Their names are etched onto the Aegis of Champions, but even the greatest heroes cannot stop the passage of time. Winners of The International are immortalized in DOTA 2 history, but this doesn’t give them divine right to compete on top teams. If you look through the list of TI winners, you’ll be surprised to find how quick the turnover is and how few of them are still around on the same side they’ve conquered the world of DOTA with in the past.

the international winners today

Not one of the pre-2017 winners are still on the team they've conquered the DOTA world with, and with MATUMBAMAN's recent removal from Liquid, only ten active players remain who haven't moved on from the side responsible for their greatest achievement (with SumaiL being the odd one out on EG). Of the winners between 2011 and 2014, only three players are still on teams that made an impact on the DPC circuit, two of whom (Puppey and s4) already booked their ticket to Shanghai.

Read more: The winners and losers of the EPICENTER Major

Of the 40 players who won a TI, only ten have retired to date, though four of them were on 2014's winners Newbee. Hao is the only player from that side who is still active in some capacity.

Do you agree with these observations? Anything else worth pointing out? Let us know at @RivalryDOTA on Twitter!