PSG.LGD and OG have continued their dominance at The International 8 and are now one step away from the Grand Finals as they advance into the upper bracket finals.
The pinnacle of all Dota 2 events is inching along towards its conclusion. Already the top eight teams have been decided and upper bracket final teams have emerged. As the pressure intensifies the stakes just get higher. OG and PSG.LGD are now in the top three and have the advantage of taking the high road to their dream so far —but only one will be able to continue on that path.
Team Liquid and PSG.LGD went head to head in what was expected to be matchup of seismic proportions. To the surprise of many, it ended up being heavily one-sided and PSG.LGD were able to seize their place in the upper bracket finals with a clean and tidy 2:0 sweep over the TI7 champions. In the first match the Leshrac and Gyrocopter ended up overpowering Team Liquid's Phantom Lancer and Necrophos draft. In the second game, PSG.LGD absolutely shellacked Liquid with flawless performances by Lu "Somnus?M" Yao on Bloodseeker with a 16:0:11 score and Wang "Ame" Chunyu on Phantom Lancer with 7:0:10 record in just over 30 minutes.
PSG.LGD continue their TI8 journey in the upper brackets while Team Liquid will once again need to fight their way to the Grand Finals from the lower brackets.
Perhaps the most hyped matchup of the event —aside from the Grand Finals was the clash between OG and Evil Geniuses. The first match of the series started out very evenly contested with the game able to swing in either direction until about 20 minutes in. OG were able to seize the lead, and although they almost lost it shortly later, they were able to maintain a firm grip on it to barrel through to the end to claim the first victory thanks to their incredible coordination.
The second match looked to be all but in the bag for the European squad —until it wasn't. About 20 minutes in, OG went down mid to EG's barracks before all of their items were online. They paid a heavy price for such a bold move —about 8k gold, the advantage and ultimately the game. The play gave EG an opening and the momentum and the North American took control and the match to tie up the series and force a deciding third game. A stellar performance by EG that started strong and aggressive gave them the advantage early on thanks to such a dominant showing by Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan.
OG wasn't about to let that ruffle their feathers and stood their ground as they forced a 20k gold swing in their favor to bring the game back to even 40 minutes in. That wasn't enough for the Europeans though, and they continued to build up their strength and momentum and went forward to destroy Evil Geniuses. And with that, OG secured their place in the upper bracket finals and sent EG to the lower brackets to fight for another chance.
The International 8 action resumes on August 23rd at 19:00 CEST with the elimination series between OpTic Gaming and Virtus.pro.
The International 2018 Format:
- Main Event - August 20th - August 25th, 2018
- Sixteen teams play in a double-elimination format over six days
- Eight teams begin in the Upper Bracket, eight in the Lower Bracket
- First Lower Bracket round is Bo1, Grand Finals are Bo5, all others rounds are Bo3
- Sixteen teams play in a double-elimination format over six days
The International 2018
The main event is set to begin on August 20 and scheduled to run 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 a staggering $25 million with a few days left in the main event.
