The International 8 will be hosted in Canada

For six years now, The International has been held in Valve’s homefront. Although the inaugural tournament was held in Cologne, Germany, every iteration thereafter took place in Seattle, Washington.

But this time, The International will be hosted by a country that isn't the United States. The Rogers Arena - Vancouver, Canada will be the venue for TI 8. The arena is the home of the Vancouver Canucks of NHL with an official capacity of 18,910, roughly 2,000 more than Seattle's Key Arena.

The move to Canada was announced earlier today by Valve in a post on the official Dota 2 website. The post also mentions that TI8 is scheduled to run from August 20^th to 25^th, 2018.

This news coincides with the fact that KeyArena, the home of The International since 2014, will be undergoing a large-scale renovation, which has made the venue unusable until 2020.

This is big news for Canadian Dota 2 fans, given that there has only been one premier tournament held in the country in the game's history, the $100,000 Northern Arena BEAT Invitational in 2016. American fans wouldn’t be too disappointed, given that all they need to get to the LAN is a Passport (No Canadian VISA requirements for USA citizens.)

As with the previous years, tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster in two blocks with two types. Mid-week passes, costing $125 CAD, will grant admission from Monday the 20th through the 23rd, and finals weekend tickets for the 24th and 25th will be $250 CAD. Tickets will go on sale in two blocks, on March 24^th at 1AM and 1PM SGT.