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The second Day of TI8 is behind us and the tournament brackets has taken definitive shape. 4 teams have made their mark as they have secured a top 6 finish and are just 3 games away from immortality. Meanwhile, in the lower brackets, two more teams have been sent home reducing the number of surviving teams to 10.
Let's take a closer look at what happened in yesterday's action:
Upper Bracket Matches
The remaining two Upper Bracket Round 1 matches were played yesterday. OG faced off against VGJ.Storm while Team Secret battled Evil Geniuses. VGJ.Storm had chosen OG as their opponents for this round while EG were matched with Team Secret. Surprisingly, out of these 4 teams, only Secret had been invited to the International and the other 3 teams had to qualify.
Game 1: OG beats VGJ.Storm(2-0)
OG continued their dream run as they took down Storm. Storm had been looking incredible throughout the group stage and were the favorites on paper to win this game. But OG defied all odds and comfortably beat them to secure a top 6 spot. OG took 44 and 35 minutes in two respective games to knock Storm into the Lower Brackets.
Game 2: EG beats Team Secret(2-0)
EG continued their unstoppable run as they disposed off Team Secret in two exciting games. This match was expected to be one of the better series of Dota this tournament, and it was. Two incredible games lasting 42 and 58 minutes were played between the two with EG coming out on top. Secret will find themselves in the Lower Brackets again.
Lower Bracket Matches
We saw two elimination matches in the Lower Brackets last night as Optic Gaming faced Team Serenity and Virtus Pro faced Mineski. Optic and VP came from the Upper Brackets after losing in the Upper Brackets previously while Mineski and Serenity won their last game in the Lower Brackets to survive in this TI.
Game 1: Optic Gaming beats Team Serenity(2-0)
Optic had the misfortune of facing Liquid in the Upper Brackets and, as expected, were obliterated. But they bounced back and kept their hopes alive as they convincingly beat Team Serenity to go further in The International. Serenity were one of the underdogs and among the few remaining Chinese representatives. Their journey in their maiden TI ended in two 38 minute games.
Game 2: Virtus.Pro beats Mineski(2-0)
Tournament favorites Virtus.Pro found themselves in the Lower Brackets after a loss against PSG.LGD. They demolished Mineski to keep themselves in the tournament. With Mineski's elimination, no more SEA representatives remain in this year's TI. VP ran all over Mineski in the two games. The games lasted 51 and 35 minutes each. With this victory, VP are scheduled to face the aforementioned Optic Gaming in the next round of the Lower Brackets.
With Serenity's elimination, only two Chinese teams remain alive in The International which I believe is the worst ever performance from Chinese teams in TI history. PSG.LGD and Vici Gaming are the only two teams keeping the hopes of the Chinese alive in the Year of the Chinese. But given Vici's position in the Lower Brackets, it is really all on PSG.LGD. Mineski and Serenity will however go home with ~$375,000.
