After creating Dota 2 history for the CIS region, Team Spirit have received praise from Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the Kremlin press release, Putin congratulated the team on winning The International Dota 2 Championship.
Team Spirit completed an incredible underdog run to win the International 10, taking out T1 and PSG.LGD to do so.
Putin’s message to the TI 10 champions
Putin acknowledged the “well-deserved victory” Team Spirit brought to Russia, according to a translation by Dasha.
“Congratulations on your well-deserved victory at The International 2021 — the Dota 2 World Championship,” Putin’s statement reads. “For the first time in history, the Russian team of the Team Spirit club won these prestigious competitions. Well done!”
— Dasha (@_luckystard) October 18, 2021
Team Spirit were the first CIS-based team to take The International trophy in 10 years and came in as one of the defacto underdog teams. They was even involved in the early TI scandal that saw teams with lower seeds for the tournament operate out of smaller hotel rooms and practice areas. But, the team fought through that early adversity and made it to the final over other top seeds like T1.
In the grand final match, Team Spirit defeated PSG.LGD 3-2 in a nail bitter of a series as they took the first two games and lost the subsequent two.
