Fan-favorite Na’Vi and last year’s champions Newbee were both beaten in the very beginning of the lower bracket. Empire, Cloud9, Invictus Gaming, and Secret (among others) were weeded out soon after; and here we are today: the second to last day before The International 5 Grand Finals, and only five teams remain.
Today’s first match up puts LGD and Virtus Pro (VP) against one another in the lower bracket. The winner will go on to face Vici Gaming (VG), which has yet to lose a single match this tournament. With monster players like iceiceice, Hao, and Super, it’s easy to see why VG has been such a force this TI. They’ve yet to lose a match during the main event.
Today’s second match up is CDEC Gaming versus Evil Geniuses (EG) in the upper bracket. EG is the only North American team left in The International 5, and CDEC is an up-and-coming Chinese team that has only been on the tournament scene for less than a year. Both teams have done fantastically in separate tournaments in the past few months.
Today’s matches will determine who will move into tomorrow’s Grand Finals. Either CDEC or EG will move on into tomorrow; while it’s still a toss up between LGC, VP, or VG in the lower bracket to go against one of the upper bracket winners in the Finals tomorrow.
Whoever comes out on top during today’s matches, we’re guaranteed to see some good Dota both today and tomorrow. All of these teams have played amazingly, and now we’re down to a competition between CN, RU, and NA Dota. Which will come out on top in The International 5? We’ll just have to see.
