for Valve to help international players to secure travel visas for participating there. Valve later rescheduled the event and rebranded it as The International 2021, which was held at the Arena Națională in Bucharest, Romania, in October 2021. It set a record for the largest prize pool of any single esports event at $40 million. The International 2022 increased to 20 teams and was held in Singapore in October 2022, where it was won by Tundra Esports. It was the first International to not surpass the previous one's prize pool at $18.9 million, the lowest since The International 2015. List of Internationals Format Invitations The International features a series of tournaments before the event, known as the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), with the top 12 ranking teams receiving direct invitations based on their final standings. Besides the directly invited DPC teams, an additional team from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), China, Europe, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia regions each earn an invite by winning regional playoffs, bringing the total number of participating teams up to 18. At the International, two separate best-of-two round robin groups consisting of nine teams each are played, with lowest placed team from both at the end of the stage being eliminated. The remaining 16 teams then move on to the double elimination main event at the hosted venue, with the top four finishing teams from both groups advancing to the upper bracket, and the bottom four advancing to the lower bracket. The first round of the lower bracket is treated as single-elimination, with the loser of each match being immediately eliminated from the tournament. Every other round of both brackets is played in a best-of-three series, with the exception being the Grand Finals, which is played between the winners of the upper and lower brackets in a best-of-five series. Prize pool Starting with The International 2013 onward, the tournament's prize pool began to be crowdfunded through a type of in-game battle pass called the "Compendium", which raises money from players buying them to get exclusive in-game virtual goods and other bonuses. 25% of all the revenue made from yearly Compendiums go directly to the prize pool. The contribution of players from the game community is the main source of prize pool for the International. Before 2022, each iteration of The International has surpassed the previous one's prize pool. The International 2021, awarding