Day 2 of The International group stages got even more heated as several teams came back to redeem themselves after their Day 1 matches. Group B now stands in a deadlock between more than half of the teams, resulting from the high level of competition that has been showcased.
Contrary to the general expectation that Group A would be the one with the closer competition, the teams in Group B have fought tooth and nail in their attempt to secure the top 4 spot and qualify for the upper bracket of the playoffs. VGJ.Storm continued their impressive run, however they did drop one game in their first series of the day against OpTic Gaming. The latter had a better showing than Day 1, but it still wasn't enough as they are now tied in last place with Team Serenity and paiN Gaming. The two underdogs of the group are not in great shape and will have to come out on top in their next matches, which will be against their toughest adversaries yet.
Perhaps the most surprising run was by ViCi Gaming, who defeated Newbee 2:0 and then went on to tie their series against Team Serenity and Team Secret. Clement "Puppey" Ivanov's EU team that was expected to be a top contender jumped up two spots on the group, but still had mixed results overall.
Another team that went under the radar before the start of the event and expected to perform mediocre was TNC Predator. They exceeded everyone's expectations by far and are now in second place on the board. This may be the year where they break their three-year streak and start in the upper brackets instead of the lower ones, if they remain headstrong. Virtus.pro has surprised everyone with their less than remarkable performance by dropping games to both TNC and Secret, and are now sitting in third place on the board.
Group B:
ViCi Gaming
PaiN Gaming
Team Serenity
OpTic Gaming
Virtus Pro
TNC
VGJ.Storm
Team Secret
Newbee
The International 2018 Format:
- Group Stage - August 15th - August 18th, 2018
- All eighteen teams are divided into two groups where they play in a Round Robin format
- All matches are played in a Bo2
- The top four teams in each group advance to the Upper Bracket of the Main Event
- The bottom team in each group is eliminated
- The remaining teams advance to the Lower Bracket of the Main Event
- All eighteen teams are divided into two groups where they play in a Round Robin format
The International 2018
The International 2018 will take place August 15 through August 25. For the first time ever, The International will be held in Vancouver, Canada with a total of 18 teams competing. Currently, the prize pool is over a staggering $24 million.
