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The group stage of The International 10 came to an end. Many teams were surprised by their results. Not every team lived up to the expectations of their fans. Group stage matches were held in a best of 2 format in two groups (Group A and Group B) of 9 teams.
| Group A | Group B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Invictus Gaming – 14 | PSG.LGD – 15 |
| 2 | Virtus.Pro – 11 | Team Secret – 10 |
| 3 | OG – 10 | Vici Gaming – 10 |
| 4 | T1 – 10 | Team Spirit – 10 |
| 5 | Team Undying – 9 | Beastcoast – 7 |
| 6 | Evil Geniuses – 9 | Quincy Crew – 6 |
| 7 | Team Aster – 5 | Elephant – 6 |
| 8 | Alliance – 4 | Fnatic – 6 |
| 9 | Thunder Predator – 0 | SG-Esports – 2 |
The first day passed almost without intrigue. The teams played predictably and unspectacular. Favorites easily defeated outsiders, and the underdogs lurked, waiting for a miracle. Many Dota fans noticed that almost all matches of the first day of the group stage ended with a score of 2:0, with the exception of four series. The games followed an obvious pattern, with the teams that came into the game as favorites beating their opponents by one-way games. But it was not an end.
The Chinese Factor
The Chinese teams were at their best in the group stage of TI. Tournament favorites PSG.LGD took the first place in Group A a day before the end of the group stage. LGD did not lose a single bo2 series and drew only with Team Secret. Many commentators and analysts jokingly named LGD the Chinese robots, hinting at their mistake-free play. LGD’s plays in Chinese derby against Vici Gaming started really to put the fear into everyone who plays TI. There LGD showed their best form and absolutely fantastic play in the lane stage without any mistakes and doubts. They gave Vici Gaming a chance by making a couple of minor blunders in the first game, but it wasn’t enough for Vici to rehabilitate. After the group stage, it was clear that LGD will play lightning fast, taking advantage on all lanes. Teams that will play against them in the playoffs should definitely be afraid of this style of play.
Invictus Gaming also showed great form. Like LGD, they went to the playoffs the day before the end of the group stage. Like LGD, they are undefeated and have only one draw with Team Undying. Unexpectedly, Team Undying was the only team that took the points away from the formidable Chinese. IG had no problem beating other teams, even if they were quite strong opponents, such as Evil Geniuses or Virtus Pro. The winners of the One Esports Singapore Major showed that their form is close to the one they showed in the spring.
Vici Gaming played a little worse than their compatriots, but they also have a good result and four series wins. The prediction that Elephant would not win everyone in the group stage came true. Elephant showed that there are many mistakes and moments in their game that they still need to work on. Thanks to their play, Vici made it to the upper bracket, while Elephant only managed to make it to the lower bracket.
Perhaps, Team Aster was in the most difficult situation. Their whole team got infected with COVID-19 before the start of the tournament. The players were sick and unwell throughout the whole group stage. Their midlaner Liu “White丶Album” Yuhao even refused to play due to illness. He was replaced by assistant coach Chen “86” Yuxuan on the middle lane. Nice to know that 86 is a mid lane player too. He has played for teams like Braveheart and EHOME.Keen as a player. Team Aster showed a very unsure game in the first day. The viewers could see that the team lacked cohesion. The synergy between the players was not visible and Team Aster lost all of their matches on game day one. Nevertheless, on the second day Aster showed a completely different level. White丶Album’s health became better and the Aster midlaner took his place in the team again. Team Aster beat OG 2:0, although everyone expected the opposite result. Aster’s teamplay was evident in every detail. For example, when White丶Album beat Topson on Bounty Rune with a low HP. At first it seemed like it wouldn’t be the best idea. The viewers had the impression that White丶Album was just feeding his opponent without any idea. However, team captain Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng instantly teleported to the center to help his mider by restoring his health playing Io. This moment came as a surprise to Topson, but it was calculated by the Aster. In this way, Aster managed to gain enough points for the lower bracket, but the day before the end of the group stage it became clear that they would not be able to compete for the upper bracket.
Unexpected disappointments
The first major disappointment for Dota fans was the performance of Team Alliance. They showed themselves very well in the DPC season, but they had a problems at the LAN tournaments. The Alliance roster looks very strong. Casters and analysts always paid attention to the carry of the team Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov. His game at the beginning of the season was amazing. However, from fist day of the groups the Swedish team started to lose every match without any chance at The International 10. Alliance only won one series against the weakest team in the group, Peruvian team Thunder Predator. It would seem that Alliance should have a good performance against mid-tier teams like Undying or T1, but the Swedish team lost those games 2:0 as well. Victory over Thunder Predator allowed Alliance not to drop out of the tournament.
Quincy Crew was another disappointment of the TI10 group stage. This team had a high chance to take a high place, considering the results in the previous tournaments. The North American team made it to The International from fourth place DPC. They finished 5th-6th at WePlay Animajor and 5th-6th at ESL One Summer. After that, QC did a tremendous amount of prep work before TI. They held a long bootcamp in Kyiv, Ukraine, and hired Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann to coach them. Quincy Crew risked dropping out of the group after the first two days, but they were saved by only one team that was weaker. On the last day, QC showed a decent game against Elephant. Such play helped the team consolidate 6th place in the group and get into the lower bracket.
Chinese fans were really disappointed with Elephant’s performance. A team with such a strong roster of truly star players also had a chance to leave the tournament after the group stage. Elephant’s play did not even seem stable. At some points, the Chinese team underplayed and made a lot of mistakes. Their stars play well in terms of individual performance. Mid player Somnus丶M is still as good in the middle lane as before, fy still makes godlike plays on Rubick, and Eurus still farms well. However, the picture of their game does not look coherent. There were glimpses in Elephant’s game, for example, they played 1:1 against Team Secret, who are one of the strongest opponents in the group. However, along with that, they also gave a one game to Fnatic, who were not the strongest team. Elephant made it to the bottom of the grid from 8th place in the group.
The underdogs in the lead
The International is a tournament that always has unexpected twists and turns. There are always teams that are called underdogs. Fans don’t really expect these teams to win, but this teams still take it showing their best Dota. Such a game can discourage tournament favorites at the most inopportune moment. Team Spirit was the team that fought fiercely and violently to earn their place in the upper bracket. No one expected Team Spirit will show us such performance. This team won the qualifiers in Eastern Europe, beating Team Empire 3:2. Eastern Europe or CIS was not considered a strong region this season. However, Team Spirit showed a nice game at WePlay Animajor. Yes, the Russian team had noticeable problems, which the coach and team manager worked on. On the first game day of the group stage, Team Spirit received the most unpleasant opponents imaginable. Team Secret and PSG.LGD crushed “The Dragons” 2:0 on the first day, and after Team Spirit lost the series to Vici Gaming. It would seem that the team should be morally broken after such smashing defeats. Instead, Team Spirit rallied and won all the following games against other teams. Like another Russian team Virtus Pro, Team Spirit deserved a place in the upper bracket. The teams from Eastern Europe or CIS showed such result in 2011 last time.
Here is what the Russian-language caster Vitalii “v1lat” Volochai had to say about it:
For the first time since 2011 two teams from our region are in the TI upper bracket
The discoveries
Next we will talk about the underdogs who were not able to get into the upper bracket of The International, but became the real discovery of this tournament. The South American team Beastcoast also came to The International as an underdog. The team demolished everyone in the DPC season, but they weren’t able to show good results in the Major tournaments. Nevertheless, Beastcoast is the most stable team in South America. These guys have been playing together since the summer of 2019. They were called Team Anvorgesa when they created the team. Back then, they were remembered for their meme team logo and good performances at Minor tournaments in 2019. The North American organization Beastcoast took the young hot roster under its wing. This allowed the players to stick together and grow together, pumping up their playing skills training and doing teamwork. Beastcoast is an example of titanic work combined with the talent of the players. Today, BC is a team that competes on equal footing with mastodons like Team Secret and Vici Gaming. Losses against Team Spirit and against Elephant prevented Beastcoast from reaching the upper bracket, but they are still a dangerous opponent for every team at The International.
Team Undying was the second team which surprised everyone in the group stage at The International 10. The North American team that could not find sponsors and funded their bootcamp through crowdfunding. By the way, Team Undying found one very interesting sponsor a few days before the start of TI. Dota commentators and analysts didn’t give Team Undying much of a chances in the group stage.
Many of them even said that Team Undying will leave the TI very fast at all and they will go home immediately after the end of the group stage. The experience of watching the group stage shows that all of these people were wrong. Team Undying proved that they are at the tournament for a reason and even tried to fight for the upper bracket. They were very close to getting there, but key matches ruined their plans. Team Undying finished fifth in the group and will choose their opponent in the lower bracket.
We need to say goodbye
The two South American teams were the expected outsiders of the tournament. The Peruvian team Thunder Predator finished last in Group A without winning a series at all. The instability of the Peruvian teams was shown in all its glory. We remember how Thunder Predator rocked the One Esports Singapore Major. The Peruvians finished 5th-6th there, beating Team Aster and Virtus Pro at the lower bracket. However, at The International Thunder Predator did not show anything. Their game was much weaker than the other teams, so their result was logical.
The second team to leave the tournament was the Brazilians from SG-Esports from Group B. Although they had one positive moment – the victory over Fnatic, all the other games SG-Esports lost without a chance.
Such results of the South American teams may give Valve the opportunity to think about the slots for the next Major tournaments.
Dramatic denouement of the final day
The last day added drama to the group stage of The International. Team Spirit and Beastcoast faced off in a showdown that decided their fate in the tournament. Team Spirit won with a score of 2:0. After that, Beastcoast could only hope for a miracle, because then they got the strongest opponent in the group, and the Spirit played with the weakest team. The miracle did not happen and in a face-to-face meeting Team Spirit proved their superiority.
North American favorites Evil Geniuses did not play perfectly. It was obvious that they did not do everything well, but at the right moments they turned on and showed their true strength. Their fate was not clear until the last, as they were chased by a team from their region – Team Undying, as well as a team from Southeast Asia T1. First Team Undying lost to their direct rivals T1. Then they drew with Evil Geniuses, thereby not only denying themselves a chance to get to the upper bracket, but also dragging EG with them.
Now we are all looking forward to the playoffs of The International 10. Playoffs will begin October 12 at the National Arena in Bucharest, Romania.