TI6 group stage: Evil Geniuses clear leaders of group A, TnC continue to impress

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All matches from Group A in the second day at The International 6 have concluded with yet another upset delivered by TnC and Evil Geniuses, the returning Champions, as front runners.

TnC the Chinese slayers

After they surprised everyone yesterday with their upset over Wings Gaming, they continued to deliver the big surprise today. The first game of their series versus LGD was a battle of endurance that extended past the one hour mark. After a questionable play from TnC, choosing to attempt Roshan regardless of a Beastmaster boar camping in the pit, LGD took map control and consistently pressured on TnC’s high ground which resulted in a lost lane of barracks around the 22 minute mark. LGD appeared to be in clear control. Rather than going for the easy Roshan, LGD chose to run at TnC and a costly mistake from Morphling, Waveform-ing into the trees, allowed TnC to take the fight and the Aegis shortly after. TnC began their push back into the game culminating with a 59 minute Aegis after a lengthy skirmish with multiple heroes dying on both squads. LGD began bleeding barracks. The deciding fight happened at 67 minutes when Morphling died without buyback and the game concluded as TNC pounded away at the LGD throne.

Classic TnC Dota resurfaced in game two as they dominated the early game. They found kills across the map while running at the unsuspecting LGD players. TnC movements caused LGD to waste a significant amount of time trying to find their own pickoffs. Just after 16 minutes LGD’s Roshan attempt was thwarted and TnC claimed aegis for themselves. The Aegis was short-lived but TnC didn’t need it as they were able to constantly wipe down the Chinese players to take the series two games to nil.

This second 2-0 victory in the group stage keeps their hope for an upper bracket start very much alive despite losing the other matchup of the day versus Evil Geniuses after a very hard fought battle, in which Jimmy 'DeMoN' Ho’s new team displayed amazing resilience.

The International 6 El Clasico

The first batch of games from Day 2 witnessed the TI “El Clasico” where Alliance took the series with a clean 2-0 victory, being the first team to successfully attempt a level one Roshan at TI6.

The two points secured today with this win and the draw score against LGD keeps them in cards for a top four finish in group A which translates in an upper bracket start in the main event. But to ensure that, Alliance will have to come out strong tomorrow in the last day of the group stage when they’ll have to face EG and Escape Gaming.

Na’Vi, on the other hand, finished the day with a major victory over LGD but they are actually in danger of not grabbing a spot in the top four. After 10 matches played they only gathered 4 points so far. Nonetheless, their series against LGD could be a great morale boost as they took the 2-0 victory in two extremely hard fought games and in both of them they managed to pull amazing comebacks.

The early stages of game one looked terribly dire for the only CIS team at TI6, as LGD continuously beat down on the Na’Vi lanes. It looked as though LGD had the game in the bag completely by twenty minutes, but Na’Vi managed to get some great pick offs and with the Bounty Hunter’s Track utility, they fought their way back into the game. After a very valiant defense of their ancient from LGD, Na’Vi managed to close it out after fifty two minutes and took game one of the series. The second game started completely different as Na’Vi went with a full push line up and they were already taking down the first lane of barracks at the 14 minute mark. However, a single team fight turned around by LGD put Na’Vi heavily on the back foot. Having to deal with a constant illusion barrage from Alchemist and Terrorblade, Na’Vi fell behind fast but they’ve been able to quell the threat for over half an hour. Dmitry 'Ditya Ra' Minenkov and Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin found enough farm to face the huge enemy carries and after an hour, Na’Vi cleaned up LGD and took their first 2-0 victory.