Image: Team Falcons
Many expected Team Falcons to make short work of Team Zero, but the latter showed they were no pushovers.
If there was ever any doubt that The International 2024 (TI 2024) would produce exciting Dota 2 action, then those doubts were silenced as the first day of the Group Stage saw China's 
Team Zero force Western Europe's 
Team Falcons to a 1-1 draw in their opening two game Group Stage series in Group D.
Falcons were arguably the biggest favourites to claim this year's Aegis of Champions, having dominated the 2024 season so far by winning five of the eight tournaments they have competed in and finishing in the Top 3 of the three they didn't end up winning. Meanwhile, Zero were one of the more unexpected entrants to this year's TI. While they earned their spot in Copenhagen with an incredible run in the Chinese regional qualifier, their performances in other events were far from inspiring.
As such, almost everyone expected Falcons to start their TI 2024 campaign strong by easily sweeping Zero aside. However, the Chinese squad proved they were no pushovers as they forced the tournament favourites to a 1-1 draw.
Team Zero force 1-1 draw with Team Falcons
Game one started off like a typical Falcons game as they dominated the laning stage with a tri-core of a carry Nature's Prophet for Oliver “skiter” Lepko, Pangolier for Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak, and Doom for Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf. Falcons looked like they could easily snowball to a victory after they built up a net worth lead of almost 4,000 gold by the 20-minute mark.
However, Zero snatched the momentum away as they took down all of Falcon's cores after catching them unawares off a successful Roshan claim around the 23 minutes. With Falcons left reeling, Zero carry Yang “Erika” Shaohan on Shadow Fiend was left free to wreak havoc in the ensuing teamfights.
While skiter's Nature's Prophet was a menace during the Group Stage, the hero turned into a glorified range creep as Falcon's gold lead disappeared – especially with Huang “7e” Heming's mid Earth Spirit and Xiang “Beyond” Zhenghong's Centaur Warrunner providing constant area-of-effect lockdown while Erika dished out damage. Zero would go on to force the GG call from Falcons after 32 minutes of action, giving them their first win of TI 2024 at the expense of the tournament favourites.
Erika led the way for Zero in game one, racking up 12 kills and six assists on four deaths to pace his team's 25-17 kill lead. Remus “ponlo” Goh also pitched in with five kills and 14 assists on four deaths on his support Sniper.
Zero looked to secure the 2-0 sweep in game two with a minus armor strategy that featured Erika on Weaver, 7e on a mid Slardar, and Zhang “zzq” Zhiqiang on a surprise position 5 Bristleback. Despite their game one loss, Falcons didn't deviate from their usual drafts and rolled out with skiter on a carry Dragon Knight, Malr1ne on Puck, and Ammar on Doom once again.
Game two mirrored the previous one as it was Zero that took the momentum after the laning stage. However, Falcons outplayed their opponents in the midgame teamfights to take the lead, notably off the back of Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen's Lion repeatedly catching multiple Zero heroes with his hero's wide array of disables.
Despite Zero's best efforts to regain the lead, a determined Falcons squad went on to avenge their game one loss after 36 minutes of action. Falcons' core trio led the way as they salvaged their opening match to force a 1-1 draw. Malr1ne and Ammar each had nine kills while combining for 28 assists and three deaths while skiter had eight kills and 15 assists on five deaths.
While a 1-1 draw isn't the end of the world for Falcons by any means, it certainly also isn't the start you'd want if you're the biggest contender for the Aegis of Champions – especially if it's against a team like Zero that is widely considered a dark horse.
Falcons will look to improve on their mixed start against nouns in their second match of day one of the Group Stage. Meanwhile, Zero will be facing BetBoom Team in their other match of the day.
TI 2024 is this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament and features 16 of the best teams in the world fighting for their cut of the growing $2.36 million prize pool and the Aegis of Champions.
The event is being hosted from September 4 to 15 in Copenhagen, Denmark and is split into two distinct phases: the Group stage (September 4 to 5) and the Seeding Deciders (September 6 to 7). The first two rounds of the Playoffs (September 8 to 10) are branded as part of The Road to The International, while the remaining portion of the Playoffs for the remaining eight teams (September 13 to 15) are branded as The International itself.
For more of everything you need to know about TI 2024, check here.
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