This article is part of our Dota 2 series.
Now that The International 6 has been over for almost a week, the hype has died down and it's a good time to take a look at the results without getting caught up in the excitement of storylines. TI6 was filled to the brim with incredible upsets, and some truly spectacular performances from some teams no one expected to step up.
Surprises
The team that caught the most fans and analysts off guard wass certainly Digital Chaos. They went into TI fresh of the back of two disappointing LAN events, and had no real results to fall back on. Whatever they did in their pre-TI boot camp must have been the most effective preparation ever, because DC didn't waste any time once they got to Seattle. Most underdog stories start in the lower bracket, but not DC. They did incredibly well in their group, sending the likes of Team Liquid to the lower brackets and ruining almost everyone's predictions. After dropping to the lower brackets, DC dropped only two games before losing the finals to Wings. Although Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok has been leaving hints on his Twitter about a new team, DC will continue to be strong even if he does leave.
Fnatic weren't predicted to outright win the event, but they were supposed to at least perform well in their group. After bombing almost all of their matches, Fnatic found themselves in a best-of-one facing elimination. This in itself was already a surprise, with teams that people evaluated as weaker taking convincing wins from Fnatic. Once they found themselves on the main stage though, Fnatic started one of the most impressive lower bracket runs in TI history. Although they eventually met their match in DC, Fnatic's advance through the lower bracket is probably the most impressive turnaround during an event this year.
When TNC Gaming qualified for The International, the SEA community was already extremely proud of the team. Forums like Reddit and Team Liquid were filling with posts congratulating TNC, saying they didn't even need to make it far because qualifying was impressive enough. In the group stages, they beat Wings 2-0 to make things interesting, and were very close to advancing in the upper bracket instead of Alliance. The biggest story for TNC will certainly be their 2-0 win over OG in the lower brackets. Not only was this a monumental upset, beating one of the top teams in the world, but TNC did it convincingly in a best-of-three. In the week since the event concluded, there have been no rumors of roster changes within TNC, suggesting that the team will continue playing with the current five.
It seems strange to put Wings Gaming on this list. For most analysts and fans, Wings were a favorite to place at least top four at TI. However, their performance should still come as a surprise given their last place finish at Manila. What stood out most about Wings' TI run was just how dominant they looked. Over the course of the main event and grand final, Wings lost a total of TWO games. Both of these were to Digital Chaos, once in the first round and once in the grand final. It's worth noting too that in the first loss they picked Pudge and Techies, and in the second Pudge and position one Silencer. If we write off these games because of the picks, Wings didn't lose a single serious game at the main event.
In all these happy stories and upset victories, someone has to come out on the short end of the stick. There always has to be a loser, and when you're playing with the best 16 teams in the world, someone is bound to disappoint.
Disappointments
The most disappointing performance over the entire event goes to Team Liquid. This team was hailed as the kings of consistency, placing in at least the top four of almost every event they attended. When they finished their group with a 5-9 record, only ahead of Vici Gaming Reborn, things were starting to look rough. Even classically safe picks like Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen's Lycan didn't deliver for Liquid. After beating Na'Vi in an elimination best-of-one, Liquid found some of their old form, knocking out another favorite, Newbee, in 9th-12th place. Liquid's journey ended in the next round, when they found themselves against a rampaging Fnatic team intent on redeeming their pitiful group stage. Team Liquid finished in 7th-8th, tied with the open qualifier team TNC Gaming. Whether or not Team Liquid aims to make roster changes is not evident yet, but their apparent issues aren't tied to any one player.
Joining Team Liquid on the list of top teams underperforming is OG. With a win at both the Frankfurt and Manila Majors and good results leading up to TI, OG were favorites to take first place. They dominated their group, coming out in first place and winning 2-0 vs everyone except Wings, Evil Geniuses and LGD whom they tied 1-1 with. On the main stage, MVP Phoenix's "pick five melee heroes and run at them" strategy threw OG completely off their game, knocking them down into the lower brackets immediately. Once in the lower bracket, OG had the misfortune of getting in the way of TNC Gaming and Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho's Cinderella story. In a series that should have been 2-0 for OG, they instead lost 0-2 over two long games. Their 9th-12th place finish at TI 6 is OG's worst finish in a tournament to date, even counting their time as (monkey) Business.
Newbee is the third team along with OG and Team Liquid that had the weight of high expectations on them as the tournament began. Their results going into TI were very impressive, although they were beaten handily by Team Liquid at both The Manila Major and EPICENTER Moscow. They put up mixed results in the group stages, only securing 2-0 wins versus the clearly weaker and worse performing teams. On the main stage, they lost a 2-0 best-of-three series to Evil Geniuses, followed by another defeat at the hands of Team Liquid. Although it isn't much of a shock that Newbee lost to Liquid for the third time in a row, it is surprising how soon they were eliminated. This was the most disappointing performance from Newbee's current roster to date, and the future of the team looks uncertain.
Two other teams that deserve mention are Vici Gaming Reborn and LGD Gaming. Their appearances at TI were also very underwhelming, but this was largely due to visa issues. Hopefully both squads realize this and keep their rosters intact, but China has a history of shuffling up teams after a major event loss.
Vici lost Zhou "Yang" Haiyang, their off laner and arguably the best and most consistent member of the team. While their substitute and coach, Tong "Mikasa" Junjie, is a capable player, Vici showed a serious lack of team cohesion. During the group stages, they had Mikasa taking Yang's position in the off lane with their usual middle laner, Wang "Nono" Xin, in mid. The results spoke for themselves, and Vici ended up in last place. In their best of one elimination match versus TNC Gaming, Vici tried to put Mikasa in the middle lane and have Nono take up Yang's role, but this too failed for them.
LGD were in a similar situation, with Xue "September" Zhichuan unable to join his teammates in Seattle due to visa issues. They did the same thing as Vici, and had their coach stand in for their missing player. Although Wang "Banana" Jiao has an extremely impressive history as part of the TI4 winning Newbee squad, it has been years since his time as an active player. He didn't underperform at the event, but the hole left by September was too much for him to fill. It's truly a shame that Zhang "xiao8" Ning didn't get to pilot his whole squad this year, it would have made the tournament even more exciting to have another serious contender.
What's Next?
On Aug. 18 Valve released the timeline for roster changes before the next major. Players have until Sep. 4 to either leave their teams or be released by an administrator of the team. From the 4th to the 18th, players can join teams as a primary member. After invites to the major have been decided, any player that isn't participating in the major can be invited to a team as a substitute. This new substitute system opens up a lot of interesting possibilities for star players on tier two or three teams to attend a Valve major, as well as helping teams solve issues with player visa and travel. Following this announcement from Valve, it shouldn't be long before teams start going public with their roster changes.
