[bigger_cheese]

Dota Esports started as kind of region based there was a big rivalry between Chinese and Western teams it was always hype when one of the top Chinese teams like IG, LGD or DK etc would get invited to a Western tournament and vice versa the metagames across the region were different with each region prioritizing a different play style.

I'm pretty sure The qualifiers for TI (largest Dota tournament) are still region based. But nowadays the scenes have become much more homogenized. For a while the winners of TI would flip back and fourth (West would win one year then China and so fourth) it was a really good story to follow.

I think it started to change after TI 4 you began to get "Super Teams" which would just stack the best players on a single team, you tended to get very volatile rosters and team stability was basically non existent. Teams would form for one tournament then break up almost immediately afterwards. As a result you tended to follow players you liked rather than the teams.