Title image courtesy of Valve
The International 2024 favourites — Xtreme Gaming, Team Falcons, and Team Spirit — are in the lower brackets, is a TI championship title still possible?
No other event rivals The International. Brimming with prime-cut games between teams of the highest caliber, gut-wrenching action, and emotional storylines, TI has it all.
Three teams had set themselves up as the favourites for The International 2024 among fans and players around the globe – Xtreme Gaming, Team Falcons, and Team Spirit.
But nouns delivered the biggest upset so far on The Road to The International by sending Team Spirit, the defending Champions, into the first lower bracket round, Xtreme Gaming also joined the party in the LB rounds after losing 0:2 to Team Liquid, but while that’s hardly an upset, Tundra Esports delivered the biggest surprise of the day by sweeping through Team Falcons 2:0.
Now, The International 2024 favourites will need to travel the lower Road to the International until the playoffs end if they hope to seize the Aegis of Champions.
But can they do it?
The International Champions who came from lower brackets
Favorites; Curse or Blessing?
In 2013, Alliance claimed the Aegis after a thrilling 3:2 victory over NAVI in an epic 5-game series that is still hailed today by many as one of the best moments in Dota 2 history and gave these teams the "El Clásico" moniker. The all-Swedish roster was one of the most dominant teams of that year, earning first place in over ten major tournaments including G1-League, Star Series V, VI, and DreamHack Summer 2013.
However, typically it isn't so easy for the favourites to become the champions at The International. The pressure is at the highest level, and every team is gunning for you.
At TI5 Team Secret was the utter favorite and ended with a disappointing 7-8th place finish. Team Liquid, along with OG and Newbee, were one of the top contenders for TI6. But just like the other two, Liquid crashed and burned with a 7-8th position finish.
Team Liquid headed into TI7 as one of the top contenders for the Aegis after they made one final change in January 2017 to their roster, bringing on board Maroun 'GH' Merhej to replace Sam 'BuLba' Sosale.
The change was exactly what the lineup needed to become a championship team, turning everything they touched into gold. Team Liquid quickly became one of the top household names in Dota 2. Claiming title after title.
They took first in their group to seed into the upper brackets but were dropped immediately by Invictus Gaming.
After dropping to the lower bracket and going through a number of tough series, Team Liquid brought on their best game in the grand finals against Newbee, whom they beat 3-0 to take the title of The International 2017.
It was the first time in the history of The International that a team came back from the second round of the lower bracket and won the whole thing. Before this, all the teams that have won have been a part of the upper bracket finals. This was also the first time that a team had won with a clean sweep, in not just a TI grand final, but a Valve grand final.
The power of underdogs
Photo courtesy of Valve
Being an underdog often takes the pressure off and certainly keeps anyone from putting a target on your back. This definitely gives the team an advantage. Don't believe it? Just look at OG —twice! In both 2018 and 2019 and Wings Gaming in 2016.
In 2021 Team Spirit were the underdogs.
They pulled off the unthinkable when they took down the Chinese juggernaut, PSG.LGD, in the grand finals of The International 10. Coming into the final day against all odds, these underdogs defeated Team Secret 2-1 in the lower bracket finals and then went on to defeat the tournament favorites 3-2 in the grand finals.
This was a team that got to TI10 through qualifiers, barely made the upper bracket, dropped to the lower bracket on the first day of the playoffs and after that, just didn’t look back.
They were about 300 Dota Pro Circuit points short of securing a spot at TI10 after they missed the first Major of the year which meant it was qualifiers for them.
In the EEU qualifiers, Team Empire gave them a scare by taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series but in the end, Team Spirit took the series 3-2 and secured a spot at TI10.
Once at TI10, things didn't start out exactly the best for them. Despite getting an upgraded room after going public about the practice and group stage accommodations, the team went 0:4 on the first day and took another 0:2 loss on the second.
And then something clicked. They were able to rise above and finish out strong enough to secure a spot in the upper brackets for the playoffs —which didn't last long. They were immediately knocked down to the lower brackets by Invictus Gaming in a 2:1 loss.
There they swept through Fnatic, the two-time champions OG, bested Virtus.pro 2:1 and exacted revenge on iG with a clean 2:0 sweep before outplaying Team Secret for a place in the grand finals.
All Team Spirit kept saying was they were just there to have fun.
Can Xtreme Gaming, Team Falcons, or Team Spirit do the same?
Well, the obvious answer is that Team Spirit absolutely can do it. They've done it before and they can do it again. And not only that, but they are literally PROS at winning TI. This team came back in 2022 to claim the title a second time! For TI2024 they started out flawless ending the Group Stage as the only team with a perfect 6-0 record as the top seed of Group D. The question here doesn't seem to be can they but WILL they?
But what about the others?
So we know that twice before teams bounced back from the lower bracket round 2 to take the Aegis. We know that it has happened before for both the underdogs and to favourites.
Team Falcons have been flexing their dominance all season long. They won five of the eight tournaments they competed in and finished in the Top 3 of the three they didn't win. Over and over again this team has proven that they can outplay, out-draft, and outmaneuver any drafts and teams before them. They stumbled to start the Group Stage against Team Zero, but still finished atop the standings of Group C as many expected. They just need to make sure that they don't choke.
Xtreme Gaming claimed three trophies this year, with the last one being at Clavision: Snow Ruyi, which was held during the first days of the 7.37 patch. They finished the Group Stage tied for the second-best record at 5-1 and atop the standings of Group A. Wang "Ame" Chunyu returned from retirement and is ‘more mature’. Throughout his career, he reached the grand finals twice, he placed third once, and has one top 4 and one top 6 finish. Zixing “XinQ” Zhao is an atypical and aggressive POS 4 beast is is expected to wreak havoc. They have the experience and the talent to do it.
The International 2024 Playoffs
The International 2024 is finally here and GosuGamers has you covered with a comprehensive, one-stop guide to all things TI13 to keep you in the know.
Ten days of glorious Dota 2 action will kick off on Wednesday, September 4th with the Group Stage in Copenhagen, Denmark, and continue through Sunday, September 15th. Sixteen will begin the journey, and only one will seize the Aegis of Champions and the lion's share of the $2+ MILLION prize pool.
For more match results and updates on the go don't forget to check out our Telegram channel.
