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The International 2019 has concluded the group stage after 4 days. The results are predictable in most parts. However, the rise of Infamous and Newbee, the downfall of Team Liquid and NiP was totally unexpected.
OG and LGD – The blue-chip
The two grand finalists made it out of the group stage with a bang.
PSG.LGD
The #1 Chinese team asserted their dominance throughout the group stage with their disciplined play style. They topped the group A with 5 wins and 3 ties. More importantly, LGD won against the heavy seeds of the group, Team Liquid, and Team Secret 2-0 in a convincing fashion. They only let 1 game slip against the all fired up Alliance, Newbee, and TNC Predator.
OG esports
On the contrary, OG displayed a whole new face with a loose playstyle. Their draft is unlike any other team in the world. In the 2nd day of the group stage, OG introduced the IO in the hand of Anathan “ana” Pham as a core hero. In 2 games against NiP, OG lost the laning stage but pulled off an unimaginable comeback in both games.
According to the coach, Titouan “Sockshka” Merloz, OG never trained the hero IO as a core. The position 1 player – ana – just wanted to play IO and then boom, the rest is history. NiP may be a less established team they say, but OG pulled off the IO core against Virtus.pro on the 3rd day, winning handily in just 22 mins.
Even more interesting, OG drafted the Earth Spirit as midlaner for Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen. And yes, OG won it again, 2-0. In this year’s TI, hardly anyone can recognize Topson anymore. He started out low in The International 2018 and now he is among the best mid laners. He often did the hard part of winning mid lane and created the space for OG.
OG concluded the group stage with 6 wins and 2 ties, looking so strong to defend the throne this year.
Solid on top
Team Secret, Vici Gaming, Evil Geniuses, and Virtus.pro displayed a good performance in the group stage. They remained on top of the competition.
Team Secret
Team Secret kicked off on the right foot, being invincible on the first two days with 4 victories. However, the red-hot favorite of The International 2019 faced great opposition from the rising SEA candidates TNC Predator and Mineski.
They ended the group stage with a score of 4-3-1, losing only to PSG.LGD to come second. With Invoker support in the hand of Yapzor, would Puppey have any unplayed card to show in the play-offs?
Vici Gaming
In The International 2019, Vici Gaming was the favorite on the first day just like Team Secret. However, They displayed their weaknesses against the loose playstyle teams like Infamous and OG. The #2 Chinese team still showed a disciplined play style and let nothing slipped too out of hand. With 4-3-1 like Team Secret, Vici Gaming sits comfortably #2 in Group B.
Evil Geniuses and Virtus.pro
The heavy favorites in Group B ended up with disappointing results on the first days. However, they quickly made a comeback and earned enough points to stay on the upper bracket.
An interesting situation saw EG’s Arteezy getting a rampage off a 1v5 situation.
The dark horses – rising stars
Newbee, TNC Predator, and Infamous were the names. Newbee and TNC Predator exceeded everyone’s expectations to book a slot in the upper bracket. Meanwhile, Infamous was red-hot while taking 1 map off top teams.
Newbee
While no one expected much from the North American squad, they actually pulled off a decent score with 2 victories over Chaos Esports Club and Team Liquid. Losing only to Team Secret, Newbee managed to tie out the score with the rest, earning the precious 5 more points to book an upper bracket ticket.
TNC Predators
Miracle- in Team Liquid should be having a TI6 flashback when losing 0-2 against TNC. TNC only lost to Mineski, won against Keen Gaming and tied out with the rest. The SEA candidate has improved a lot since the addition of their ex-Liquid coach, Heen.
Infamous
The South American squad has made headlines with their loose playstyle unlike any other. After the first disappointing days, no one expected Infamous to win any game at all.
However, a miracle happened and they tied out the score against the likes of EG and Vici Gaming. Infamous earned enough point to advance to the main event. For the first TI entry team like Infamous, taking 1 map off the top Dota 2 teams is a great achievement.
The bottom crawlers
No one expected these team to have lost so much, yet they failed more than enough. Team Liquid looked shaky and out of shape. Chaos Esports Club and Ninjas in Pyjamas have booked their ticket to the airport so early.
The decline of The International 2017 Champions
Team Liquid earlier decided to kick MATUMBAMAN right before the EPICENTER Major. They stuck together for so long yet decided to part ways. Coming to The International 2019, both Team Liquid and Chaos Esports Club played badly.
Chaos Esports Club with MATUMBAMAN could not win a single series against any team. They only tied out with 3 teams. Meanwhile, Team Liquid barely made it with just 2 wins and even lost versus the likes of Newbee and TNC Predator.
Ninjas fell apart
Ninjas in Pyjamas had the same scoreline as Chaos Esports Club, win zero and lost 5 games. After the disappointing results, the team's captain, ppd immediately made a questionable Tweet, implying some drastic changes over the horizon
The International group stage concluded with some surprise. The $33+ million tournament surely took the toll on the players. Maybe they could not perform their best under overwhelming pressure. The International 2019 Main Event is yet to continue in 2 days. Stay tuned for more updates on the biggest Esports event.