Siberian adult actress Yulia “Eva Elfie” Romanova did her part to try and add flair to The International 2023’s final payout after it hit a decade-low, but it looks like things are going to expand beyond a simple pot bonus now the event is done.
Team Spirit walked away with just over $1.4 million after lifting their second Aegis of Champions at TI12—a far cry from what they earned from winning Dota 2’s most prestigious title at TI10 two years ago, which totaled $18.2 million.
Despite TI still being Dota’s golden event, the team earned more than double that from Riyadh Masters 2023 in July, taking home $5 million to close out the summer.
Right before TI12’s finals weekend started on Oct. 27, Elfie announced she would be running an independent promotion through her OnlyFans.
For the duration of the last three days of Valve’s event, she would be donating the entirety of her OF earnings to the winning team as a sort of bonus, stating it is a “much better way to spend 10 bucks than buying a Compendium with no items.”
Whatever the reason, while Elfie was watching TI live and filming content with Dota 2 players in Seattle, her OF was raking in new subscriptions—to the tune of a cool $20,000 she earned over those three days.
She then added $5,000 out of her own pocket and offered it to the victors.
“I really appreciate your participation in that performance and I [am] definitely gonna try to provide something more entertaining than this year’s Compendium for you (let me know if you need me to dress up as Dota characters,)” Elfie said. “I did this for two reasons: cause it was fun and cause I’d like to drag attention to the problem of decreased prize pool [at the] main esports event in the world (mostly cause it was fun though).”
Elfie notes Spirit “refused to take it” when she asked about transferring the funds and is now at a loss at how to use this money to support the Dota community.
She ended up asking her followers if they thought she should give the total to Gaimin Gladiators as a sort of consolation prize for them finishing second or if organizing her own Dota 2 tournament would be a better idea. The community seems to think the latter would be incredibly hype, clamoring for an “Elfie Invitational 2024” to slot itself into next year’s competitive schedule.
Elfie stated she will run a poll so everyone can help decide on what ends up happening, though no timeline on when this will happen has been shared.
