The Action Kicks Off: The International 2019 Group Stage Day 1 Recap
The most anticipated Dota 2 event of the year finally kicked off yesterday in Shanghai, China. The first round of matches may have started behind schedule due to unforeseen circumstances, it did little to dampen the excitement of millions of fans around the globe. Day 1’s schedule featured a total of 20 best of 2 games divided into 4 batches. 4 best of 2 matches were played and streamed simultaneously throughout the day. Couldn’t keep up with all the action? Here’s a recap of what you may have missed yesterday:
Secret Start Strong
Team Secret’s opening series was more evenly matched than many would expect but they showed a glimpse of why they’re arguably the strongest contenders for the Aegis this year when they pulled off a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Alliance. They followed it up with more comfortable 2-0 wins against Newbee and Team Liquid, putting them in the driver’s seat as the top team in Group A. So far so good for Puppey and co.
Early Upsets
Teams don’t always play the way you expect them to at The International and some of the matches we saw yesterday were prime examples with Team Liquid surprisingly falling 2-0 against Newbee in their opening series. The ex-Forward Gaming roster was relentless against the European giants, recording 39 kills to Liquid’s 15 in both games. A few hours later, Fnatic beat Evil Geniuses 2-0 in their midday Group B clash that saw 19-year-old Filipino midlaner Abed record a rampage in their second match.
TNC’s Story So Far
After a resounding sweep of Keen Gaming in their opening series, TNC Predator stumbled with a 2-0 loss to SEA rivals Mineski. They later faced TI8 runners-up PSG.LGD and dominated the first match 41-10. LGD, however, managed to take the second game to tie the series 1-1. TNC are 3rd in Group A at the end the Day 1 of the group stages with 3 wins and 3 losses. They will be facing off against Alliance and Newbee later today in the second day of the group stages.
The International 2019 takes place on August 15-26, 2019. Catch all the action on Twitch and Youtube and stay tuned to Esports by Inquirer.net for more coverage on The International 2019!
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