TI9 started off with a bang, with insane upsets and action-packed moments throughout the day. If you weren’t able to watch all 40 games today, then don’t worry because we got you covered. This article will give you a quick recap of everything that happened at The International 9’s first day of the group stage.

The Tournament Format

For the next 3 days, the TI9 group stage will take place, where every team will play a BO2 against every other team in their group to determine their seeding. At the conclusion of the group stage, the lowest placing team of each group will lose their chance to compete in the main event. The main event (20th to 25th of August) will be split into 2 parts, the upper bracket, and lower bracket. The seeds of the brackets are determined by the group stage, where the top 4 teams in each group will progress through the upper bracket, and bottom 4 battle it out in lowers.

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TI9 Group A

Group A had a very one-sided narrative throughout the day, with the majority of the matches ending in clean 2-0 finishes. Team Secret are the favorites coming into the tournament, and their results remain true to that fact. Secret have not dropped a single game today, and are riding a huge wave of momentum. At the bottom of the barrel, Chaos Esports Club are lagging behind with only a single win to their name for the entire day. They are very much the underdogs of the event, and can potentially turn things around, however, this is not a great start for the European dark horse.

Team Liquid are known to have slow starts to tournaments, and TI9 is no exception. Team Liquid were considered strong contenders for the Aegis this year, but their first day performances were lackluster. Dropping 2 games to Team secret is understandable, but going ahead and losing a bo2 to Newbee should give liquid a rude awakening. On the other hand, TNC Predator have had outstanding performances today, coming out of day 1 with a top 3 standing. They were able to take a game off PSG.LGD, who are strong contenders themselves. It seems that TNC’s addition of their new coach, Heen, has proven to be a every effective roster swap for them.

TI9 Group B

Group B was a little less one sided but was home to many more upsets. Team VG were able to solidify their position as a number 1 contender this TI, securing a top 1 standing in their groups today. They have had extremely dominant showings, not dropping a single game. At the other side of the table, team NiP lost their one and only series today against Team VP. Although, day 2 will give us a more accurate picture of how group B will shape up, NiP will look to not take this result too badly, since they have not had their chance to shine yet.

Evil Geniuses was my team predicted to win the whole thing, but have had and incredibly weak start to the tournament. They kicked off their TI9 run with a 2-0 loss to Na’Vi and a 1-1 draw against Fnatic securing their mediocre 6th place in their group. EG traditionally have weak starts, so this is not a first for the boys in blue, but if they are setting their sights on the upper bracket, then they ought to get through their slump sooner than later. Na’Vi however, blew everyone’s minds since they had some of the weakest DPC seasons of the entire tournament, yet were able to position themselves for the upper bracket. Apart from drawing with EG, they also drew reigning champions OG esports. No one saw that coming from Na’Vi, but this TI will hopefully give them a chance to solidify themselves as one of 2019’s greatest teams.

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Day 2

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Tomorrow, we are all gonna have so much more dota to look forward to. Group B will get a little more time under the spotlight, and give some of the lower placing teams a chance at redemption. One match I’m truly looking forward to is EG vs OG, since both these organizations histories are very intertwined. Apart from this, fans will have the chance to watch their favorite teams play against some heavy hitters. Some other notable games are VP vs VG, Liquid vs LGD, and Alliance vs TNC. For more detailed information on the day 2 schedule, click here.

And that just about wraps up the first day of The International’s TI9 Group Stage. Full vods to all the games can be found on the Official Dota 2 YouTube Channel, as well as their Twitch. Make sure to check back with us tomorrow to get your TI fix, as we’ll be covering the event from start to finish.