The International 2017 was the seventh iteration of Dota 2's flagship annual championship. Hosted by Valve Corporation, it took place at the KeyArena Center in Seattle, Washington. The tournament began on 22 June 2017 with the Open Qualifiers and closed on 12 August 2017 with the Grand Final, where fan favorites Team Liquid defeated 2014 champions Newbee 3-0, becoming the first team to perform a clean sweep at the finals as well as the fourth European team to win.
With a prize pool of over US$24 million, The International 2017 is the largest tournament to ever take place in eSports, breaking the record held by its previous iteration, The International 2016, which accumulated over U$20 million. The majority of this sum is collected through several in-game items released by Valve, including the The International 2017 Battle Pass, a digital tournament pass and features bundle tied to the event that included many activities and cosmetic items. 2017 marks the fourth consecutive year that The International's prize pool outgrows its previous-year record.
The International 2017 became the first not to feature the defending champion, as Wings Gaming had disbanded the previous year. Previous champions Natus Vincere (2011) and Alliance (2013) also failed to qualify. The rest of the champions were directly invited to the event. Similar to 2016, only 6 direct invites were issued for the event, with the rest of the team securing their participation through the Open Qualifiers.
In the Group Stage, all 18 teams are divided into two groups of nine. Within each group, teams competed in a best-of-two round robin tournament, with the top four teams (denoted in Green) advancing to the Upper Bracket of the main event, the teams ranked 5-8 (denoted in Yellow) advancing to the Lower Bracket of the former, and the team in last place (denoted in Red) being eliminated.
The Main Event is a double-elimination tournament with the top four teams from each group starting off in the Upper Bracket whilst those who received 5th to 8th place starting off in the Lower (The teams that received 9th place in each group were eliminated). Most matches in the tournament are best-of-three, with the only exceptions being the matches in the 1st round of the Lower Bracket being best-of-one and the Grand Finals being best-of-five.
If any team in the Upper Bracket were to have lost their round, they will be placed within the Lower Bracket, giving them a second chance to make it to the grand finals. If any team were to be eliminated from the Lower Bracket, they are eliminated from play.