The long-awaited annual event of
The International 2014 has kicked off, with the playoffs having officially begun, following a day prior filled with the wild card qualifier. Hosted at and televised from the headquarters of Valve Corporation in downtown Bellevue, Washington, thirty-six matches featuring sixteen teams were played out for approximately twelve hours. In the three-year history of the Dota 2 esports scene, this was arguably the broadest day of round robin play seen. While certain teams were noted for having modest leads and trails on the main pack of teams, our day's results were relatively balanced, in comparison to past editions of The International.
To the casters' dismay, the first day ended with the leaders being western dark horses in the form of
Cloud 9 and
Team Liquid . While there was curiosity pertaining to the momentum of Liquid, the private practice regiments of both these teams led spectators to overlook the possibility of them leading the tournament. While C9 maintains a 4-1 lead, due to being one of eight teams to have an extra match, Liquid,
Invictus Gaming ,
ViCi Gaming ,
Natus Vincere and
Natus Vincere US follow them up with 3-1 records. The teams currently in danger include
Team DK ,
Team Empire ,
mousesports ,
Alliance ,
LGD-Gaming cn and
Arrow Gaming .
Of the performances falling short, perhaps the most disappointing are those of Alliance and LGD. Alliance, which includes several former SK Gaming players, was the consistently most dominant team of
The International 2013 last year, which led to them winning the biggest prize in the history of esports. With but one win, they are dangerously close to not participating in the main event next week. Likewise, LGD, which has before been one of the most viable teams, especially at
The International 2012, rests in the same boat as their Swedish counterparts.
Last, but hopefully not least, Arrow Gaming was the one team to receive no wins, despite giving Alliance a run for their money during their match. Aside from the distinct possibility of not moving forward or even receiving the smallest prize purse, they run the risk of not winning any matches. Will Arrow join the ranks of
Mineski ,
Virus Gaming ,
Invasion MUFC and
GosuGamers by not winning any group stage matches?
July 9 Rankings
1.
Cloud 9 (4-1)
2.
Invictus Gaming (3-1)
3.
ViCi Gaming (3-1)
4.
Natus Vincere (3-1)
5.
Natus Vincere US (3-1)
6.
Team Liquid (3-1)
7.
NewBee (3-2)
8.
Evil Geniuses (3-2)
9.
Fnatic EU (3-2)
10.
Titan eSports (2-2)
11.
Team DK (2-3)
12.
Team Empire (1-3)
13.
mousesports (1-3)
14.
Alliance (1-4)
15.
LGD-Gaming cn (1-4)
16.
Arrow Gaming (0-5)
Tune in tonight for more action from The International 2014!

To the casters' dismay, the first day ended with the leaders being western dark horses in the form of












Of the performances falling short, perhaps the most disappointing are those of Alliance and LGD. Alliance, which includes several former SK Gaming players, was the consistently most dominant team of


Last, but hopefully not least, Arrow Gaming was the one team to receive no wins, despite giving Alliance a run for their money during their match. Aside from the distinct possibility of not moving forward or even receiving the smallest prize purse, they run the risk of not winning any matches. Will Arrow join the ranks of




July 9 Rankings
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

Tune in tonight for more action from The International 2014!

DarthBotto
Work:

Scene Journalist

Scene Journalist

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StarCraft II ESUP

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Scene Journalist

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