Dota 2 The International Knockout Stage P.1

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The last 5 days have summed up to create an intense week for Dota and for Esports in general.  With the prize pool rising up to $18,000,000, the stakes have never been higher. What were once 16 teams in total is now down to 4. There were as many goodbyes as there were triumphs, sacrifices as there were hardships.                               

The main event works pretty simple. The format is knockout double elimination best of 3. There are 2 brackets derived from the group stage; winners and losers. The 8 teams in the loser bracket must face a challenging best of 1 before entering the best of three formats. Losing in the loser bracket meant elimination. The perks of being in the winner bracket meant being transferred into the lower bracket and not certain elimination. The brackets eventually join together in the finals where it will be best of 5 matches. For a simpler explanation visit wiki.teamliquid.net.

In the winner bracket LGD and CDEC, both Chinese teams managed to sustain their place resulting in Team Empire and C9 to fall to the lower bracket. In the lower bracket MVP Phoenix was to go up against last year’s winners team Newbee. With MVP Phoenix being the underdogs having reached Ti5 via wild card, many put their money on Newbee to win the single match. An eccentric pick came out of MVP; the juggernaut, a popular hero although way out of the meta. With the game entering the mid game the outcome was hard to predict. Though trade-offs were made, most of them favored MVP because of the track gold produced from bounty hunter. A fight at the dire shop secured the roshan proceeded by the game. Newbee, last year’s champion of Ti4 were defeated by a wild card team.

Na’vi have played inconsistently for some months now and that was expected to change with the arrival of Sonneiko. Things didn’t turn out as planned in the group stage and now they are up against Vici Gaming, a strong team and runner up to last year’s tournament. Na’vi’s lineup put emphasis on protecting Xboct/Hvost via defensive supports (io and dazzle) however their inability to pressure Vici with 3 farming cores lead to vici getting their items ready to oppose the Anti-mage. Na’vi managed to get bottom barracks after being down a lane. However as the game dragged on QOP, SF and Luna on Vici’s side were too much to handle for the single Anti-mage. Nearing the end of the match ArtStyle playing on the dazzle mistakenly shallow graved himself instead of the nearly dying Hvost. Analysts say that the game was already lost at this point and it wouldn’t have mattered.

Kecik Imba on the Malaysian team Fnatic is the youngest compared to his colleagues however very promising. Under Mushi as his mentor Kecik made game changing plays often using Crystal Maiden as a position 4. During the knockout stage Fnatic managed to surprise everyone. Kecik was on the Shadow Fiend swapping places with Mushi who was on the support position 4 Naga Siren. All went well for the first 15 minutes with Fnatic getting 2 kills while never overextending as they were running a very greedy/gold intense lineup. Virtus Pro punished this lineup with constant team fights and trade-offs, as the Rubick and Earthshaker needed nearly no farm at all to be useful. With no space to farm for fnatic’s carry the game was over before 40 minutes and fnatic went home.

iG vs MVP Hot6ix of the lower bracket was also a game than ended in less than 40 minutes. Despite underwhelming performances from both teams, iG came on top  having the lead for most of the game securing farm for their top 2 core heroes the phamton lancer and Shadow fiend.