The International Top 12 - Day 1 Recap
The International 2019 main event kicked off with the opening ceremony welcoming the tournament to Shanghai, China for the first time in Dota 2 history. We say goodbye to the group stages and instead, set our sights on the 15 million dollar grand prize as OG.N0tail returns the Aegis to center stage to await it's next victors.
We also say goodbye to 4 teams that fought for their lives in the first round of the lower bracket.
Winners of day 1
Spoilers ahead for Day 1 Main Event games
16 teams entered on day 1, and with 4 teams being sent home and 6 advancing their bracket positions, we look towards day 2 where 12 remain.
The winners of the upper bracket were 
LGD Gaming, and 
Vici Gaming.
The winners of the lower bracket were 
Knights, 
Team Liquid, 
NoPing Esports, and 
Mineski.
LGD Gaming managed to 2-0 
Virtus.pro in a dominant performance against one of the top teams at the event. PSG.LGD look strong and their motivation to win it all might be the highest of any team after losing in the grand finals last year, and having a thunderous stadium chanting their name whenever they walk on stage.
Series of the day
The series of the day has to go to Vici Gaming against 
TNC Predator in the upper bracket.
Game 1 was a 76 minute slug fest, game 2 was a tight 61 minutes, and game 3 was 34 minutes for over 171 minutes of non-stop high-intensity tier 1 Dota!
Vici Gaming came into this tournament as one of the favorites to win it all and had the most DPC Major tournament wins with 2 (tied with Team Secret).
TNC Predator were always a strong team and were 9th in DPC points this season. TNC was the only team booed during the opening ceremonies because of the drama surrounding Kuku. It’s TNC VS the world at this point.
After TNC added Heen as their coach they look like they’ve leveled up. At the Epicenter Major, TNC defeated PSG.LGD 2-0 and placed 4th.
The series was very competitive but Vici Gaming managed to hold on for their game 2 victory and then won handedly in game 3.
A heartbreaking departure
There is one goal for Dota 2 players and that is to win The International. Winning a Major or Minor feels great but everything leads to this tournament. Day 1 ended with 8 teams playing a best of one for a chance to continue on to the next day.
Unfortunately, 
Alliance, 
Ascent Esports, 
KEEN GAMING, and 
Natus Vincere will have to wait a year before they get another chance at cementing their legacy as one of the best Dota 2 teams ever.
Alliance had the saddest elimination because Insania accidentally drafted Gyrocopter for their last pick when he meant to ban it. The team was quick to rally around their captain and give support and positive energy despite this mistake. Alliance even had a net worth advantage against
Knights during the first phase of the game, and carried that through to a tight late game where either team had a chance down to the very last moments.
Pubs rejoice, your teammate might pick Tidehunter
After the wacky group stages which saw Io carry and support Invoker, the opening games of the main event were more normal.
Tidehunter went 4-0 in the main event. 2 wins for PSG.LGD, 1 win for Vici Gaming, and 1 win for Team Liquid. If tanky initiators are in meta, then there is no better pick than Tidehunter. Your teammate might even pick him in your pubs! Better than first picking support Invoker right?
Shadow Demon went 5-0 in the main event. 1 win for PSG.LGD, 2 wins for Vici Gaming, 1 win for Royal Never Give up, and 1 win for Mineski. This makes Shadow Demon the 2nd most picked hero at TI9, just behind Ogre Magi.
Shadow Demon is a little bit harder to play than blinking in and pressing R on Tidehunter but going 5-0 is solid. Shadow Demon was huge in the comeback victory for Mineski.
So far there were no wacky strategies deployed by teams in day 1. Day 1 is for surviving, and as the tournament progresses, teams will likely begin to pull out some rare strategies to gain that slight competitive edge.
Day 2 features the return of the reigning champions, 
OG! OG was the best team during the group stages with the most points and they face off against the sleeper squad 
Newbee.
Day 2 also features fan favorites and titans of Dota: 
Shopify Rebellion against 
Team Secret.
As well as more lower bracket elimination games, good and sad times are ahead.
Poor alliance, but they put a smile on their face and carried on.
That's very respectable.
What a blunder by Alliance, just a real mistake that won't ever be forgotten. ...Weather it was a game-losing mistake or if it wouldn't have mattered in the end, is up for speculation.
Watching that game, Alliance had every opportunity to win with the heroes they had. They just under-performed in a few key fights that game. It's a shame, they were my dark horse to go deep this TI. Maybe not win, but maybe do an epic lower bracket run to top 6 or 8. That team has a lot of heart, but ultimately insania's slip up was a small blunder in the grand scheme of them dropping out this early.
I agree. When I saw Gyro I didn't think it was a missed ban, but rather a throwback to old days with a position three Void. It worked decently well as a surprise, but turns out it was a surprise to both RNG and Alliance. It also almost worked. Sad to see them go like that, but I don't think community should concentrate on that mistake, but rather think of all the other small mistakes all teams make throughout their games. Stronger, more experienced team could definitely win that game with these lineups and I am sure Alliance will get there. "That team has a lot of heart" is an apt description for sure.
Dont know why but seeing that video of alliance mispicking and teammates cheering up the cap even after the misclick makes me feel sad and but also happy , bittersweet . Im not a fan of those guys but these guys have my sympathy man .