The holiday season was capped off with the perfect gift for some Dota 2 fans, who began to receive miniature replicas of the coveted Aegis of Champions this week.
The International 7 Battle Pass, which ran from May 4 to Oct. 1 this year, offered the miniature Aegis of Champions to Battle Pass owners who reached level 1,000. This feat could be achieved either by completing quests and achievements in game, or purchasing additional Battle Pass levels through Steam.
Yesterday, users on the Dota 2 subreddit posted photos of the scale figure being unboxed, as taken by a Weibo user who had already received their replica. This is the first batch of Aegis shipments, which went out on Dec. 23, according to the comments on the thread.
The album posted by Redditors first shows the front of the box, which displays official art of Wings Gaming’s draft in the final, championship-winning game at TI6. Anti-Mage, Axe, Keeper of the Light, Batrider, and Elder Titan all stand triumphantly behind the Aegis itself. While it may seem strange that the TI6-winning draft is on the box of a collectible item for TI7, it could mean that the heroes are passing on the trophy. Or that the boxes had already been made before Liquid won TI7.
Inside the box sits the miniature replica, accompanied by a pin with the International logo branded on it. The figure is about one-fifth the size of the actual Aegis (which amounts to something slightly smaller than the average human hand), complete with all the details seen on the real trophy. The Dota 2 logo in the center is surrounded by two long spade-like shapes with the Radiant and Dire creeps beautifully engraved in them.
Meanwhile, the negative space around the logo and the creeps is painted in blue, with some wisps of white coloring included to give it a sort of swirling effect—thus evoking the feeling of the undertow of the sea. This is quite fitting of course, given that TI7 had an underwater theme and color palette.
Over on the back, we can see the rear imprint of the figurine, seemingly made out of bronze. Another Dota 2 logo is placed on the top center of the backside, while the year 2017 is engraved on the bottom center. All in all, it’s a beautiful collector’s piece, for sure.
Redditors on the same thread claim that the next batch will ship out on Dec. 29, so those that have yet to receive theirs will have to wait just a little bit more.
