Ti12 Day 1 Recap: Team Spirit and LGD Gaming Look Amazing
Twenty five Best of 2 series were played on the hectic first day of The International. Let’s go over what happened on this chaotic day.
Group A
In Group A, the group leader was quickly decided, as Team Spirit went on a flawless 6-0 run. They have already secured top two in their group and are guaranteed to make it to the next stage.
Entity Gaming and 9 Pandas went 3-3, which isn’t too bad of a scoreline considering the other two teams, Evil Geniuses and Team SMG, only snagged one win each.
It is important to note that Team SMG played six games today, while Evil Geniuses only played four. If Team SMG doesn’t turn things around tomorrow, they might be staring at an early exit from the tournament.
Group B
Team Liquid had a rocky start after losing their first game to Azure Ray, but they cleaned up their gameplay and ended the day 5-1. The WEU powerhouse has almost guaranteed their spot in the second phase.
Azure Ray and the BetBoom Team aren’t doing too bad, with scores of 3-1 and 2-2, respectively. Though a 2-2 score isn’t the best for the BetBoom Team, the 0-2 came from a loss against Team Liquid. They have already played against the top team in the group, so we can expect them to pick up some wins tomorrow.
Shopify Rebellion also lost 0-2 to Team Liquid, no shame there, but they drew their series against Thunder Awaken, arguably the weakest team in the tournament. The next opponents for the North American roster aren’t easy, so we need to see them play their A-game the next day.
Unsurprisingly, Thunder Awaken is sitting in last place with a score of 1-5.
Group C
The third group featured some astonishing results. Every fan knows China is at their weakest point this year, but LGD Gaming had something to say. The Chinese roster finished the day 4-0 after stomping the Gaimin Gladiators 2-0.
After the 0-2 loss against LGD Gaming, the Gladiators dropped a game to Nouns, which was highly unexpected. The best team of the year is sitting with a record of 3-3, which isn’t what everyone expected.
Beastcoast, Nouns, and Virtus.Pro are sitting at the bottom of the group, and the gap between the three teams is small. However, Beastcoast only has tough opponents remaining in the form of the Gaimin Gladiators and LGD Gaming. Can they make it out alive?
Group D
Tundra’s new roster debut didn’t go too well in DreamLeague Season 21, but they came to The International prepared. Tundra could go 5-1 on the day to top the group. Their one loss was against Keyd Stars, where the South American team could perform a Mega Creep comeback after an insane game.
TSM is not looking too shabby, with a respectable record of 3-3. Meanwhile, PSG’s new pickup, PSG Quest, is not performing too well after two draws against TSM and Keyd Stars. PSG Quest and Keyd Stars are tied for third and fourth place.
The most shocking result is Talon, who went winless today and has a score of 0-4. They are on the verge of elimination unless they can fix their problems for tomorrow.
Games To Watch
With fifty Dota 2 games played today, it was hard to select the top three games to watch. However, here are three matches you should check out: