EG still on track! Can they make NA even prouder?

EG still on track! Can they make NA even prouder?
posted by Smyke,
Evil Geniuses is the pride of North America! They are one step closer to their second TI win. However, it won't get easier in the next round. Fly's old friend is waiting for them.

s4: "I just wanted to get it done"



Evil Geniuses did it! While the home crowd was cheering with the significant "EG, EG" and "U.S.A" chants, EG beat Team Secret in their first match in the Upper Bracket. Adding Gustav 's4' Magnusson and Tal 'Fly' Aizik to the roster was the perfect way for EG to reach the needed peak at TI. In a short interview the Swede seemed to be relieved after their first win in the Upper Bracket.




In game one, the North Americans were dominant from the beginning. Yeik Nai 'MidOne' Zheng on Morphling was able to contest EG's strength at first, but the late game was dominated by Ursa, Alchemist and Weaver on EG's side. On the other hand, game two was way closer.

Yazied 'YapzOr' Jaradat played his famous hero Rubick, but after two team fights EG got the advantage they needed to end the game - 'GG'.

OG better than ever at TI



However, the biggest upset team of this Upper Bracket is OG after their win against Forward Gaming. The Europeans were the top favourite at The International for the last two years. After all, they had won almost every Major at that time. After a weak season, Tal 'Fly' Aizik and Gustav 's4' Magnusson left to join EG.

Johan 'BigDaddyN0tail' Sundstein and Jesse 'JerAx' Vainikka were left alone with their coach Sebastien 'Ceb' Debs who was standing in after Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominok got removed from the squad.

They brought Anathan 'ana' Pham back and hired the talented Finnish midlaner Topias 'Topson' Taavitsainen. It seems to have been the right call for OG. They won the European Qualifier, placed fourth in the Group Stage and now they're in the top six.




OG seemed to be close to disbanding two months ago, but now they're better than ever - at least if you only count in TI results. The organization has never won a single Upper Bracket match before.

Against VGJ.Storm with their former team mate Reso, OG played without any fear. While they stuck to Chen, Winter Wyvern and Lina in both games, VGJ tried different things. The North Americans made way more mistakes than in the Group Stage which were abused perfectly by veterans like Johan 'BigDaddyN0tail' Sundstein.

Is Virtus.pro back on track?



Aside from the exciting Upper Bracket clashes, we had two more elimination matches going. At first OpTic Gaming had to play against Team Serenity. A lot of people were comparing the newcomer squad from China to the surprising TI6 winners of Wings Gaming, but Serenity wasn't able to keep up with these huge expectations: they lost 0-2 to OpTic Gaming and are out of the tournament. This means that only two Chinese teams are left in the competition: PSG.LGD and Vici Gaming.

In the second Lower Bracket series of the day, TI top favourite Virtus.pro had to play against Mineski. The excitement was huge. Fans were afraid that VP might struggle after their initial loss to PSG.LGD in the Upper Bracket. They wouldn't have been the first top favourite to disappoint at TI. However, Aleksey 'Solo' Berezin and his mates stayed calm and collected. They beat Mineski in two games.




This is the first The International where we didn't see a best-of-three series being fully played out after the first two days of the Main Stage. The only exception is The International 2011 which had only best-of-ones in the first few rounds.



Will we see closer series today? What will be your highlight for Day Three?



Use VIP code JOINDOTA to get up to $350 in bonuses: https://www.rivalry.gg/joindota



Photo credit: Twitter - @Dota2

Comments