The International 11 is down to eight teams

The International 11 is entering the last day of phase one of the main event. The last four matches will be played on October 29-30 but before we get there, four more matches will need to be played to determine the top four teams.

So far, the Western European teams have done even better than expected. No less than four of them are still in the race and two are guaranteed to finish in the top three. Team Secret and Tundra Esports have won their respective matches in the second round of the upper bracket, sending Thunder Awaken and Team Aster to the lower bracket.

Secret and Tundra will have almost an entire week to prepare for the upper bracket Final. This is the first time when the format of The International includes such a big break between the first four and the last two days of the main event.

The situation clearly favors Secret because Clement “Puppey” Ivanov is a formidable captain whose knowledge of Dota 2 is second to none. At 32, Puppey has seen every type of strategy used at the professional level and will probably manage to unlock the secrets of Tundra’s playstyle.

The eight remaining teams

The competitors that are still in the race are listed below:

• Team Secret
• Tundra Esports
• Beastcoast
• LGD
• OG
• Team Liquid
• Team Aster
• Thunder Awaken

In the upper bracket, the two remaining teams are close in skill but Secret are a little bit better.

In the lower bracket, Liquid are likely going to beat OG and PSG.LGD should defeat beastcoast. After that, PSG.LGD are expected to eliminate Aster, but Liquid will have a very tough match against Thunder Awaken. It wouldn’t shock anyone at this point if Thunder would finish the tournament in the top four.

The strongest team in the lower bracket, at least on paper, is probably PSG.LGD. The only reason why they’re here is that they encountered Team Secret in the first round of the upper bracket and lost against them.

It’s hard to blame PSG.LGD for losing against a competitor that looks fully capable of claiming the Aegis of Champions this year. And we shouldn’t underestimate them just because they had a slow start in the group stage. PSG.LGD are still one of the favorites and let’s not forget that on paper, they were everyone’s number one pick to win the trophy ahead of the event.

On October 23, PSG.LGD will need to win two matches to remain in the race. For the sake of the spectacle, let’s hope that they succeed.

Header: Valve Corporation