HOLY SMOKES! 20 MILLION DOLLARS! (Image courtesy of Wykrhm Reddy)
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time of the year where Dota 2 fans from all across the globe put everything on hold and turn their eyes to the biggest tournament in Dota 2 AND in e-sports to date, The International! In its 6th iteration, Seattle and Key Arena will play host once again to the biggest gathering of Dota 2 personalities and players, with each team from different parts of the world batting it out for pride and prestige and A LOT OF CASH!!! Every year since the International first began, the cumulative prize pool has been increasing at an astronomical rate and this year, the record has been set at a total prize pool of 20 million dollars, that’s around 900 million pesos total for a gaming tournament! Now who says playing video games has never resulted in anything good?
For the past week, the participating teams have been playing matches to determine their place in the main event brackets and as we all know, no one wants to start out the tournament coming from the first round of the lower bracket as this means that they are thrust right into a best of 1 match that will determine the rest of their tournament lives. Let’s take a look below at how the main event bracket looks like after the recently concluded group stage matches and analyze some of the intriguing matchups for day 1:
TI6 Match Bracket (Image courtesy of Wykrhm Reddy)
Immediately we see a shocking matchup from the lower brackets because as early as day 1, fan favorites Na’Vi and Team Liquid battle it out to see who advances into the next round. One of these teams gets eliminated right away and it is sad to see how this will turn out as both teams, especially the boys in yellow, have been playing exceptional Dota 2 as of late. Long time legends of the Dota scene Dendi and Kuroky will trade blows in what will surely be an epic matchup and I am expecting a secret strategy from one of these teams!
Filipino team TNC will face off against Vici Gaming Reborn from the lower brackets as well. Mineski failed to secure a spot in the tournament but TNC will do their best to keep the Filipino dream alive. Bolstered by the well known personality Demon, TNC will look to strike fast and strike hard, taking the fight to FY and VGR in what will be one of the matches to look out for.
Team Secret fans have been disappointed once again as Puppey and his crew will have a long journey ahead of them if they look to claim the Aegis. Secret has not fared well since they booted out w33 and Misery from their team but if there’s anyone who can carry a team all the way to the finals, count on Puppey to once again show the world why he is considered one of the best captains in Dota history.
Ehome is in an interesting position here as they started their journey from the wildcard groups and have been utterly dominating the group stages. The Chinese legends have certainly found the perfect time to play excellent Dota and it will be interesting to see how far their stellar play will take them.
The defending champions Evil Geniuses have reunited with Zai and Universe and have since then regained their championship form. Fighting from the upper brackets will surely give them a good shot at defending their crown but are facing a heavy favorite in Newbee off the bat.
There are several interesting storylines to look into for TI6 and if you are an owner of a battle pass, don’t forget to lock in your predictions for the brackets! We’ve got our predictions set and we’re taking OG to win it all this year. We’re certainly looking forward to another El Clasico matchup as Na’Vi and Alliance may battle it out in the succeeding days. I would have wanted to see DC and Secret fight it out but unfortunately I feel that Secret are out of sorts and have never really gotten their act together ever since they won the Shanghai Major. TNC and MVP look to be another fantastic matchup that we may bear witness to in the days to come.
How are your predictions looking so far? Who do you think will win TI6 and claim the grand prize of nearly 9 million dollars? Let us know in the comments if you agree or disagree with our brackets!
Editor’s Note: The article was created way ahead of the first few games and we thought, in the spirit of theory-crafting and prediction creation, we’d retain the article as it is.