If, like us, you’ve purchased the
2019 Battle Pass, then you would have had access to The International 2019 bracket predictions. Well, the group stages are over and the upper and lower bracket games are underway. Let’s see how our Compendium predictions are shaping up.
Spoiler Alert. Those of you who do not want to know the results of some of the games should look away now. Why not read one of our other articles instead, then come back when you’re all caught up. It’s okay – we’ll understand.
Regular readers may remember that I made some fairly bold assertions about this year’s winning team. You may also remember that I staked quite a lot on our predicted team winning the entire event. It was nothing short of my entire career as a journalist.
What was I thinking?
The team I touted as the tournament winner was Team Secret.
Image of my terrible bracket predictions courtesy of Valve
Well, looking at our International 2019 Bracket Predictions it looks like I might be looking for a new job before long…
Let’s start at the beginning and work our way through.
The best-of-one games in the lower bracket can be brutal. One mistake can spell the end of a pro team’s time at TI for another year.
This year was no different, and the lower bracket claimed some big names right off the bat.
Image courtesy of Valve
In perhaps the tournament’s biggest shock so far (with the exception of Anathan “ana” Pham’s core IO crushing literally everything), RNG pulled out a huge upset with a win over Alliance.
As former TI winners themselves, many people expected Alliance to go a lot further into the competition. But this was not to be. After a misclick in the drafting phase that resulted in Alliance picking Gyrocopter instead of banning him, Royal Never Give Up eliminated them in a best-of-one game. This fluffed my draft predictions up almost immediately.
Liquid finding themselves in the lower bracket was a surprise in and of itself. However, everyone expected them to escape the dreaded opening round of games. Thankfully, they did. Our bracket has them reaching the Lower Bracket Finals but losing to PSG.LGD after Secret beat them in the Upper Bracket Finals. We’ll have more on why that can’t happen now shortly.
The final shock in the lower bracket, which once again threw my International 2019 bracket predictions out of the window, was Na’Vi losing to Mineski. Na’Vi has a young team at this tournament and the future promises big things for them. However, we had hoped they could beat out relative newcomers Mineski. Alas, ‘twas not to be.
‘Yes’, I thought as I gazed upon the first round of Upper Bracket games. ‘I am a prophet of Dota 2 predictions. Mere mortals will gaze upon the majesty of my bracket and despair.’
The first two games went exactly as I had expected. PSG progressed against Virtus.pro and VG beat out TNC. So far so good.
All was looking well in the third Upper Bracket game as well. OG showed the same level of dominance they displaced in the Group Stages and shut Newbee’s newly formed team down 2 – 0.
Image courtesy of Evil Geniuses
Then came Game 4…
This one promised to be hotly contested. Both Evil Geniuses and Team Secret have incredible talent. Both teams have the potential to win this tournament but, as I’ve mentioned, there was quite a lot riding on Secret taking the win here.
Well, they didn’t.
It was an epic best-of-three series, but Secret’s draft in game three let them down. They went for an invis-heavy draft with Slark, Sand King, Weaver and Mirana. This gave them loads of hitting power but not much survivability in a sustained team fight. This was ultimately their downfall, as EG swept them aside in just over 41 minutes.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why my International 2019 bracket predictions are in disarray. Secret still has what it takes to fight through the Lower Bracket, but in doing so they are going to keep displacing teams that I had in the slots instead of them, further screwing my bracket up.
In short: thanks a bunch, Secret.
So, all-in-all, a mixed bag of results so far. Right now, I’m sitting on six correct predictions, which equals 2000 extra points for the Battle Pass. This is lovely, but with Secret dropping into the Lower Bracket, the potential points gain has been dramatically reduced.
There is still potential for a Secret, PSG final, but on their current form, you really cannot count OG out. This tournament is still very much up in the air.
Your predictions must be looking better than ours, right? Why not share your successes (or failures) with us in the comments below?
Featured image courtesy of Valve and YouTube channel AFK Gaming.
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