The International Main Event – Upper Bracket & Lower Bracket Round 2 Overview

After seeing the elimination of four teams yesterday, it was time for Round 2 of The International 11’s Main Event. Like yesterday, the event allowed us to watch series from the Upper Bracket and the Lower Bracket.

Although we didn’t have the chance to watch that many games, all of them were great, so let’s go through each match.

Upper Bracket

It was time for the second set of the Upper Bracket matches following yesterday's action. This time, we had a West European clash between OG and Team Tundra and a match between Liquid and Team Aster. Even though fans expected surprising results, the favorites won in both matches.

Tundra and OG

After securing a top 4 finish, it was time for OG’s young squad to go up on the big stage. The first challenge ahead of bzm and the rest was a team they were familiar with. Tundra Esports is from their region, and the two met countless times in the last year. Nevertheless, the stakes here were high and Tundra was the team that wanted to win more.

OG didn’t want to take any risks in the first game of the series and picked Ember Spirit and Morphling. The young team is notorious for using these two heroes, so they wanted to make sure they are comfortable while playing. Even though the team had a good laning stage, Tundra’s draft with Slark and Visage was more aggressive and took control of the match in the mid-game.

Tundra used their deadly draft and started pushing towers and forcing team fights early on. Of course, OG had to defend their base, but they were no match for TE’s pick. The decisive fight took place 16 minutes after the start, and OG managed to kill 4 heroes. This resulted in a free Roshan and it allowed the team to win the game.

Game 2

The loss definitely had an effect on OG, which is why the team stepped up its game on the second map. The ESL One Stockholm winners won the laning stage and started ganking their opponents to secure a lead. However, things didn’t go as planned because Tundra’s draft was very tanky and secured several counter-offensives. 

Despite the difficulties, OG did everything it could to control the match and even got a sneaky kill on Roshan after their opponents failed to stop them. Sadly, even this was not enough to stop Tundra from winning because the team slowly became too strong. OG’s PL was no match for Lifestealer and ES, which is why Tundra won the series.

After losing, OG was sent to the Lower Bracket.

Team Liquid vs Team Aster

The series between these two powerhouses was more anticipated than the other one because they had equal chances of winning. Having said that, the Chinese powerhouse was better, which is why it won the series.

Interestingly, Team Liquid had a very strong start in the series' first game. However, Aster bounced back in the match near the 20th-minute mark after securing several important fights. Suddenly, the Chinese were on the driving train.

Aster eventually secured one lane of rax and the team slowly started pushing to win. This was when Liquid’s Shadow Fiend decided to get a Divine Rapier. This item helped the European squad a little, but SF was no match to Sniper’s deadly right-clicks. As a result, Aster won the first map.

Game 2

Most fans didn’t expect the second game of the series to be as interesting as the first one. Fortunately for those watching, the two teams were neck and neck the entire game.

After the fairly equal laning stage, Liquid used their Ursa and gained a slight lead over their opponents. However, the Chinese didn’t let their opponents become too strong and made a comeback 29 minutes after the start. The team became unstoppable after a big fight and Aegis for Aster’s Terrorblade. 

The game lasted for a couple of minutes after that (until the second Aegis), but in the end, Aster won.

Lower Bracket

Following the 4 elimination in yesterday’s Lower Bracket matches, we only had the chance to watch 2 matches today. However, both were in a Bo3 format, which definitely made them more attractive.

Evil Geniuses vs beastcoast

The first series put together EG and beastcoast. The NA powerhouse was the best team in the Group, but it failed to defeat Thunder Awaken in the Upper Bracket. Consequently, the team had to fight to survive against another South American team.

The bad news for EG was that the team could not defeat its opponents, despite being the favorite. The team picked an incredibly greedy lineup with Brood, Sven, Ember, and Terrorblade, but it didn’t pay off. Slowly but steadily, beastcoast’s Slark became incredibly strong and ripped through EG’s lineup.

Game 2

With just one game away from elimination, EG wanted to do everything they could to win the second map. The team picked a better draft that allowed them to take more fights and counter their opponent’s Naga. However, beastcoast played flawlessly yet again and deserved to win.

Although the start was slow, bc’s Naga became the strongest hero in the match. BC had a 20k+ net worth lead 40 minutes after the start, despite EG having more kills. 

The most interesting fight took place exactly 40 minutes after the start. EG used everything they could to kill Naga twice, allowing Leshrac to rip through them like a knife through butter. Unsurprisingly, the disco pony annihilated EG’s draft, got Mega Creeps, and won the match.

This was one of the most painful losses in EG’s history because the team was the heavy favorite. Even though Cr1t and the rest won against Hokori in the group, the team lost the subsequent 2 series against the other two South American teams. Thunder Awaken defeated them in the Upper Bracket, and beastcoast finished the job by eliminating the team from the event.

PSG.LGD vs BOOM Esports

The second series in the lower bracket for the day was between PSG.LGD and BOOM Esports. The Chinese were among the big favorites, but the team couldn’t defeat Secret, which is why they ended up in the LB. On the other hand, BOOM Esports did a miracle in the Group and found their way into the main event. What’s more,m the team defeated the current TI champions, so it was more motivated than ever before.

Game 1

Even though BOOM’s draft looked good in the first game of the match, PSG.LGD was on another level and ripped through their opponents. The Chinese started dominating from the laning stage, during which the team secured several kills. While it is true that BOOM tried to slow the game's pace, their efforts were futile.

PSG.LGD accumulated more than a 7k net worth lead just 13 minutes after the start. Things worsened 10 minutes later when LGD’s lead increased to almost 20k. 

BOOM’s draft looked scary on paper, but the team had no chance of securing kills. In the end, PSG.LGD needed just 30 minutes to win. What is even more impressive is that BOOM only got 4 kills in the entire game.

Game 2

The second game was completely different than the first one because BOOM had a much better start. LGD tried securing kills, but they failed, and their ganks resulted in dying. The SEA powerhouse used this to their advantage and dominated in the mid-game.

However, a very bad fight for BOOM 21 minutes after the start resulted in a couple of deaths and gave LGD the Aegis. This was exactly what the team needed to win because it allowed them to win the next fight and secure a T2 tower.

BOOM Tried to make a comeback, but things kept getting worse. 33 minutes after the start, LGD won yet another fight, secured the top lane of the rax, and decided to start pushing the T4 towers. In the end, the Chinese won the match and eliminated their opponents from the event.