The main event of The International 2019 is underway at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai, China from August 20th-25th 2019.

The first day of the main event saw us part ways with 4 teams already.

After an exciting day one, day two just got even better with nail-biting and intense match-ups especially the lower bracket matches. Here is a short recap for you guys!

The International 2019 Day 2 Schedule. @dota2ti — Two more teams get eliminated today. It's gonna be an intense but exciting day. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/whK6C5I5Zc — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) August 20, 2019

OG VS Newbee

Newbee were clearly the underdogs going into this matchup. Newbee is a Chinese organization consisting of NA players. But these NA players are no strangers to TI or the competitive pro scene. Well, on the other hand TI8 winners had a clear mindset and knew exactly what they wanted to do which was clearly portrayed in this series. OG clean sweep Newbee 2-0 in this best of three series.

Game 1 – OG again with the core IO pick completely destroyed Newbee. The core IO pick is something that the teams are still struggling to counter. OG with the IO carry and mid Bristlebackjust completely outdrafted and outplayed Newbee. OG were so confident in what they did and it clearly showed when this happened, take a look!

It's super warm here outside in China so @TopsonDota just wanted to chill at the fountain #TI9 #DreamOG pic.twitter.com/3QUUFeDO08 — OG @ #TI9 ?? (@OGesports) August 21, 2019

Game 2 – OG drafted their most comfortable picks going into TI with a clear mindset to clean sweep and close out the series 2-0 and they just did that. Topson on MK and ana’s Juggernaut gameplay, Ceb with the Magnus RP just destroyed Newbee, CCNC tried to carry his team but just couldn’t do it alone. It seemed like OG did their homework and read Newbee like a book everytime, abusing the long cool down on ultimates, OG took small pick-offs over the map and eventually unlocked high ground.

This Wukong's Command looks so beautiful ?

(Topson is in Sayan mode again by the way)#TI9 #DreamOG pic.twitter.com/sW6l3jNxDF — OG @ #TI9 ?? (@OGesports) August 21, 2019

With this win, OG secures a top 6 finish only to face EG in the upper bracket semi-finals! FLY VS NOTAIL #HYPE! Meanwhile, Team Newbee fall down to the lower bracket and has one more chance to keep their dream alive.

Defending Champions OG are Top 6 at The International 2019. Congratulations.



Newbee will continue their TI journey from the Lower Bracket. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/KhN0NQ13dg — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) August 21, 2019

OG handily dispatches Newbee in their Quarterfinal match. Newbee gets sent to the Lower Bracket to fight for their tournament lives. A hungry Infamous Gaming squad awaits. OG advances to the Semifinal, where they await the victors of Secret vs EG. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/3JmdKStxJ1 — The International (@dota2ti) August 21, 2019

EG vs Secret

Both the teams here are fan favourites, but with the recent Dota Pro Circuit performance, the dota 2 community favoured Team Secret to win this match up. Instead, EG with beautiful individual performance and draft shock Team Secret and knock them down to the lower bracket with a 2-1 finish in this best of three series. Just want to point out insane performance by EG’s offlane player s4 in all three games!

Game 1 –This game was purely s4’s show. S4 on the CentaurWarunner just outplayed Secret with a lot of two to three-man stomps allowing Sumail and RTZ to capitalize on his stuns. EG had a clear mindset to focus Midone and shut him down on the midlane which clearly worked wonders for them. Also, a colossal mistake committed by Nisha getting caught out at the bottom lane, allowed EG to capitalize on this mistake and close out Game 1. Here is a short clip from Game 1!

That's one!



We head to the Danger Zone and take down @TeamSecret in Game 1. Great performances from everyone on the team secures a lead against one of the best teams at #TI9.



Draft #2 is up soon! pic.twitter.com/RI4deajaNY — Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) August 21, 2019

Game 2 – Hands down the most intense and perfect wombo combo execution by Team Secret! In the early to mid-game, it seemed like EG had this one in the bag with flawless display of Tidehunter gameplay by S4, always getting two-three heroes in his Ravage. EG again focused down Midone on his QuasWex Invoker shutting him down and harnessing his scalability but it was just not enough to close this game. Puppy had a Wombo Combo under his sleeves, Team Secret with good co-ordination and wombo combo just destroyed Evil Geniuses! Here is a beautiful clip of perfect execution of the Wombo-Combo! With this Team Secret equalize the series 1-1.

THE COMEBACK!!!!! ? ?



Let's send our boys some energy for the decider game!! ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ#SecretFighting #TI9 pic.twitter.com/J9FQX0CLYz — Team Secret (@teamsecret) August 21, 2019

Game 3 – Decider game, EG the comeback masters. In the early to mid-game, Team Secret had an insane amount of lead over EG. With, s4 doing poorly in the lane and Nisha capitalizing on it by free farming, it seemed like Nisha would easily carry Team Secret to victory. Dota plus win probability predicted 90%+ on Team Secret but EG pull out an insane comeback in this game 3. EG focused down Zai in team fights taking out the SK from the team fights enabled them to move freely and focus down other heroes. After completing, BKB’s on their cores EG seemed unstoppable. Sumail on one of his signature heroes just completely stomped Team Secret. S4 doing great on his Enchantress in the mid to late game, EG were able to make a comeback and close out this series 2-1.

We end a MONUMENTAL series against @teamsecret by coming back in Game 3 with a win.



We secure Top 6 at #TI9, and move on to face @OGesports in the next round. pic.twitter.com/Jo8cyOVnxc — Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) August 21, 2019

With this win EG secure a top 6 finish at The International and will face-off against OG in the upper bracket semi-finals. Team Secret drop to the already stacked lower bracket and will continue their run there.

Evil Geniuses are Top 6 at The International 2019. Team Secret will drop down to the already stacked Lower Bracket. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/8Hhyi36Hzc — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) August 21, 2019

Shortly after the EG-Secret game, the winners of the DOTA 2 Short Film Contest were announced.

The winner took home a prize of 25,000$.

Winning Entry:

Virtus.Pro vs Royal Never Give Up

Done with the upper bracket matches for the day, we now move on the to the lower bracket.

The first match of the Lower Bracket Round 2 saw Virtus.Pro take on home team Royal Never Give Up. Before the event, Virtus.Pro were considered one of the favourites to win TI, based off their 2nd place in the DPC season.

Despite their average results in the group stage, VP was expected to beat RNG in the best of 3 matchups.

Game 1:

Although RNG had an alchemist, VP had kept him in check, wont the laning stage handily.

They were on course for a victory, but a bad fight at a bad location , turned the tides for RNG, No-one died twice in quick succession without buyback and VP had to tap out of game 1.

Game 2:

Game Two followed a similar script as game 1, with VP doing well in the early laning stage, but running out of steam as soon as RNG players bought Black King Bars and hit their timings. Theomni knight pick by RNG completely negated all the damage done by the Virtus.Pro heroes. Gradually VP fell behind after a lot of lost fights, and RNG took the win.

The result was completely unexpected and took everyone by shock.

With this loss, Virtus.Pro have been eliminated from The International 2019 in the 9th-12th place.

Virtus Pro have been eliminated from The International 2019. A powerful DPC season but once again falling short on the grand stage. RNG secure Top 8. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/fpk3iEG2Ns — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) August 21, 2019

Game 2:

Game Two followed a similar script as game 1, with VP doing well in the early laning stage, but running out of steam as soon as RNG players bought Black King Bars and hit their timings. Theomni knight pick by RNG completely negated all the damage done by the Virtus.Pro heroes. Gradually VP fell behind after a lot of lost fights, and RNG took the win.

The result was completely unexpected and took everyone by shock.

With this loss, Virtus.Pro have been eliminated from The International 2019 in the 9th-12th place.

Virtus Pro have been eliminated from The International 2019. A powerful DPC season but once again falling short on the grand stage. RNG secure Top 8. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/fpk3iEG2Ns — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) August 21, 2019

RNG move to the next round of the lower bracket where they face the winner of TNC vs Team Liquid.

With a convincing 2-0 upset over Virtus Pro, Royal Never Give Up move on in the Lower Bracket to Round 3, where they will await the winner of TNC Predator vs Team Liquid. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/r580aNdR1U — The International (@dota2ti) August 21, 2019

Despite being one of the top teams in the world for 3 years now, The International glory evades them.

The players were crestfallen, because they knew they had tried their best in the past 3 years.

In the post-game interview, NoOne even hinted at roster changes. This is sad news, considering that the core of this VP roster has been together for more than 3.5 years.

Virtus Pro fall 2-0 to Royal Never Give Up, ending their tournament hopes in shocking fashion. Now they can only watch as others continue the fight. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/3ue2mihXEE — The International (@dota2ti) August 21, 2019

Sorry. — Roman Kushnarev (@ramzesdoto) August 21, 2019

TNC Predator vs Team Liquid

The last game of the day saw TNC Predator take on TI7 winners Team Liquid.

We are back on the #TI9 stage, face to face with TNC again, but this time the result will be different!



Catch the draft live now: https://t.co/3kKIiUhwNc#LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/PQkoKzZI1c — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 21, 2019

TNC beat Team Liquid 2-0 in the group stages in an absolutely dominating fashion.

Keeping that in mind, TNC were considered to repeat the task again today, but it is never wise to underestimate Liquid.

Game 1:

Both teams had an evenly balanced draft, but Liquid hit their item timings faster. The game was progressing at a slow pace, with both team farming, but TNC building up a net worth lead.

Then a moment came, when Liquid got their Black King Bars , and decided it was go time.

A bad fight at roshan led to host of buybacks from TNC’s side and they couldn’t recover from that.

TNC did not itemise well to deal with all the physical damage coming in from Liquid’s side with the Templar Assassin and Troll Warlord. Even though Gabbi from TNC was playing the Wraith King, Liquid got through his 2 lives quickly.

Thus, Liquid took a 1-0 lead in the best of 3 series.

We can't get a good start as Team Liquid takes game 1. We will fight for tournament life after a short break.#StrongerTogether#SummonYourStrength pic.twitter.com/NYkWZR4DfU — TNC Predator ?? @ #TI9 ?? (@TNCPredator) August 21, 2019

Game 2:

After that exciting game 1, TNC Predator were 1 game away from elimination, so they picked Gabbi’s signature position 1 Bristleback, but Liquid had a surprise for TNC with their last pick Anti Mage, played by Miracle-.

The TNC Line-up was on a timer, and had to end the game before the Anti Mage farmed and got all his items.

But TNC was unable to do so , and given their lack of disables, they were not able to deal with the split push by Liquid and eventually the Anti Mage spiralled out of control and Team Liquid over ran TNC.

"Miracle's reign continues, they cannot do anything about the Anti-Mage."



The lower bracket run continues! Still a long way to go, but the ball is rolling #LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/4xAWJS2aLn — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 21, 2019

Our TI9 run ends now as Liquid takes the series 2-0. Congratulations to them and good luck to the remaining teams.#StrongerTogether#SummonYourStrength pic.twitter.com/rXjUDedM94 — TNC Predator ?? @ #TI9 ?? (@TNCPredator) August 21, 2019

With this loss, TNC Predator are eliminated from TI9 in the 9th-12th position.

The end of the road for TNC Predator. Team Liquid are Top 8 at The International 2019. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/pKCMyA0fj5 — Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) August 21, 2019

While TNC run at Ti9 end, Liquid proceeds to face RNG in the lower bracket Round 3 tomorrow.

Team Liquid finish their Lower Bracket series against TNC Predator with a 2-0 win, putting a decisive end to TNC's hope for the Aegis of Champions. Liquid continues their push through the Lower Bracket as they meet Royal Never Give Up in Round 3. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/bv4HqZ61Jf — The International (@dota2ti) August 21, 2019

Just like the VP players, TNC’s players were crestfallen after their loss, and Armel was very emotional in the post-game interview, even apologising to their fans and supporters for their bad performance today.

After tumbling from the Upper Bracket into Lower, TNC Predator never quite gained a foothold in their pursuit of the Aegis of Champions. Day 2 concludes with their hopes dashed as they exit the tournament. #TI9 pic.twitter.com/OIqomRd5c9 — The International (@dota2ti) August 21, 2019

Again, thank you and thanks be to God!#StrongerTogether#SummonYourStrength — TNC Predator ?? @ #TI9 ?? (@TNCPredator) August 21, 2019

With this, we end our recap of today’s games:

Tomorrow, we will get to witness 2 upper bracket semi-finals, and 2 lower bracket round 3 elimination games. Along with the games, the winner of the ARCANA vote will be revealed tomorrow.

The action resumes tomorrow at 7:30 AM IST.

For highlights or replays, one can visit the respective twitch channels and check out the past broadcasts.

All games are also uploaded to the DOTA 2 official YouTube channel.

Do not forget to update your fantasy teams for tomorrow. You can do that either in the game or at https://www.dota2.com/fantasy.

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