Team Spirit stayed alive in the lower bracket by sweeping OG and beating Virtus.pro 2-1 in Friday’s action at The International 10 in Bucharest, Romania.
Spirit will meet the winner of Saturday’s lower-bracket match between Invictus Gaming and Vici Gaming, with the survivor advancing to Sunday’s lower-bracket final.
Vici Gaming advanced Friday with a 2-1 reverse sweep against T1.
Virtus.pro finished in fifth-sixth place and earned $1.4 million. OG and T1 each took home $1 million for their seventh-eighth place efforts.
The International 10 is the final event of the Dota Pro Circuit, returning to Europe (Arena Nationala in Bucharest, Romania) for the first time since 2011. Participation is by invite only, but teams qualified through the Pro Circuit.
Following group play (18 teams), 16 teams began in the double-elimination bracket at the Main Event, which started Tuesday. Eight teams began in both the upper and lower brackets for a total prize pool of $40 million (an initial prize pool of $1.6 million plus 25 percent of Battle Pass sales). All matches are best-of-three until Sunday’s best-of-five grand final.
On Thursday, Spirit opened the action by sweeping OG in 46 minutes and 30 minutes, both on red. Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek of Russia posted a kills-deaths-assists ratio of 16.5-1.5-12.0.
T1 opened the other Round 3 lower-bracket match with a 41-minute win on red, but Vici Gaming tied it up with a 38-minute victory on green and sent T1 home with a 29-minute win on red. China’s Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang sparked VG with a 6.7-4.7-7.0 ratio.
Spirit sandwiched a 46-minute win on red and a 52-minute victory on green around a 46-minute loss on red to eliminate Virtus.pro. Ukraine’s Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk anchored Spirit with a K-D-A ratio of 10.0-4.0-9.0.
Play continues Saturday with three matches:
Invictus Gaming vs. Vici Gaming, lower bracket Round 4
Team Secret vs. PSG.LGD, upper bracket final
Team Spirit vs. Invictus-VG winner, lower bracket Round 5
International 10 prize pool:
1. $18.2 million
2. $5.2 million
3. $3.6 million
4. $2.4 million
5-6. $1.4 million — Virtus.pro
7-8. $1 million — OG, T1
9-12. $800,400 — Fnatic, Quincy Crew, Alliance, Evil Geniuses
13-16. $600,300 — Team Undying, Team Aster, beastcoast, Elephant
17-18. $100,000 — Thunder Predator, SG esports
–Field Level Media
