Team Spirit blanked LGD Gaming 2-0 on Saturday to advance to the grand final of Dota 2’s The International in Seattle.
With the loss, LGD Gaming fall into the lower-bracket final, where they will face Gaimin Gladiators, who swept Azure Ray 2-0 in the lower-bracket semifinal in the early morning hours of Sunday.
The Gladiators secured their spot in the lower-bracket semifinal with a 2-1 victory over Team Liquid, while Azura Ray beat BetBoom Team by the same score in the other lower-bracket quarterfinal match on Saturday.
The International annually has the largest prize pool in esports, with the amount rising throughout the competition based on in-game sales to the public. The prize pool for last year’s International began at $1.6 million but wound up at $18.9 million, with Tundra Esports claiming the $8.5 million first prize.
This year’s prize pool started at $1.6 million and is currently at $3.14 million.
All matches for the rest of the playoffs are best-of-three until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-five.
On Saturday, Team Spirit opened the upper-bracket final with a 77-minute win on red before prevailing in 47 minutes, also on red. Ukraine’s Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk led Spirit with an average kills-death-assists ratio of 16.5-3.5-10.5. Li “niu” Kongbo paced the losing side with an average K-D-A of 9.0-6.5-13.0.
Gaimin beat Azure in 22 minutes on red and in 24 minutes on green. Russian Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov posted an average of 9.5 kills and 10 assists for the winners, while all five players on Azure Ray averaged no more than 2.5 kills.
In the day’s first lower-bracket quarterfinal, Team Liquid jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a 43-minute triumph on green, but Gaimin bounced back, coming out on top twice on green — in 41 minutes and in 27 minutes. Shkredov averaged 7.3 kills for the Gladiators, while no one averaged more than 3.3 for the losing side.
Azure Ray opened the other quarterfinal with a 59-minute win on green before losing in 32 minutes on red. But their 43-minute victory on red kept their title hopes alive. Lu “Somnus” Yao led the all-Chinese Azure Ray with a 7.0-4.3-9.0 average K-D-A. Russia’s Danil “gpk” Skutin averaged a match-high 9.7 kills for BetBoom Team.
The Sunday schedule:
–LGD Gaming vs. Gaimin Gladiators (lower-bracket final)
–Team Spirit vs. winner of lower-bracket final (grand final)
The International prize pool (percentage of total amounts going to each team)
1. 45 percent
2. 12 percent
3. 8 percent
4. 5.5 percent — Azure Ray
5-6. 3.25 percent — Team Liquid, BetBoom Team
7-8. 2.5 percent — nouns, Virtus.pro
9-12. 2 percent — TSM, 9Pandas, Talon Esports, Entity
13-16. 1.5 percent — Shopify Rebellion, Evil Geniuses, Keyd Stars, Tundra Esports
17-20. 1 percent — Team SMG, Thunder Awaken, beastcoast, PSG Quest
–Field Level Media