Dota 2’s The International 2023 is being praised for its impressive production and exciting matches, but the event’s prize pool is still suffering from a historic dip. Whoever lifts Aegis this year will get a boost from a surprising source, however, as Siberian adult actress and model Yulia “Eva Elfie” Romanova will be dropping some of her OnlyFans earnings into the pot.
Elfie announced that she will “try solving” some of the biggest issues fans have had with TI12 right before the start of finals weekend at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
According to the actress’ Instagram, she will support “the prize pool for the TI winners” by adding all of her OnlyFans earnings from Oct. 26 to 29 to that total. It’s surely a welcome boost, as TI’s prize pool is currently at its lowest point in nearly a decade.
A lack of content in the TI 2023 Compendium has given players no incentive to grind or purchase additional in-game levels or even grab a bundle in the first place. As the first day of finals weekend is underway, the overall prize pool sits at $3,119,068, a substantial drop from TI11’s $18,930,775 and every other event dating back to 2014.
While no specifics were given for how the additional cash will be split, that means at least a few competitors at TI will get a bonus from outside of Valve’s official number.
“I guess it’s a much better way to spend 10 bucks than buying a Compendium with no items in it,” Elfie said. “And of course, I’ll be at the arena cheering all of you guys up so you don’t get sad in the rainy Seattle. Let’s have fun and watch some Dota!”
This announcement might come as a shock for some Dota fans who didn’t know of Elfie but she has been somewhat active in the esports scene for a few years now and is at TI again this year.
She has attended a number of tournaments for Dota and CS:GO, including TI11 in Singapore in 2022 and the BLAST Paris Major earlier this year in May. She attended that event as a partner with 1xBet and did content with several teams like Tundra Esports and Team Spirit, the latter of which is now the favorite to win TI12 after a dominant run through the playoffs.
