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The International 2018 finally came to an end after ten days of nonstop clashes, drama, upsets, and comebacks. 18 teams started their journey on August 15. After the Group Stage, 16 teams advanced to the Main Event and 2 teams were eliminated. From there it has been one unforgettable journey.
The Main Event was full of heavyweight clashes, upsets, and drama. Be it N0tail-Fly drama or be it Evil Geniuses exit, everything was telling why The International is the most important DOTA2 tournament of every year. This is the World Cup of DOTA and we expect nothing less. This is where fairy tales are made, players turn into legends, curses are broken and myths are created. This is where we see the beginning of new friendships and the dream turning into reality. This is the dream every team every player wants to live. This is The International, the biggest tournament in the history of E-sports.
This year when the 8th edition of TI started the predictions were different. Virtus.Pro was the most favorite to win the championship along with PSG.LGD, last year’s champion Team Liquid, and last year’s Runners-up Newbee. But TI8 had different plans for us. Newbee’s early exit from the Lower Bracket of Main Event was not something we expected. While Team Liquid was still looking strong they fall apart in front of EG. PSG.LGD was the only team who lived up to the expectations as they reached the Grand Finals after beating team EG in the lower bracket finals. Most fans predicted a Grand Final between LGD and Virtus.Pro or Virtus.Pro and Team Liquid. But Virtus.Pro exited the tournament after they failed to win in the lower bracket and Team Liquid followed them.
All of a sudden we had our top 3 and two of those teams were not expected to be there. EG and OG. Both teams were a shocker and dominated most of their games creating a momentum for them. OG won their Upper Bracket BO3 Finals and reached the Grand Finals while LGD faced EG in the Lower Bracket Finals and snatched the victory with absolute domination.
The Grand Finals between OG and LGD was a Best of 5. Team to win 3 games first wins the championship. At this point, Nobody could predict anything anymore. OG won Game 1 comfortably smashing LGD in every step of the game. In the history of last 7 TI’s only once the Game 5 was played. Yes, The most controversial DOTA2 rivalry, Between Na’Vi and Alliance. 5 times the winner won with a 3-1 score and Liquid won with a 3-0. This TI was a special one. We watched the Game 5 again after LGD came back with 2 wins in a row and OG managed to win the 4th game making it a 2-2 forcing a Game 5. This was the Grand Final every DOTA2 fan wanted to watch. A nerve wrecking game 5. LGD dominated the early game and at a certain point it looked like we have our champions but nobody can predict a game of DOTA. OG came back with stronger team fights, clashes after clashes and LGD just did not know how to answer back to their domination. A team that was made 3 months ago with their carry player switched to support role, a coach as their player and a random pub player as their Midlaner is now the World Champion of DOTA2. History was made. The fairy tale was written as N0tail lifted up the Aegis of The International 2018. A new world champion emerged and everyone could agree to one thing, OG deserved it. They played like champions, they played the best DOTA of their life, they broke the curses and they made the dream very real.
