From Open Qualifiers, to the SEA Qualifiers, to the Group Stages, to the Main Event
Image credit: Dota 2
If you’re not updated with the day’s events, feel free to scroll our Facebook page for our various edits from our coverage of the first day of The International 2017 main event.
Also here’re the brackets:
You’ll notice that both Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses have been sent to the lower bracket by Chinese teams (RIP your Compendium predictions, SumaiL fans). From the lower brackets, Cloud9 has been eliminated despite the collective prayer of a hundred diehard fans, along with Peru’s Infamous (BibleThump), and iG.Vitality.
For the Filipinos reading this however, the most important result is probably Execration‘s loss to Team Secret.
Long story short: Execration was crushed by Team Secret. They were simply not as good.
Longer story: Execration’s draft ended up being completely incapable of handling an MP Phantom Lancer. The team from Cavite decided to bet on Raging Potato’s mid Shadow Fiend, with a bit of oldschool Clockwerk synergy. Nando’s Lycan also seemed perfectly poised to counter MidOne’s Templar Assassin and her pesky Refraction stacks.
Then the Phantom Lancer came out and Execration opted to go for Silencer (probably to stutter Secret’s Witch Doctor and Batrider) instead of an Earthshaker or someone better suited to handle the dangerous hard carry.
On top of the weaker draft, Execration played worse. The team was visibly disoriented during clashes, hesitant like deer caught in the headlights of Puppey’s seven-TI experience. James (CartMan) in particular missed a few hookshots and made a terrible cogs play that everyone is probably still talking about. People are blaming him but you know what, if your first ever LAN event was the actual biggest Dota 2 tournament in history, you’d choke too.
Execration may have been kicked from the tournament (by their ASUS ROG Masters rivals no less) but they still go down as a 2-month-old team that fought their way up from the Open Qualifiers to make it to the main stage. That’s the definition of Well Played.
