TI 2025 Invites Got People Heated – Did Valve Just Wing It?

So Valve finally dropped the list of direct invites for The International 2025, and uh… the Dota scene is not taking it well.

A bunch of players, casters, and managers have been speaking out about how weird and unfair the invite list feels this year. Instead of the usual 6 invites, Valve bumped it up to 8—and that change alone already has people side-eyeing the whole thing.

DM: "Why Are We Doing This?"

Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin from PARIVISION was one of the first to call it out. He basically said that giving out 8 invites just waters things down.

With 6 invites, it felt like you had to really earn it. Now with 8, some of them just feel forced.

He also didn’t hold back about the regional qualifier slots. Western Europe gets 2 slots, while Eastern Europe only gets 1, even though EEU has strong teams like Aurora and VP, who’ve been smashing WEU squads lately in online tournaments.

Meanwhile, WEU quals are stacked with teams that haven’t made it into basically any major tournaments this year (except maybe Nigma, who DM thinks would’ve qualified easily anyway).

He did agree with giving Asia 2 slots, though, and suggested combining NA and SA into one region and giving them 2 slots total. Honestly… not a bad idea.

Maelstorm & Lex: "Two of These Invites Are Sus"

Caster Vladimir “Maelstorm” Kuzminov said 6 of the invited teams totally deserved it—but the other 2? Not so much. He pointed fingers (not directly, but obviously) at Gaimin Gladiators and Team Tidebound, saying their recent results don’t justify getting a free ride to TI.

Analyst Lex straight-up joked that GG probably got invited just so Valve wouldn’t have to announce 7 teams. Like, yeah, an odd number looks awkward on a press release… but is that really the reason?

Korb3n: “Might As Well Have Rolled Dice”

Team Spirit’s manager, Korb3n, went off during a Twitch stream. He said inviting Gaimin Gladiators made zero sense since they haven’t been doing much this season and didn’t even make it into a bunch of important events.

This just devalues the whole invite system. Might as well have done a lottery at this point.

He said it’s one of Valve’s most confusing invite lists yet, and honestly, it’s hard to argue. If even managers and casters are this baffled, imagine what the rest of the scene is thinking.

Even the Invited Teams Are Confused

It’s not just the critics. Even players who got invited seem surprised. Lukawa from BetBoom Team straight-up posted:

Woke up and we’re at The International already, for free.

Not exactly a “we earned this” moment.

So What’s the Deal?

Here’s the TL;DR of the drama:

• Valve gave 8 invites instead of 6 — people think that’s too many
• GG and Tidebound are catching the most heat
• Eastern Europe feels screwed, while WEU gets special treatment
• Even some invited teams seem shocked they made it
• Many pros think the system just doesn’t make sense anymore

So, did Valve mess up the invites this year?

Should TI only reward teams based on recent performance? Or do you think past success and brand still matter? Is it time to ditch invites completely and just let everyone earn their spot through qualifiers? Is this the most controversial TI lineup we’ve ever seen?