PSG.LGD Emerges in Great Standing After First Day of Dota 2 International

Chinese teams PSG.LGD and Newbee are looking strong and in good standing after day one of the Dota 2 International 2019.

Following the official kick off of The International 2019 on Aug. 14, PSG.LGD and Team Secret were the only ones to secure positive records at the end of the grueling first day. Newbee, another Chinese team who came in second at the 2017 International, closed off the day with a 2-2 tie.

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Here are Group A’s standings after the first day of TI9:

PSG.LGD easily took down Shanghai-based Keen Gaming and American team Chaos E-sports Club. The Chinese giants only suffered defeat at the hands of Filipino dark horse TNC Predator, splitting their series 1-1. Otherwise, PSG.LGD appeared dominant in every game and is looking very strong going into the upper bracket in the coming days of the group stages.

Chinese Team Newbee also came out victorious against two favored giants, Team Liquid and Team Secret. Against Team Liquid, Newbee solidified their strategies and knocked Team Liquid out of the way with a clean 2-0 sweep. Both games ended with a final score of 39-15 in Newbee’s favor. The Chinese team, however, had two taxing 50-minute long games against Team Secret, who managed to continuously defend against Newbee’s aggression and eventually come out on top.

In the upcoming second day of the group stages, PSG.LGD will be engaging in a fierce clash with Newbee for a spot in the upper bracket of the main tournament.

In Group B, Chinese underdog teams Vici Gaming and Royal Never Give Up (RNG) are looking to climb their way up to the upper brackets after a tiresome first day. Vici seemed to be in a good standing with a score of 4-2, while RNG is struggling to keep up with the losses that it’s accumulated against Russian organization Virtus.pro and Vici.

The tournament is in its ninth iteration this year, and the prize has increased exponentially every year. The International 9 currently has over $32 million to distribute between the top placing teams. The winners will take home a prize of over $14 million.

Chinese commentators at The International this time included a wide array of former professional players such as Song “Sccc” Chun, professional player currently playing for Newbee, Zhang “xiao8” Ning, current coach of professional e-sports team EHOME, and Xu “BurNIng” Zhilei, professional Dota 2 player who is often regarded as one of the best and most experienced carry players in the world.