Tuesday is group decision day at The International

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Group phase in Seattle is almost over. Only one best of two for all teams remains. These final matches will be played today!

Two days with 48 high-class Dota 2 matches each are left behind. Now all teams only have two more chances to improve their ranking in the group phase.

Remember: Top 4 of each group proceed to the upper bracket, bottom 4 to the lower bracket. This is the current scoreboard after 12 of 14 matches per team:

As we see, the three Chinese teams LGD, DK and iG already secured their spot in the upper bracket. This upper bracket is favorable not only because you'll have second chance if you lose, but also because the lower bracket will be best-of-one in the beginning. All teams would like to avoid that.

Absolute Legends, Moscow 5 and mousesports from group A, together with Darer and mTw from group B will go the lower bracket for sure. They have to use the remaining matches and the recreation time until Friday, to catch up to the other teams, or the playoffs will be a short adventure for them.

This leaves us with three teams from group A unsecure: Zenith, CLG and Team EG. Decisive will be the match between CLG and EG, starting at 18:00 CET. Zenith can avoid all uncertainties by grabbing at least one map against absolute Legends, also starting at 18:00 CET. Tiebreakers are possible for 3rd to 5th place.

Five way tie possible in group B

In group B, there are even five teams who do not know their bracket yet. compLexity has the best starting position, being one point up against EHOME, Na'Vi, Orange and TongFu. The outcome of this group is heavily dependent on the direct matches of EHOME against Orange and Na'Vi against TongFu.

All matches of group B are played at the same time, starting 20:00 CET. In case compLexity loses and the other two matches end in a draw, we will have a five-way-tie. We might see some more matches than just these 16 official group matches.

Who will break the Asian dominance?

With seven Asian teams still in the run for the upper bracket, Europe's and America's teams are struggling. Only CLG and Na'Vi hold their chances for Europe represented in the upper bracket. EG and compLexity, maybe a bit surprisingly, could just as well give the United States two teams in the upper bracket, if both teams shine today. For the locals in Seattle, this would be a pleasure.

09:00 PDT / 18:00 CET / 24:00 SGT

LGD