The International 11 Main Event Bracket Preview & Setting Expectations

The International 11 (TI11) moves onto the playoffs, also known as the Main Event. Sixteen teams competed for the limited Playoffs slots last week, and the top seeds got to pick their opponents in the upper bracket. This means we got some interesting matchups strategically chosen by the favorites, which believe they can beat their chosen opponent. Check our daily Ti11 predictions for more. Evil Geniuses picks Thunder Awaken as their opponent Talk about easy pickings, EG feels confident beatingmore

The International 11 Main Event Bracket Preview & Setting Expectations

The International 11 (TI11) moves onto the playoffs, also known as the Main Event. Sixteen teams competed for the limited Playoffs slots last week, and the top seeds got to pick their opponents in the upper bracket.

This means we got some interesting matchups strategically chosen by the favorites, which believe they can beat their chosen opponent. Check our daily Ti11 predictions for more.

Ti11 Bracket Main Stage

The International 11 Playoffs Bracket | Image source: Wykrhm Reddy

Evil Geniuses picks Thunder Awaken as their opponent

Talk about easy pickings, EG feels confident beating TA for their first Playoffs match. While EG has been phenomenal in their group, sweeping even Chinese powerhouse, PSG.LGD. It seems like facing another Chinese rival, Team Aster is not on their bucket list of things to accomplish at TI11.

The International 11 Group Stage Standings

The International 11 Group Stage Standings

What’s even more baffling is that Team Aster actually placed fourth place, worse than TA at third place finish. TA also proved themselves to be a team on par with most opponents, as they tie every series in Group B, including Team Spirit, Secret, Aster, Tundra Esports and their local brethren, beastcoast.

Perhaps it’s TA’s typical cheese picks, such as Nyx Assassin, Marci or Dawnbreaker, which made EG thinks that they are predictable enough to win against. Nyx being one of the most impactful roaming heroes in TI11 groups, make it a very tempting hero to pick/ban. And, let’s not forget how proficient Farith “Matthew” Puente was on the pesky assassin.

The Ti11 odds are obviously against TA in this match, but considering how EG can often be cocky, especially Abed “Abed” Yusop. TA might be able to capitalize on shutting down Abed’s movements.


Tundra Esports picks local wunderkind, OG

Taking on OG and their bandwagon of fans is certainly a bold move for most teams, but Tundra Esports. Their alternative is PSG.LGD, so they absolutely made the right decision to face OG instead.

While OG is not a run-in-the-mill team, they are certainly more susceptible to Tundra’s ability. Both teams are most likely frequent bootcamp participants, making this match more comfortable for both teams too.

One player on OG, which has been the center of attention is Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf. But, with the right countermeasures and bans, Twitch chat will likely be spamming ATM as the player feeds. Slardar should be a must-ban for Tundra, considering the power spike it offers when left unhindered in lane.

This will be a close series on both sides, so it wouldn’t be too surprising for any team to take the L.


Team Secret vs PSG.LGD

Thanks to Tundra’s selection, Secret gained the privilege of playing against TI11’s biggest favorite, LGD. While LGD had a sloppy start on Day 1 of TI11, they have since regained their momentum, expected from a team of such calibre. For Secret, that’s trouble and most likely an inevitable loss down to the lower bracket.

What’s even more thrilling is that the loser between Secret vs LGD will be facing Team Spirit in lower bracket. Team Spirit will have to beat BOOM Esports first for this challenging match-up to occur, but that’s not a difficult task for Spirit. BOOM barely qualified for TI11 Playoffs yesterday after defeating both Soniqs and BetBoom in a three-way tiebreaker.

While BOOM showcased a phenomenal shift in their performance when pushed to the brim of elimination, facing Team Spirit is still mission impossible. Nevertheless, Spirit is by no mean in their prime form, not in TI11 groups at least. We saw how Team Spirit got outplayed by their group opponents, especially in their execution. With every fan’s fantasy prediction at stake, let’s hope that Spirit doesn’t flop their first round of Main Event.


South American team galore at Ti11

Watching the South American Dota 2 scene grow to what they accomplished at TI11 is certainly inspiring. Regardless, even with three SA teams making it into TI11 Playoffs, we are looking at one SA team’s guaranteed elimination in just round 1 of lower bracket.

Hokori vs beastcoast is a reenactment of the DPC South American regional league, which will be a tough game to watch. The winner of this R1 Lower Bracket round will inevitably face either EG or TA, with the latter being the likely team to join the lower bracket. Hence, another SA team will end their TI11 journey.

On the grand scheme of things, having any SA team reach the third round of lower bracket is enough to reach the highest accomplishment any SA team got in TI Championship. Loser of this round will secure a commendable seventh place in TI11. The last time a SA team reached this milestone was Infamous at TI9, whose roster is playing under the new namesake, beastcoast.

Certainly not as fancy as winning TI11 or making it into top three finishes, but it’s still a celebration of SA region’s growth in Dota 2.


These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the TI11 Playoffs, as we have other matches which we did not cover. Fret not, as we will be covering TI11 Day 1 Playoffs Predictions in another article, so stay tuned.