Champions come and go and in a tournament where every team is as decorated as the next, only one can remain standing as the dust settles. Day 2 is a wrap and with it, some great Dota 2 action. 2 more teams have been eliminated from the lower bracket while the upper bracket remains the Chinese great wall with a lone CIS team on the prowl to round out the top 4. Let’s take a look at the remaining teams going into day 3 of The International 2017!
(Image courtesy of Wykrhm Reddy)
Chinese dominance is the name of the game for the upper bracket as Burning and the rest of iG square off against Sccc and Newbee while LFY will look to take the fight to Virtus Pro in the day 3 upper bracket matches. Day 2 started off with so much hype as the LFY look to continue their dominant ways against the Filipino favorites, TNC. The Filipinos stood tall and are riding into the tournament with a wave of momentum after performing well in the group stages but unfortunately lost steam against a Chinese team that looks dead set to take the championship this year. LFY smash TNC 2-0 but it has to be said that game 1 was one for the history books with plays like these…
https://www.facebook.com/theScoreesports/videos/2006388546314560/
Another heavy favorite prior to the tournament, Virtus Pro flexed and styled their way to a 2-0 victory over LGD and in doing so, preventing a sure entry into the grand finals for one very lucky Chinese team. With VP rounding out the upper bracket along with Newbee, iG, and LFY, expect day 3 to be a colossal battle between these 4 teams as they try to punch their ticket into the top 3 and a step closer to the grand prize pool of 10.5 Million Dollars!
(Image courtesy of Wykrhm Reddy)
We head into the lower brackets with a heavy heart because of the possibility of fan favorites leaving the tournament as early as day 2. Team Liquid was sent down to the lower bracket in a shocker of a series against iG and they look to climb back up the ladder at the expense of Team Secret. Puppey and the rest of Secret ran through Liquid in the first game but they rose to the occasion and forced a game 3. Flying high when GH plays well, game 3 was an absolute thriller as Liquid bounced back from an early deficit to catch Secret off guard with a heal push strat that was centered on the stellar play of GH as Keeper of the Light, arguably THE BEST KotL player in the world today. There is a reason teams ban KotL against Liquid and rightfully so, they move on to win win 2-1 and advance to the next round where they face the winner of Team Empire and Evil Geniuses.
(Image courtesy of Wykrhm Reddy)
Crowd favorites Evil Geniuses face Team Empire in this elimination match and if you had asked me a week ago who would win this match, I think everyone and their mother would say EG in a heartbeat but it goes to show that anything can happen in one week. Empire are on a high right now, with Resolution carrying the team in his broad shoulders and they were broad indeed as he crushed EG 2-0 using Sven as he cleaved the lines clean and easy. In both matches, EG were leading at some point but it almost felt like it was Empire was in control and only a matter of time until the Rogue Knight comes online to knock them off their feet. EG fought valiantly but in the end, they go down with questionable drafts and uninspired play and bow out of the tournament taking home 360.000 for their troubles.
(Image courtesy of Wykrhm Reddy)
Day 2 is a wrap and as the dust settles, only 10 teams remain standing. There was a handful of players entering The International 2017 with hopes of being the first player to hoist the Aegis up for the second time but now we only have Faith from iG and s4 from OG looking to keep the dream alive. As with every International, upsets abound and you may be the most dominant team coming into TI7 but those results mean nothing when you step on the main stage. Day 3 starts off with iG vs Newbee followed by Virtus Pro vs LFY, both highly awaited matches but the biggest match of them all may be in the lower bracket as OG face off against TNC. If you remember from last year, it was TNC that pulled off a miraculous upset against THE team to beat, OG, and while they did not proceed further into the brackets, that series in itself took the whole Dota world by storm. Day 3 closes with LGD taking on DC on which is supposed to be another thriller of a game.
Keep it locked here at Ungeek for more TI7 coverage and we leave you with a chilling video to keep the TNC dream alive as we head into day 3 of The International 2017!