The review of the group stage of The International 2019

Despite The International 2019 is far from the end, teams have already shown themselves in the first stage of the event and some of them have even left the competition.

The teams, which have disappointed

NiP, Virtus.Pro, Team Liquid

The team NiP initially didn’t come to the tournament as the favorite, however, it consists of the strongest players who had risen cups for a number of times, so they had to make it to the lower bracket, at least. The team looked absolutely “toothless” and was not able to achieve a single victory at the tournament and PPD and the company can only boast of draws with Vici Gaming, Fnatic, and Infamous. In such a way, the roster has held the last place in its group and left the competition and PPD has already stated that he will consider offers from other organizations.

In its turn, Team Liquid made a replacement a couple of months ago and advanced to the grand final of EPICENTER Major 2019, so the roster was expected to perform pretty strong but it didn’t happen. The team earned six points in eight matches and managed to beat only obvious outsiders in the face of Keen Gaming and Chaos and also made a draw with Mineski and Alliance. You can probably think that the guys simply didn’t “reveal strategies”, however, The International is not the tournament where you can allow yourself stepping down to the lower bracket right after the group stage, so the roster is obviously in a bad shape.

And Virtus.Pro can be called the last team to disappoint, even despite their advancement to the upper bracket. The team lost a map to Royal Never GIve Up in the first gaming day and failed the second one. Now, the roster doesn’t look like the favorite to win, like it was before the start of the competition and we have only to hope that two coaches will help the team to prepare for PSG.LGD.

The teams, which have surprised

Natus Vincere, Infamous, Newbee, OG

The guys from Natus Vincere were showing a very unstable play during the whole season, so expectations were not the best ones but the team worked well at a bootcamp and managed to surprise. The roster was the second in its group during the first two days, however, two losses in the last gaming day moved them down to the lower bracket. SoNNeikO and the company realize their strategies well, however, the big problem is a small number of these strategies and the team had a bad play after the ban of signature heroes.

Infamous can be called the second team, which has surprised, because the guys from South America are considered to be the outsiders but they didn’t just play well but were one step away from getting to the upper bracket, having earned one point less than Virtus.Pro. In the group stage, the Peruvian team managed to win one map against such top teams like Evil Geniuses and Vici Gaming, so it will be very difficult for their opponents in the playoffs, especially considering the current shape of Keen Gaming.

The guys from Newbee crushed qualifiers in North America, however, they came to every rating championship as “a dark horse” and showed absolutely nothing. The situation is different at The International 2019 - CC&C and the company were off the hook and won one map against all favorites, the only team to resist Newbee’s pressure was Team Secret. Despite five draws, the roster managed to make it to the upper part of the bracket, so the guys will have one right to make a mistake.

And the last unexpected results was OG’s first place in its group. Ana and the company didn’t just know what is a loss but play using absolutely different strategies and unusual picks. For what it’s worth, Io on the first position by Ana and the support Invoker. The team defeated all participants without special problems and only NaVi and Vici Gaming managed to show something against the European mix.

The rest of the participants

The teams PSG.LGD, Team Secret, Evil Geniuses, and Vici Gaming made it to the upper bracket of the playoffs without special problems, Royal Never Give Up, Mineski, and Keen Gaming predictably advanced to its lower part. It’s worth to notice that this year, absolutely every team can beat everyone, which is represented by the results of the group stage where the difference between the third and the sixth place is only one point.