This article is part of our Dota 2 series.
The group stages at The International 6 will be played as a round robin, where each match is a best of two. Teams get two points for a 2-0 win and one for a 1-1 tie. The top four teams from each group advance to the upper brackets of the main event, while the bottom four will start from the lower brackets.
Group A
This appears to be the more difficult group, although only slightly. Any of the invited teams in group A are capable of pulling off an upset, but expect more stable and experienced teams like OG and Wings Gaming to secure at least two of the top four spots.
OG are fresh off of two extremely impressive first-place finishes in The Manila Major and ESL One Frankfurt. At Manila, they carved a swath through the upper bracket, dropping only a single game to Newbee before the grand finals. Even against Team Liquid in the grand finals, OG took a commanding 3-1 win. Their only major opponents in this group are Wings Gaming and Na'Vi, and OG beat Na'Vi 3-0 in the grand finals of ESL One Frankfurt. They did lose recently in the grand finals of The Summit 5 to Wings Gaming, but Wings didn't lose a single series throughout the entire Summit. OG are certain to start the main event in the upper bracket and be in contention for a top finish.
Alliance quite frankly doesn't look poised to do very well in their group. They have a much less impressive track record than their opponents, and recent performances don't show many signs of life. They finished third in the Global Grand Masters, an online tournament, getting eliminated by Vega Squadron. The fact that Vega isn't even competing in The International but were able to take a clean 2-0 against Alliance is extremely worrying. Thankfully for Alliance, the format ensures that everyone advances, but Alliance are going to have a difficult road starting in the lower bracket.
Wings Gaming have taken the professional Dota scene by storm. Their insane and unpredictable drafting has given them a massive edge tournament after tournament. An impressive second-place finish at Nanyang Season 2 and a win at The Summit 5 have shown an incredibly versatile and deadly hero pool for this young Chinese squad. What other team is willing to pick Ogre Magi or Keeper of the Light in their first two picks? Any team that goes into the draft thinking they have Wings figured out is destined to lose. Beating Wings requires teamwork and skill at the game, as well as being able to handle their crazy drafts. Wings are a sure bet to advance in the upper bracket, and potentially even take the whole event.
Na'Vi is back! All jokes aside, Na'Vi have been showing some extremely impressive Dota over the past few months leading up to The International. With a threat in each lane and probably the best support in the CiS scene, Na'Vi have evolved from a living meme into a top contender. They recently secured an impressive win at StarLadder iLeague Season 2, dominating Team Secret in the grand finals 3-1. Na'Vi have shown willingness to both experiment and stick to the meta heroes. They can win long games with Shadow Demon and Terrorblade, or send Dendi middle on Magnus and run a crazy teamfight composition. Despite their last showing at a Valve event ending in a last-place finish, Na'Vi should find themselves moving forward in the upper brackets.
Evil Geniuses have fallen so far from the limelight since their win last year at The International 5 that it is almost impressive that they managed to qualify. A last-minute roster change that brought Saahil "Universe" Arora and Ludwig "zai" Wahlberg back into the team forced them to play in the open qualifiers, which they dominated. Playing against third-tier American teams is no real preparation for a competition like The International. EG recently played in the StarLadder iLeague Season 2 finals, getting eliminated by ex-Virtus.Pro minus Artsiom "fng" Barshack. Although they did give up a loss by picking Oracle middle for Syed "SumaiL" Sumail, EG didn't look like a world-class team at StarLadder. Their roster is incredibly stacked, with a top-five player in every position, but teamwork is what wins games. EG's fate going into the main event is uncertain, and they could find themselves on either end of the split. Regardless of how they place in groups, don't expect EG to drop out early even if they start in the lower bracket.
LGD Gaming haven't participated in many tournaments since The Manila Major, where they got fourth place. They finished third at Nanyang Season 2, getting badly beaten by Newbee, who would go on to win the tournament. They did manage to get a very impressive first place in the Dota 2 Professional League, an online Chinese tournament. They beat out the likes of Newbee and Wings Gaming to secure that win, a convincing message going into The International 6. Unfortunately for LGD, their position-four support Xue "September" Zhichuan was unable to secure his visa. Without one of their strongest players, LGD's fate at The International is up in the air.
TNC Gaming come into this tournament with more to prove than any other team. With seasoned veteran Jimmy "Demon" Ho captaining the team, TNC have someone with the experience and drive to take them deep into the tournament. In an interview with Red Bull eSports, Demon said that if he hadn't qualified for The International he would have retired. TNC haven't really done much outside of the Southeast Asian region, but they have had a long reputation as an upset team there. Although I do expect TNC to find themselves in the lower half of the group, a lower bracket start won't be enough to send them packing early.
Although Escape Gaming did get thoroughly beaten by EHOME, they proved that they definitely deserved the 16th spot at The International 6. Although their results prior to the International aren't particularly impressive, Escape was able to eliminate both compLexity and Execration from the big tournament. Going into Group A will be very difficult for Escape, and no opponent can really be considered easy. Although they can celebrate tonight, it will be a serious challenge for Escape to make it into the top four in their group.
Group B
Ever since the addition of Damien "kpii" Chok and Hu "kaka" Liangzhi in March, Newbee have been almost unstoppable. Their results in 2016 after kpii and kaka joined are extremely impressive. First place at Nanyang Season 2 over Wings Gaming, third at The Manila Major and second at EPICENTER Moscow. In both events they didn't win, Newbee were eliminated by another world-class team: Team Liquid. Newbee is certain to finish in the top half of group B, and more than likely to be one of the final four teams battling for first place.
Team Secret have had a very rocky road just getting to The International. They swapped players during The Manila Major after they were eliminated, forcing them to compete in the open qualifiers. They qualified with no issues, but a team like Secret shouldn't have issues against third-tier European teams. Where Secret struggles is in games against top teams. They had an easy road to the grand finals of Starladder iLeague Season 2, facing F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Digital Chaos before Na'Vi in the winner's finals. Although they whooped Na'Vi 2-0, Na'Vi came back from the lower bracket to thrash Secret in the grand finals. Expect Secret to struggle in their group, although they should be able to get a few easy wins against Digital Chaos and Vici Gaming Reborn.
Vici Gaming Reborn is a very good team when they get to play as their actual five-man roster, but this hasn't been the case for some time now. At The International, they will be missing their position-three offlane player Zhou "Yang" Haiyang. Yang is regarded by many, myself included, as the best player on Vici at the moment. Regardless of the rest of his team, Yang will almost always have a good game. Although their coach and substitute Tong "Mikasa" Junjie is a more-than-capable replacement, Vici will still be unable to operate at maximum capacity.
MVP Phoenix is a team that consistently delivers when it comes to LAN performances. Even as the only good team in Korea, they still manage to find massive success at international events. Their top-eight finish at The International 5 took the Dota community by surprise, but MVP have shown since then that it wasn't a fluke. Fourth place at Shanghai and fifth-sixth at Manila are both impressive results. MVP can take a series from any team at this event. Their insane aggression and teamwork are enough to snatch a win from even the likes of Newbee and Team Liquid. Expect MVP to finish in the top half of group B and make another impressive run towards first place.
Digital Chaos come into their group as the clear weak link. Although they don't have the same stacked top half like group A, Digital Chaos are still going to be hard pressed to make it out in the top half of this group. They have actually lost convincingly to almost every team in their group. Vici Gaming Reborn eliminated them from The Manila Major, Team Liquid eliminated them from The Summit 5 and Fnatic eliminated them from StarLadder iLeague Season 2. They also lost to Team Secret at Starladder.
Fnatic have look the shakiest of any group B team. Their moments of brilliance are often eclipsed by foolish things like picking Invoker for Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung or not letting Adam "343" Shah draft for the team. Their recent results are a string of mediocre finishes, but within events Fnatic have proven that they can beat anyone. For Fnatic to finish on the top half of their group, they need to have a plan going into the event and, most importantly, stick to it. When Fnatic loses, it's typically because they do something silly like put Mushi on support or give Nai Zheng "MidOne" Yeik a hero that can't carry. If they play to their strengths, Fnatic should be able to start the main event in the upper bracket.
Team Liquid, along with Newbee, are the clear favorites for group B. Their results in the past year have been incredibly consistent. Second place at The Shanghai Major, ESL One Manila and The Manila Major have proven that Liquid has no problem going deep in a tournament. Their win over Newbee at EPICENTER proved that they had what it takes to make the leap from second to first place. A win at The International 6 would be Liquid's first Valve-sponsored event win, and a major step forward for what is already an all-star team. Expect Liquid to finish first or second in their group and advance through the upper brackets.
EHOME looked rough in their wildcard series against Execration. They lost Game 1, and both Game 2 and 3 were extremely close and long matches. They seemed to get their issues in check for the next series against Escape Gaming, wiping the floor with them in two convincing wins. Of all the teams in the wildcard, EHOME were by far the most likely to make it through. It was surprising that they didn't make it to the group stages immediately, and any team that views them as a free win is in for a very unpleasant surprise. EHOME advancing to Group B adds another extremely capable team to the group, and another serious contender for a top four finish.
This article was edited to include the two wild card teams, Escape Gaming and EHOME
