Team DK dominates Starladder IX, iG finishing fourth

Team DK has proved that it is indeed worthy of the title “Dota Kings” after flawlessly winning its first international tournament, Starladder IX.

The Chinese juggernaut did not drop a game throughout the tournament, entering the grand finals with a one game advantage against Russia’s Team Empire and winning two games straight to finish 3-0. Team DK is the first Asian team to win Starladder, and the first team to have a 100 percent win rate in the history of the tournament.

(See: Sina Cup 3 Grand Finals: Team DK beat VG in an explosive best of five)

The International 2011 champion, Natus Vincere (Na’Vi), also referred to as the Kings of Starladder, were not able to face team DK as it got knocked out by the Chinese The International 2012 (TI2) champion, Invictus Gaming (iG), in the lower bracket. The International 2013 (TI3) champion The Alliance also competed, but was eliminated in the lower bracket by Team Empire, who would also later defeat iG. Among the three TI champions, only iG made it to the top four. The final placing for the tournament is as follows:

• 1st place – Team DK (China) – $85,059
• 2nd place – Team Empire (Russia) – $37,804
• 3rd place – Evil Geniuses (USA) – $26,463
• 4th place – Invictus Gaming (China) – $15,122

Starladder IX is the first Starladder tournament to have teams from America, Korea, and China and, according to a tweet from Vitalii ‘v1lat’ Volochai, the next season will also feature a team from Southeast Asia.

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