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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