Image courtesy of paiN Gaming
The Brazillian squad ended their run at The International after a disappointing run on the concluding day of the group stages, while the rest of the teams were seeded into the upper and lower brackets as they head to the Main Event.
The last day of the group stages of The International 2018 presented fans with the most thrilling and nail-biting Dota out of all. With elimination on the line, each team was fighting for survival in arguably the more competetive groups of the two. Not a single series was a tie, a strong indicator of the desperation and prowess of teams in the last stand before the playoffs. The shining star at the end of the day was OpTic Gaming, who started at the very bottom of the group after Day 3 and ended all the way into the upper bracket after a miraculous run. They defeated paiN Gaming in a clean 2:0 sweep in their first match of the day. The Brazilian squad, unfortunately, were at their lowest point in the group stages and went on to lose their next series against Team Serenity as well. Ultimately, no other team dropped too low to force an elimination tiebreaker, and they had to make an early exit from the tournament.
OpTic went on to defeat ViCi Gaming in their next series as well. The Chinese squad did the impossible in their first series and demolished Virtus.pro, the unstoppable force of the DPC, something no other team has been able to do so far. The CIS monsters did manage the unpredictable, and cleaned out VGJ.Storm, the uncontested leaders of Group B, in an exciting 2:0 series. VGJ.S had defeated Team Serenity in their series prior to this, maintaining their position as the top seed of the group going into the main event.
In another unpredictable series of events, Newbee managed to overpower Team Secret, arguably the better team this season. Secret did manage to get some crucial points by conquering TNC Predator in their first series. Due to this result, and OpTic's unprecedented run from the bottom of the pile, a three-way tie between the teams was forced.
The three-way tiebreaker between OpTic, Newbee and Secret would be a Bo1 between each team, where the loser of two rounds would be forced into the lower bracket. The first match was won by OpTic in merciless fashion, thanks to Neta "33" Shapira's legendary Broodmother. Unfortunately, Newbee's troubles would not end there, as they had to suffer the wrath of another 'cheese' hero at the hand of Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard's Meepo in their next series against Secret. Newbee were ahead by a small margin when they made the mistake of pushing into Secret's high ground.
With a score of only 19:19 in a 42 minute game, each team was playing with extreme caution and calculating their every move before committing to a fight. Ultimately, Secret pushed into Dire's high ground where they absolutely shellacked the Chinese squad, killing each of their heros twice leaving them with no buybacks. It would prove to be the last battle in the war to secure an upper bracket spot which OpTic and Secret deservedly took, as the third tiebreaker match was declared moot.
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
- Tiebreakers
- If there is a tie along the Upper and Lower Bracket or Lower Bracket and elimination divider, an additional set of games will be played.
- For other ties (in order of importance):
- Head to head result between the tied teams
- Results against lower seeded teams (from directly below till last place)
- If a tie can be broken along the way, the process is restarted (back to head-to-head result)
- Coin toss
- Main Event - August 20th - August 25th, 2018
- Sixteen teams in a double-elimination bracket.
- Upper Bracket
- Top four teams in each group of Group Stage start in the Upper Bracket.
- The 1st place in each group of Group Stage picks their opponent from either the 3rd or 4th placed team in the opposite group.
- The 2nd place in each group plays the team that was not picked by the 1st place.
- All Upper Bracket games are Bo3
- For the first round, the higher seeded team has Selection Priority in games 1 and 3
- In all other rounds, the first game Selection Priority is decided by coin toss and alternates for the second game. Another coin toss decides Selection Priority in case of a game 3.
- Lower Bracket
- 5th-8th placed teams in each group of Group Stage start in the Lower Bracket.
- The 5th place in each group of Group Stage picks their opponent from either the 7th or 8th placed team in the opposite group.
- The 6th place in each group plays the team that was not picked by the 5th place.
- First round is played in a Bo1 then all matches are played in a Bo3.
- The higher seeded team has Selection Priority for the first round Bo1 game
- In all other rounds, the first game Selection Priority is decided by coin toss and alternates for the second game. Another coin toss decides Selection Priority in case of a game 3.
- Grand Finals
- Grand Finals is played in a Bo5 with no game advantage.
The International 2018
The International 2018 playoffs will take place starting August 20th. For the first time ever, The International is being held in Vancouver, Canada with a total of 18 teams competing. Currently, the prize pool is over a staggering $24 million.
