Dota 2 The International results: Team Secret wins critical series, Evil Geniuses move on to upper bracket final

If Tuesday was the “Day of Upsets,” Wednesday will be the “Day of Answers.” The teams that remain at The International Dota 2 Championships are a standard mix of the best teams left and surprising surges, but not the order we might have thought.

Team Secret will be fighting for their life after almost everyone picked them to win TI:5, while the Upper Bracket games are completely fascinating. CDEC has played surprisingly well, and nobody thought EHOME would be in this position. After today we should finally know who’s for real in The International.

Game 1 looked to be in Virtus Pro’s control. They harassed coL at every turn and stopped swindlemelonzz getting farm at mid. They built a seemingly insurmountable lead that was 12K gold and rising, but then the swings began. compLexity won two large team fights and wrestled back control, following another swing that put the game back in Virtus Pro’s hands. Play was fast, furious, sloppy and wildly entertaining with compLexity Gaming pulling one of the biggest comebacks of The International so far. It appeared that Virtus Throw had returned.

The second draft saw Virtus Pro select an early Silencer to play a hard carry role for them -- but in doing so they left over a Broodmother for compLexity. This was ultimately coL’s downfall as greed gave way to simply too much power from Dark Seer and Earthshaker, which killed the spiderling’s ability to push towers. The game was pushed long enough to see Silencer get big, and there was no way compLexity could turn it around.

Virtus Pro was in control from the first second of this game to the last. compLexity’s lineup shows a lack of awareness of what they were facing, instead trying to make their heroes work with uncharacteristically passive play. Everything was academic from here. A Virtus Pro trio of Broodmother, Phanton Lancer and Queen of Pain outmatched the coL combo of Storm and Ember Spirit. The score was 12-1 at 21 minutes in, the VP farm was out of control with a 10K gold lead and it was pure domination. Just when it seemed like compLexity to begin to turn the game there was a huge error from swindlemelonzz, who accidentally dropped his Eul’s Scepter and saw it destroyed in a gank attempt. It was a net gold loss of 2800 and an awful mistake.

Details for this game can be found in-depth here.

Nobody expected CDEC to make it this far, not even the most hardcore of Dota 2 fans. It’s not that they weren’t a talented team, obviously it takes skill to make it to The International -- but toppling China’s No.1 team? That was entirely off the cards.

Xz was the catalyst for the entire series. His stellar play on Dark Seer stuffed every advance LGD threw at CDEC. From there the pressure was on Agressif to push the tempo and secure the victory.

It was a stunning result and one that’s becoming all too familiar when CDEC plays. They are now guaranteed third place in TI:5 and unquestionably one of the favorites to win it all.

USA chants echoed through KeyArena. The crowd was firmly behind Evil Geniuses. The nation’s best hope at winning TI:5 found itself as favorites in a series against EHOME, one of two Chinese teams (along with CDEC Gaming) that are doing far more at The International than anyone predicted.

To borrow some football parlance: EHOME blitzed and sacked EG before they could even get settled. Both teams drafted well, but EHOME simply went on a tear with aggressive play from Storm Spirit and Luna. They were pushing for a 25 minute finish and they weren’t far off this goal, winning in 32 minutes.

IT HAPPENED! Game 2 saw Evil Geniuses wake up the crowd by picking Techies with their final pick. Aui has complained about the hero in the past, then he played it in a deciding game -- because why not? It garned astounding attention from fans who were cheering for much of the game. This was not a goofy pick. Techies changed the EHOME strat and the fear of his mines was enough to push EHOME out of their comfort zone. When paired with stellar play from SumaiL on Ember Spirit it was simply too much for EHOME to overcome. Because of Techies. Yes, Techies. The lovable goofy hero outfarmed Razor, had a higher net worth than Phantom Lancer ... it was dominant and beautiful. EG had leveled the series.

Evil Geniuses shook up their established TI:5 lineup in Game 3, putting SumaiL on Windranger mid-lane to counter a Storm Spirit mid. EHOME brought a fairly familiar lineup, leaning on a combo of Winter Wyvern and Phoenix to try and set up their high damage Winter’s Curse/ Supernova combo. This was much less effective than it was against Team Secret on Day 2. EG simply had too much mobility and too many ways to initiate.