Invictus Gaming is among the first two to be eliminated following a bonus tie breaker series against Winstrike Team to wrap up the group stage.
Invictus Gaming surged early in the tournament. They split series with Mineski, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses which provided high hopes for the remainder of the group stages. However, these hopes would soon turn to despair.
On day three Invictus Gaming lost all six games they played. This would force the Chinese team to rely on OG to afford them the luxury of a tie breaker series. Fortunately, OG followed through for them and fate was once again in their own hands. The lackluster performance of the previous day appeared to wane on Invictus Gaming as their movements and decisions seemed disjointed compared to a coordinated WinStrike Team. After two games, their label as one of the first two departures was secured.
Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses finished the group stage with thirteen wins each. Because Team Liquid won both games in their series against Evil Geniuses, they were rewarded with the decision to play against the third or fourth place in group B. They’ve decided to play against OpTic Gaming. PSG.LGD and OG will join them in the upper bracket at the main event. The remaining members of group A will be relegated to survive a nerve-racking best of one in the first round of the lower bracket.
Group A:
Winstrike
Fnatic
PSG.LGD Gaming
Mineski
Evil Geniuses
VGJ.Thunder
Team Liquid
OG
Invictus Gaming
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 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
- 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 main event takes place from August 20 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.
