After few days of epic games, the group stage is finally over and now the Main Event is on the way. There were a lot of back and forth and many surprises but in the end the placing in the group is as people expected it to be.

Group A

Arguably the more interesting out of the two, group A had a lot of back and forth action, especially in the lower part of the group. Invictus Gaming for example, started the very strong in their group, managing to secure 4 wins in their first 5 games. Shortly after that it all went downhill and the team finished last in the group.

The same goes for Winstrike but due to their direct clash, they will be going forward to the lower bracket of the event. Mineski, VGJ.Thunder and Fnatic are the other three teams which will be joining them as well. Fnatic also started very, very well with their incredible 39-1 win against TL but sadly they could not continue their tempo and ended up just below the 4th place in the group, leaving them in the Lower Bracket.

The “big names” in this group performed as expected. Team Liquid, EG and PSG.LGD had little to no competition during the games, while OG managed to rise from the ashes and secured themselves the final 4th place which leads them to the Upper Bracket. EG is the only team that is “surprisingly” playing outstanding right now, considering the fact that they did not have a very good Pro Circuit. However, in the end, they have managed to overcome their issues and now are one of the main contenders for the title.

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Group B

Beside the first two places, the second group was indeed way more interesting to watch in terms of the final placement, because nearly all of the teams were neck and neck. The team that got eliminated is paiN gaming, which was kinda expected, because they were the underdogs. They had some nice games but in the end were just unable to keep up with the rest.

Vici Gaming, Serenity, TNC and Newbee are the other four teams that will be going to the Lower bracket.

Sadly, Vici gaming were unable to show their full potential yet again. As we’ve said many times, they are one of those teams that can just explode at some point and stomp the competition but in other games they are just a mere shadow of themselves.

Another big surprise is that VP actually did not finish first like many people expected. This honor goes to VGJ.Storm, which have been absolutely outstanding in their matches. They’ve shown the signs of a champion even in the last events of the Pro Circuit but now they look even better and are becomming one of the biggest contender for the event. However, due to misinformation regarding the rules surronding coaches, they will be penalized in their first round of the Main Event against OG.

Today we learned that VGJ.Storm had used two coaches during their group stage drafts. When we asked VGJ.Storm, they said that they asked a PGL employee if they could have more in the draft, and he told them that he doesn’t care as long as they left at the end of the draft. (1/4) — DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) August 18, 2018

Team Secret and OpTic gaming are the other two teams that will be going to the Upper Bracket. TS performed very bad in the beginning of the event but as people say, everything is good when it ends good. We can only wish them luck as their are one of the most interesting team to watch.

Main event

The main event is just around the corner, comming in on August 20th. There are many interesting games that will keep us watching the event and placing our bets yet again. This is where our predictions come in. If you are not sure which team is performing that good right now or you just need extra motivation to make up your mind, do not hesitate to check them out!

Make sure to follow the results and the predictions for TI 8 HERE.