This article is part of our Dota 2 Recap series.
The second and final day of the Kiev Major's Swiss-style group stages began Tuesday in Kiev, Ukraine with teams jostling for seeding heading into bracket play. After a full day of grueling competition, neither OG nor Invictus Gaming were among the two teams standing above the rest. Though the two DAC finalists entered the Kiev Major as the favorites, it was Team Secret and Virtus.pro who secured the top two seeds in the main event bracket.
Though both teams finished the day 3-0, only one team finished without dropping a single game. The day began with Virtus.pro putting an end to TNC Pro Team's surprise perfect record and claiming its spot in the bracket for the main event. Getting some respite, as the top two group finishers did not have to participate in the fourth round of the group stage, Virtus Pro were free to celebrate its victory and carry player Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev's 18th birthday. Meanwhile, Team Secret shocked everyone by knocking off Invictus Gaming in a 2-0 sweep to secure the number one seed.
Three teams finished the group stage with a 3-1 record: Invictus Gaming, OG and TNC Pro Team. After admitting it overlooked Team Secret in its embarrassing loss, Invictus Gaming managed to regain its form by besting Evil Geniuses in a narrow 2-1 victory. OG, beginning to inspire doubt from the analysts, finished out strong against a tough slate of opponents by besting Thunderbirds 2-1. TNC Pro Team was able to bounce back after a crushing defeat at the hands of Virtus Pro and finish the group stage in the top five. Down early in its round four matchup against Digital Chaos, TNC won back-to-back games to regain its Day 1 form and finish the group stage on a high note.
Six teams finished the group stage with a 2-2 record: Team Liquid, Thunderbirds, Evil Geniuses, Digital Chaos, VGJ and Newbee. A majority of the teams considered outside contenders entering the tournament ended up in this middle category. Despite looking like a strong team, Evil Geniuses missed its opportunity to finish in the top five, losing to Invictus Gaming 2-1 after sweeping Newbee 2-0 earlier in the day. Team Liquid's sixth place group stage seeding may be a bit inflated and not indicative of the team's performance. Liquid's two wins came against two of the worst teams on the table but it was able to take one game in both losses to Thunderbirds and Digital Chaos.
Three teams finished the group stage with a 1-3 record: Team Random, Team Faceless and mousesports. Continuing its fall from prominence after winning The International 2016, Team Random found itself struggling against international competition once again. With Team Faceless' continual inability to beat any teams outside of the SEA region and mousesports seeing little to no action since its cinderella run at the Boston Major, it is no surprise both of these teams found themselves in this position. One rung above the bottom, all three teams will hope to take advantage of the single elimination bracket in the main event.
At the very bottom of the table were two other teams not competing in the fourth round of the group stages because they failed to win a single series in the first three rounds. Having lost a short 2-0 series to Team Faceless, the newcomer from South America, SG e-sports, were somewhat expected to end up in this position, due to its relative inexperience on a global stage. Nobody expected the other bottom finisher to be Invictus Gaming Vitality, who finished 4th at DAC. Projected to possibly be a top six finisher at the Kiev Major, iGV suffered a 2-0 loss to a previously winless mousesports to seal its fate. Both squads will have their work cut out for them as they are slated to take on the top two finishers in the first round of the main event.
The main event will begin on Thursday, giving the teams one day of rest as the competition moves to the National Palace of Arts in Kiev, Ukraine.
