It was a new day in the group of draws. The first day of The International 2022 in Group B was filled with matchups where teams shared games, resulting in more draws than fans could imagine. Though it was still a less hectic day for Group B, compared to A, scales started to tip, with Aster assuring its lead.
TSM vs. Team Spirit
While quite a few matches were played in Group B today, the eyes were on the TSM—Team Spirit series. TI10 champions are in the race for an upper bracket spot, but TSM’s performance has been disappointing since the beginning. Despite having an explosive few months leading up to TI, TSM’s absence in the Arlington Major looks to have hurt the team’s momentum.
TSM came into its series versus TSM after two consecutive draws and went with a team-fight-focused lineup that revolved around Bryle’s Shadow Fiend. The SF mid strategy worked flawlessly for the NA representative, with Bryle even securing a level two solo kill versus TORONTOTOKYO’s Lina.
TSM didn’t have a difficult time wrapping up the first match, and the team drafted an almost identical lineup in the second one. The only difference in the draft was the Lone Druid, who replaced Naga Siren. With Bryle playing SF again, TSM looked confident and had an early lead.
Though Spirit looked like it was struggling, the team had a free farming Morphling in the hands of Yatoro, which came online at just the right time. Yatoro led the net worth chart almost the entire match, Collapse’s Mars and TORONTOTOKYO’s Pangolier assisted him in demolishing TSM’s defenses which tied up the series.
Entity shows up on the second day
The first day of the group stage didn’t go as planned for Entity. The latest European sensation found itself at the bottom of the barrel after a loss and a draw in the first. Entity had a tougher fixture on day two, but it didn’t stop the team from securing some important wins.
Entity started the day with a two-to-zero victory over Thunder Awaken in two 41-minute-long matches. After the long series, Entity moved on to face Aster, the current leader of Group B. Aster came into the match with an intimidating track record as they only lost a single match before facing Entity.
Aster suffered its second-ever loss versus Entity, as the Western European side busted out a Broodmother draft and combined with a Morphling/Batrider combination. Broodmother was also included in Entity’s second draft, but it didn’t work like the first time in the second series. Aster had a better plan to deal with the ultimate cheese hero, and Entity decided to call an unexpected “GG” to tap out and moved on to splitting games with Fnatic to finish the day.
Tundra becomes an upper-bracket contender
Tundra had to play Aster right off the bat on day one. With two draws under its name after the first day, Tundra’s standing in the groups depended on its day two performance.
Tundra started the day with yet another draw versus beastcoast, which meant splitting more matches could hurt its chances for an upper bracket spot. Tundra was matched against Talon and Secret next, and it took home four wins which bumped the team up to the second spot in Group B.
Though Tundra’s two matches versus Talon took almost two hours combined, the team had an easier time securing two wins in under an hour during its series versus Secret.
