The first day of The International 5 main event was packed with action. The two best-of-three Upper Bracket series secured both LGD and CDEC a top-six finish at TI5 and at least $1,173,000 of the prize pool. The two Chinese teams will continue their journey in the Upper Brackets. The TI5 results after the first elimination games were unexpected, to say the least. The four brutal best-of-one series gave early exits to four teams: previous TI champions Newbee and Na’Vi were eliminated by MVP.Phoenix and, respectively, Vici Gaming, Fnatic were knocked out by Virtus.Pro and MVP.Hot6 were upset by Invictus Gaming.
UPDATE (August 9):
Evil Geniuses are your TI5 champions! Grand Finals VODS, summaries, pictures and highlights: here.
It was a long, emotionally charged first day at the KeyArena, in Seattle. The International 5 was put into motion with a beautifully orchestrated opening ceremony. Stunning visual effects on the main stage mimicked the in-game action. But no amount of flair and fan-fare could detract from the teams’ presence on the stage and the games played.
LGD and Team Empire battled it out in a close series. When the dust settled after three matches, LGD took the series, 2:1, to continue their journey towards the Aegis trophy in the Upper Brackets. Team Empire dropped to the Lower Brackets, where they will face MVP.Phoenix, on August 4th.
CDEC convincingly took the first game from Cloud 9. As C9 started the second game looking to make a comeback – after an-hour-long pause due to network issues that forced both teams to leave their booths, they had lost their momentum and ended up falling to the Chinese Wild Card winners. CDEC will move forward into the Upper Brackets, while Cloud 9 will go up against Vici Gaming in the Lower Brackets.
The first survival of the fittest best-of-one series would see defending champions, Newbee, and MVP.Phoenix square off against each other. Newbee were eliminated, and the Koreans will move forward into the Lower Brackets.
Na’Vi and ViCi Gaming battled out in a thrilling match brimming with aggression, clutch plays and misplays. Na’Vi valiantly held their own for almost an hour, but in the end they were eliminated by Vici Gaming.
During the Virtus.Pro versus Fnatic elimination series, Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung moved back into the support role mid-tournament. The Malaysians were no match for Virtus.Pro’s power and Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev’s flawless game. Fnatic were eliminated, and Virtus.Pro will continue their TI5 journey in the Lower Brackets.
MVP.Hot6 started off the last game of the day in full steam, but they quickly lost their footing and Invictus Gaming took control. The Chinese giants will keep themselves alive for another day, after sending MVP.Hot6 home early.
TI5 brackets
TI5 results and match summaries – Main Event, day 1
TI5 results – LGD (2:1) Team Empire
The first game of the series would start with Team Empire grabbing first blood. LGD lost the two side lanes. After the first thirteen minutes, we had already seen thirteen kills and a buyback. Team Empire seemed to have a better pick than LGD. The Russians had more control in team fights, while LGD did not have a good enough disable. Team Empire had a perfect counter initiator against LGD’s Storm-Tusk combo, and the Naga pick gave them much of the advantage. Even though the action seemed to favor Empire, they were unable to break high ground. LGD’s defense started to kick in and their amazing plays and team fights allowed them to turn the game around and even out Team Empire’s 15K advantage. Even if they were rather far behind, LGD remained calm and collected and starting taking pick-offs and objectives around the map, all with incredible execution. The Chinese were able to steal the victory away and grabbed the first win of the TI5 main event.
VOD: Game 1 (LGD versus Team Empire)
It would take nine minutes into the second game of the Upper Brackets series before first blood was drawn by LGD. LGD picked Storm Spirit for Lu “Maybe” Yao once again. Maybe played a beautiful game, however, Team Empire’s Airat “Silent” Gaziev showcased an insanely well executed Anti Mage that took LGD’s lineup by surprise. Once Silent finished his abyssal blade, he was able to lock LGD down and kill their cores. Team Empire were able to secure the win and push the series into a deciding third game.
VOD: Game 2 (LGD versus Team Empire)
In the third game of the series, first blood was secured by LGD, once again. Liu “Sylar” Jiajun had a really great game on Gyrocopter, going 10:1:7 by the end, while Maybe had a flawless game on Ember Spirit, reaching a score of 11:0:9. Team Empire held out quite well for as long as they could, creating as much space as possible for Silent to catch up on farm, but LGD’s lineup was too much for them to deal with and they ended up being overpowered.
TI5 results: LGD bested Team Empire, 2:1, in the first series of the main event Upper Brackets. LGD will continue their journey in the Upper Brackets, where they will face the organization’s former youth squad next. Team Empire dropped to the Lower Brackets, where they will have to go past MVP.Phoenix to stay in the competition.
VOD: Game 3 (LGD versus Team Empire)
TI5 results – CDEC (2:0) Cloud 9
In the first game of the series, CDEC drafted Huang “Shiki” Jiwei’s signature hero, Lina, which would end up playing an amazing game, with a final score of 13:2:4. Sun “Agressif” Zheng went 9:1:11 on Gyrocopter. An interesting courier snipe by Armand “bOne7” Pittner’s Furion was entertaining to watch, but not game changing. With some really good smoke ganks coming from CDEC and overall strong plays, the Chinese Wild Card winners would convincingly take the first game from Cloud 9.
VOD: Game 1 (CDEC versus Cloud 9)
CDEC chose Lina once again for the second game of the series, while Cloud 9 picked one of bOne7’s signature heroes, Legion Commander. The game started extremely well for the Europeans, who grabbed first blood. After a few minutes, a successful smoke gank mid paired with stealing the stacks would put Cloud 9 ahead. However, an unusually one-hour-long pause in the game due to network problems interrupted the game’s flow. When the action was resumed, it appeared that Cloud 9 had lost their momentum. The team had a few unsuccessful ganks and CDEC’s Phantom Lancer was able to overcome them.
TI5 results: After the loss, Cloud 9 have moved to the Lower Bracket, where they will have to fight Vici Gaming to stay alive. CDEC have advanced in the Upper Brackets, where they will go up against LGD next.
VOD: Game 2 (CDEC versus Cloud 9)
TI5 results: MVP.Phoenix (1:0) Newbee
With an amazing game by Kim “QO” Seon-yeop on Shadow Fiend and incredible set-ups and plays by Park “March” Tae-won on Spirit Breaker, the Koreans would be able to pull ahead and steal the early advantage from defending champions Newbee.
TI5 results: Surprisingly, defending champions Newbee were the first team to be eliminated from The International 5 main event. MVP.Phoenix will move forward in the Lower Brackets, where they are scheduled to face Empire, on August 4th.
TI5 results – Vici Gaming (1:0) Na’Vi
After disappointing group stage performances, two of the fan-favorites, Natus Vincere and Vici Gaming, were forced to fight each other in the cut-throat knockout-stage. The back and forth match culminated into a base exchange around minute 24. Na’Vi took the bottom melee barracks, while Vici Gaming grabbed none, as Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev tether-relocated out just in time as VG TP’d back to stop them. Na’Vi managed to capitalize off a few missed spells from Daryl Koh “iceiceice” Pei Xiang and engaged in some amazing team fights to repel VG from being able to take base. The Ukrainians managed to even out the game. However, after another 30 minutes of exciting back and forth plays, fights and advances, Vici Gaming ended up on top.
TI5 results: Coming off a season in which roster changes robbed them of any true breakouts, former TI champions Natus Vincere were the second team to be eliminated from The International 5 main event. Vici Gaming – who haven’t truly looked like world-beaters yet, will fight Cloud 9 for their chance to stay in the competition.
TI5 results – Virtus.Pro (1:0) Fnatic
Fnatic drafted a Naga Siren for Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung. Mushi ended up drawing first blood off Sergey “God” Alexandrovich Bragin. After a quiet start to the series, the game turned aggressive and filled with back and forth exchanges and kills. Virtus.Pro had an absolutely dominant performance, with a flawless performance by Ilya “Illidan” Pivcaev. VP gave up only 14 kills and ended the game in 38 minutes.
TI5 results: The Mushi-fronted Malaysian squad ended their journey at The International 5 in the very first day. Virtus.Pro have advanced into the Lower Brackets, where they will meet the loser of the Upper Bracket series between Evil Geniuses and compLexity Gaming.
TI5 results – Invictus Gaming (1:0) MVP.Hot6x
MVP.Hot6 would draw first blood in the middle of a thrilling turn-around attempt initiated by Invictus Gaming. Although the game seemed to start even, Invictus Gaming were able to assert their dominance and begin taking control. The Chinese gained an advantage that made it almost impossible for the Korean team to stage a comeback.
TI5 results: Invictus Gaming cruised to victory and will now advance into the Lower Brackets to face the loser of the Upper Bracket series between Team Secret and EHOME. MVP.Hot6 have been eliminated from the competition.
TI5 schedule, day 2, August 4
The second day of the TI5 main event will leave us with 12 contenders. According to the TI5 schedule, the day will start off with the two remaining best-of-three series from the first round of the Upper Brackets: Evil Geniuses versus compLexity Gaming and Team Secret versus EHOME. The spotlight will then move onto the Lower Brackets, where another two teams will leave the competition.
TI5 main event format
Sixteen teams compete in a best-of-three double-elimination bracket, with a best-of-five grand final. Bracket placements were decided through group stage results. The first four Lower Bracket confrontations were best-of-one elimination series.
TI5 prize pool breakdown
The TI5 prize pool has reached a staggering total of $18,048,880.
TI5 main event streams*
- TI5 English streams: Main Channel, Stream 2, and Stream 3
- TI5 Russian streams: Main Channel, Stream 2, and Stream 3
- TI5 Chinese streams: Main Channel, Stream 2, and Stream 3
- Dota 2 fans can also catch all the games broadcasted live in 1080p, at 60 frames per second, on the DotaTV streaming platform. The platform features real-time stats, graphs, match data and more intuitive analytics.
- The Newcomer Show – a once-a-day show that is tailor-made for people who are new to Dota 2, with live commentary designed for those who want to learn the basics of the game.
*According to the TI5 schedule, the Main Event broadcasts start every day, August 3rd through 8th, at 19:00 CEST
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