This recap covers the first day of The International 4.

Author’s Note: This recap was made possible with contributions by Andres Greer.

Friday was the first day of the Main Event at Dota 2’s biggest tournament, The International. The three matches on Friday were played in the Winner’s Bracket with three of the four teams in the bracket knocked into the Loser’s Bracket. How exactly did the day play out, you ask? Luckily you are in the right place to get caught up!

Match One: Vici Gaming vs. NewBee

Game One: Essentially this was a stomp by NewBee. The game was over within 14 minutes of beginning. Vici’s supports had trouble connecting on any roaming ganks and the clock was ticking against their team composition. NewBee capitalized on Vici’s missed opportunities and operated with ruthless efficiency, dispatching Vici in 14 minutes.

Game Two: Vici Gaming proved resilient in the second game, and with an unconventional safe lane Nature’s Prophet extended their stay in the Winner’s Bracket. The Doom picked up early in the draft, and an early Orchid Malevolence on the Nature’s Prophet allowed Vici to out-team-fight NewBee at every turn. Linsen “fy” Xu made play after play on the Ancient Apparition pick for Vici, and was the nail in the coffin in game two. The game continued to a third and deciding game.

Game Three: Game Three got out of control rather quickly for Vici. NewBee opted to go with a lane-pushing composition through their draft and this allowed for Chen “Hao” Zhihao to farm his Lifestealer pick. He put the team on his back, acquiring fifteen kills and only three deaths. The game lasted 36 minutes before Vici was forced to call “GG” and find themselves fighting for survival in the Loser’s Bracket.

Match Two: Evil Geniuses vs. Team DK

Game One: A hotly contested first game found Team DK attempting to get to the late game, while Evil Geniuses were pushing to end the game and capitalizing on their mid-game advantage. The game ended in a “base race” between the teams, where Evil Geniuses found themselves the superior force and took game one off of Team DK. The game lasted a cool 56 minutes until EG emerged victorious.

Game Two: Team DK’s strategy hinged on a huge team fight combination in Faceless Void, Skywrath Mage, and Kunkka. Evil Geniuses’ draft sought to deal with this combo in the best way possible, with the integral picks being: Razor, Abaddon and Silencer. Razor and Abaddon became tanky too easily to be picked off by Faceless Void and Silencer’s ultimate “Global Silence” threw a wrench in the plans of Team DK. Evil Geniuses took all three lanes of the enemy barracks and the match was won in the second game, guaranteeing Evil Geniuses a third place finish, at worst.

Match Three: Evil Geniuses vs. NewBee

Game One: NewBee’s draft was built to win the laning phase, as they wanted to put pressure on Artour “Arteezy” Babaev playing the ultra-carry Naga Siren. In the mid-game Arteezy found himself picked off multiple times, often by Zhang “xiao8” Ning playing Doom. This made it difficult for Evil Geniuses to defend their base, although they stood defiant, taking some of NewBee’s barracks before Zhang “Mu” Pan playing Death Prophet put an end to Evil Geniuses’ ancient. The game was ended at the 51 minute mark, giving NewBee a one game advantage.

Game Two: Evil Geniuses went for a greedy draft and this was not to go unpunished by the Chinese powerhouse NewBee. NewBee shut down Evil Geniuses core heroes, forcing Evil Geniuses to play from behind the entire game. NewBee continued to punish the American team until Evil Geniuses were forced to call an end to the game at the 35 minute mark. This moved Evil Geniuses to the Loser’s Bracket, while sliding NewBee into the Grand Finals to be played on Monday.

What’s Next?

On Saturday, July 19th, the Loser’s Bracket play begins at 9am PDT. Loser’s Bracket play will continue into Sunday, the 20th and the Grand Finals will be held on Monday, the 21st. The All-Star Game will be played on Saturday, the 19th, pitting Team rOtk vs Team XBOCT. Be sure to tune in Saturday, as elimination matches will be played with some teams being sent home depending on how the matches play out. I’m still pulling for Evil Geniuses and Na’Vi.  I hope you enjoy the incredible level of play this weekend; expect a recap for Saturday’s events once they conclude!

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With Contributions By: Andres Greer