Day three of the International 2018 saw EG and Liquid tie for pole position. While the two are guaranteed spots in the upper bracket, the other two remain hotly contested between four teams in the middle of the pack.
Day three of the group stage opened in relatively easy fashion for frontrunners Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid. The boys in blue stomped Winstrike 2-0 in just under an hour, with Liquid doing the same to Mineski and Winstrike a litte later on. Fnatic stumbled against OG, but managed to draw the series off the back of Abed 'Abed' Yusop's infamous Meepo in game two. Chinese squads, Invictus Gaming and VGJ.Thunder faced off in what was turning out to be an absolute slugfest of a series with a lengthy first game, but some timely bashes from Roshan in game two left a sour taste in iG's mouths, and the squad fell 2-0 to their fellow countrymen.
Perhaps motivated by their losses against EG the day before, PSG.LGD Gaming took two games from Fnatic, as Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao and crew could not seem to put things together, the Chinese squad capitalizing on Fnatic's continual mistakes and poor itemization. Fnatic ended the day with only two wins, drawing two series against Winstrike and OG. With their win over Fnatic, PSG.LGD swap positions with them, and now sit in the third slot of the upper bracket. Recovering from their stomping by Liquid, Mineski managed to draw with VGJ.Thunder and they ended the day with the single win. Meanwhile, OG managed to swing back from near destruction in their two games against iG, the second on the back of Jesse "JerAx"Â Vainikka's Winter Wyvern and Anathan 'ana-' Pham's Phantom Lancer.
The last few series of the day saw the champions face off as EG and Liquid butted heads. Liquid edged out EG in the first game due to some clean execution, and in the second showed truly why they held the Aegis the year previous. The two now sit tied in first with one day remaining in the group stage. No doubt riding some momentum from their series against iG, OG likewise edged out VGJ.Thunder, with game two going their way in just 17 minutes! OG now sit in the fourth slot of the upper bracket for group A, alongside PSG.LGD in third.Â
While EG's and Liquid's positions remain uncontested, the last two upper bracket slots are now in heated contention as due to today's results, PSG.LGD, OG, Fnatic, and VGJ.Thunder have the potential to claim the positions--although Fnatic and VGJ.T will have their work cut out for them, as the they face off against EG and Liquid, respectively, tomorrow.Â
The final day of the group stage begins tomorrow at 18:00 CEST with a number of Group B series starting things off.
Group A:
Winstrike
Fnatic
PSG.LGD Gaming
Mineski
Evil Geniuses
VGJ.Thunder
Team Liquid
OG
Invictus Gaming
The International 2018 Format:
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- 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 two-game series
- 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
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The International 2018
The International 2018 takes place from August 15 through August 25. For the first time ever, The International has been held in Vancouver, Canada with a total of 18 teams competing. Currently, the prize pool is over a staggering $24 million.Â
