hero that is leashed to Lone Druid Spirit Bear with Grimstroke Soulbind
  
• Fixed Techies Mines triggering for but not damaging flying units
  
• Added a filter option for saved sets in the Armory
  
• Fixed two rare client crashes with dropped items
  
• Fixed retrieval of neutral items from stash sometimes returning another player's item
  
• Changed a number of settings including "Use Extra Large Minimap", "Quick Attack", etc. to be saved in Steam Cloud
  
• Fixed being unable to assign neutral slot and TP quickcast when using Advanced Quickcast Hotkeys
  
• Fixed "Dynamically Scale Hero Icons" option causing icons to flicker in size
  
• Fixed an issue where hero icons on the minimap could jitter
  
• Fixed various Predictions and Fantasy issues
  

The Road to The International is literally right around the metaphorical corner, and that means a lot of cool and exciting stuff is revving to life. There are more ways than ever to enjoy the matches, meet new people, and show off your fandom, so we've put it all together in a single post so you don't miss out on any of the fun.

Event Livestreaming
The start of Group Stage will be, let's be honest, barely controlled Dota chaos, with five simultaneous streams during the opening two days of Group Stage weekend to seed the tournament. But, starting this year, by this Saturday we'll be down to a single stream — which should make the back half of Group Stage weekend a lot easier to watch online.

And if you're planning to watch online, we've got options for you. From Twitch to YouTube to SteamTV, The Road to the International and The International will be streamed on multiple platforms in multiple languages, making it easier than ever to follow the journeys of all your favorite teams as they vie for the Aegis of Champions.

English
Twitch | YouTube | SteamTV Stream A Stream B Stream C Stream D Stream E
Chinese
Twitch | Bilibili | SteamTV Stream A Stream B Stream C Stream D Stream E
Russian
Twitch | YouTube | SteamTV Stream A Stream B Stream C Stream D Stream E Stream F
Spanish
Twitch | YouTube | Facebook | SteamTV Stream A Stream B Stream C Stream D Stream E

Not seeing your language represented? Don't worry! While the above links represent the official broadcasts, we understand Dota is played by folks everywhere around the world, and we've also handed out 15 broadcast licenses for other languages, so check in with your local communities to find out the best way to get online and watch.

Lastly, everyone in the Dota community is of course welcome to join in on the streaming fun if you're able and interested. We only ask that you follow our community streaming guidelines.

Viewing Party Signups
From bars, LAN cafes, movie theaters and even private homes, there's gonna be plenty of opportunities to get in on a "pubstomp" viewing party starting with the Playoffs weekend and throughout The International itself. We're even planning to include viewing party footage live during the final weekend of the event, so if you want to connect with other fans, experience amazing matches in a fun group atmosphere, and be momentarily famous, the time to sign up is now.

If you're feeling ambitious and want to throw your own viewing party, here's a list of organizer guides from Barcraft on how to host an event:

• English - Viewing Party Organizer's Guide
  
• Spanish - Guía para organizadores de fiestas de visualización
  
• Russian - Руководство для организаторов Пабстомпов
  
• Polish - Przewodnik Organizatora Pubstompów
  
• Portuguese - Guia do Organizador de festas de exibição
  

The Secret Shop is Open for Business
The International 2023 Secret Shop has a little something for everybody interested in showing off their TI fandom. Looking to measure your mouse movement more accurately? We've got mousepads. Feeling cold and thirsty? We've got hoodies and tumblers. In the market for some mousepads, hoodies and tumblers but not sure how to carry it all around? Unfortunately, science has yet to invent a method of — no, just kidding. We've even got tote bags. Check out the shop here.

The Road to The International's Group Stage weekend officially starts this Thursday at 10am PST. Players have been arriving in Seattle all week, preparing themselves for what promises to be an exciting — and with Group Stage eliminations now on the table, especially tense — round of match-ups.

In this year's Group Stage format, four groups of five teams will play round-robin games over two days, with the bottom team in each group getting eliminated. Then, the second half of Group Stage begins, with head-to-head matches between the remaining 16 teams. Victory in these final matches determine placement for Playoffs weekend: The winning teams will enter Playoffs in the Upper Bracket, the losing teams in the Lower Bracket.

Here are this year's groups:

This year’s talent has officially been announced. Where? In the “Talent” tab of the Compendium.

Are you back? Great. We’re assuming you went and stared at the portraits for a while and eventually thought to yourself “Staring is great, but I wish there were even more I could do to support the talent.” Well, here’s more good news: Talent sticker bundles are now available with 50% of the proceeds going directly to the talent.

There are 4 types of bundles (which sounds complicated, but really isn’t when you take the extra effort to break it all down into bullet points):

• Standard Bundle: Standard Sticker = $0.99
  
• Glitter Bundle: Glitter Sticker + Voiceline = $4.99
  
• Holo Bundle: Holo Sticker + Voiceline + Autograph Rune = $9.99
  
• Gold Bundle: Gold Sticker + Voiceline + Autograph Rune + Voiceline 2 = $19.99
  

In the past, one complicating factor would be figuring out when the voice lines would go away. The answer this year is simple: Never. Voice lines are now permanent, making them quite possibly the only thing in this fragile, fleeting life that lasts forever.