The International 2018. Group Stage Recap

If someone is going to tell you that dreams don’t come true, do not believe that. Many teams proved it wrong. Some of the squads are still at the tournament thanks to their willpower and desire to fight for it. But let’s not get ahead too much, shall we? 

Group А

Evil Geniuses were ahead of the pack but the last day loss to the main competitors from Team Liquid put them a step lower. However, the most fascinating battle was taking place in the middle and end of the tournament table. 

First day, OG and VGJ.Thunder were at bottom two spots. Many people started writing them off but the teams managed to pull it together, got the necessary wins to get back in the game. Of course, Thunder avoided elimination and that’s great, but OG went even further and got to the fourth place in their group which led them into the playoff upper bracket. 

CIS community is all ecstatic about Winstrike getting into the playoff which will probably remain as one of most exciting memories of this TI (unless they win the event, of course). To be honest, the guys were really nervous and it showed but in the end of the day they won over OG. That’s how they got into the tiebreakers and there took the spot after defeating Invictus Gaming.

Group B

This one might have ended up a complete mess with tiebreakers for 6 teams, under certain conditions. That is why it was so difficult to predict anything. Only VGJ.Storm got a spot in the playoff upper bracket, while Virtus.pro got second place and paiN got eliminated from the tournament after failing to do what’s needed. OpTic outplayed Newbee and got the fourth place. The SEA region is very unhappy with how TnC played as they lost to Team Secret and dropped into the lower bracket. 

No weak links or loose ends 

The group stage showed that there are no specifically out of place or specifically weak participants in the event. Even the eliminated teams demonstrated a good level of game play and took maps even from obvious favorites. The competition really brought us lots of thrilling and memorable matches. The newcomers proved they can play just as good as (and sometimes even better than) their more experienced colleagues. Many players who got interviewed said the atmosphere of the tournament is very friendly. And that’s great, the tournament part of DotA2 has evolved and we’re more than happy about it. 

New meta

Majority of the teams trained in scrims and played one vs. another for a long time, which led to this new and peculiar tournament meta. Everyone “spied” a bit and took some heroes and tactics ideas while being at the bootcamp. First day of the tournament and we see Wraith King coming to the light. He was leading in the “number of picks” section for a while, until Vengeful Spirit took the first place. We saw Clinkz again and Enchantress is the most banned hero at the moment. The strategy with Drow Ranger and ranged heroes became popular as well. These changes are like a breath of fresh air when watching the games cause you never know what to expect. 

What went wrong

I think the online stream was the only disappointment during this group stage. At the first days, streams were crashing, there were some audio issues here and there. We got no show, no analytical stuff and no streams from player rooms. That’s what probably ruined the experience a bit, considering they might’ve done more and better. Thank goodness, we didn’t get to see the step ladder during live stream as Russian stream did (in one of their social media).

The step ladder says hi

That's it folks ;) See you soon as the action at The International 2018 will go on.