The second day of TI9 main event witnessed the fall of giants Virtus. pro and TNC Predator.
Watching a dream slip away in front of your eyes is devastating. At TI9 eliminations are bittersweet as one team's shattered dreams become another team's hope moving forward. The second day of the TI9 main event finished out sending two more teams home.
Virtus.pro vs RNG
Through the 2018-2019 season, Virtus Pro dominated the ranks once again. This year, the CIS powerhouse finished in second place with a staggering 13500 points. Once again, they were one of the utter favorites heading into TI but as the lore goes, the TI curse was just waiting in the shadows to strike them down again. Even trekking across the world to China for TI9, things were no different for Virtus.pro and they were unable to escape their fate.
After an incredibly lackluster showing in the group stage, VP squeaked into the upper brackets in the witching hour and let out a sigh of relief for avoiding the merciless best-of-one lower bracket rounds.
In front of the home crowd PSG.LGD dismantled Virtus.pro in a clean 2:0 sweep sending them to the lower brackets early.
It was here, that they faced another Chinese team, RNG.
VP struggled early against RNG and by 28 minutes in the Chinese team had a 10k gold lead, furthering their lead with a good team fight and high ground push. The move forced VP buybacks and within two more minutes, RNG had claimed the first victory.
The second game was no better for the polar-turned-panda bears. The first half of the game was relatively even with RNG once again taking the edge and hitting the high ground only 26 minutes in. A terrible team fight for VP at their base was a disaster and they called 'GG' at 32 minutes.
It was a clean sweep for RNG based on strength and strategy that VP couldn't answer. On VP's end the fights were messy and uncoordinated, their gameplay looked unconventionally sloppy, ending their season with a subpar performance and a disappointing 9-12th place finish.
Team Liquid vs TNC
Another giant found themselves in the lower brackets early on after a bumpy and troublesome group stage. Team Liquid managed to survive the brutal one-game elimination round, overpowering Fnatic when they needed to. Next up they had to face their second SEA test of the main event with their three-game series against TNC Predator and their former coach Lee "Heen" Seung Gon.
TNC had been put to the test by ViCi Gaming in a full three-game series just yesterday but came up short in the end, dropping to the lower brackets.
As the two teams locked horns for the first game, it was TNC that was slightly leading in the early game and everything looked to be going in their favor. A bad fight at Roshan just over 20 minutes in went wrong and it wasn't long after that the TI7 champions were able to take the game in their favor.
In game 2 TNC took control in the laning phase but once again, as the game progressed and a bad team fight, TNC lost their grip on things and Team Liquid made no hesitation to seize control and the lead. Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi just became unstoppable as his Anti-Mage snowballed and TNC had no chance to turn things around.
Team Liquid looked rough in the group stage but here in the main event they looked like they were back in prime form and ready to take on the world.
TI9 Main Event
Main Event dates - August 20th - August 25th, 2019
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Sixteen teams play in a double-elimination format over six days.
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Eight teams begin in the Upper Bracket, eight in the Lower Bracket.
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First Lower Bracket round is Bo1, Grand Finals are Bo5, all other rounds are Bo3.
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Schedule:
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Main Event - Day 2 (UB Quarter Finals, LB Round 2): August 21st
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Main Event - Day 3 (UB Semifinals, LB Round 2): August 22nd
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Main Event - Day 4 (LB Round 3 & 4, All-Star Match): August 23rd
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Main Event - Day 5 (UB Finals, LB Round 4 & 5): August 24th
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Main Event - Day 6 (LB Finals, Grand Finals): August 25th
TI9 Streams
English:
Twitch: Main Channel | Stream #2 | Stream #3 | Stream #4 | Stream #5
MultiTwitch: Streams 2+3+4+5
Russian:
Twitch: Main Channel | Stream #2 | Stream #3 | Stream #4 | Stream #5
MultiTwitch: Streams 2+3+4+5
Chinese:
Twitch: Main Channel | Stream #2 | Stream #3 | Stream #4 | Stream #5
MultiTwitch: Streams 2+3+4+5
Other Streams:
Pod #1 | Pod #2 | Main Hall | Workshop
Other Languages:
Korean | Spanish | Filipino | French
The International 9
Valve will bring the biggest Dota 2 event of the year to the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. All 18 teams are confirmed to attend - Team Secret, Virtus Pro, Evil Geniuses, ViCi Gaming, Fnatic, PSG.LGD, Team Liquid, NiP, OG, Keen Gaming, TNC Predator, Alliance, Mineski, Na'Vi, Infamous, RNG, Chaos and Newbee. The prize pool has exceeded $25 million and that of TI8 (more than $23 million added by crowdfunding) and is now over $32 million.
