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At the end of day three of The International 2019, Chaos Esports Club became the first team to be eliminated after dropping two games to Newbee.
As one of the six teams that had to make it in through regional qualifiers, Chaos were already labeled an underdog compared to many of the other competitors. After losing their opening series to PSG.LGD and performing poorly, things didn’t bode well for Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen and his team.
In a match against his old team, Team Liquid, Matu poured everything he had into the game, but Chaos were completely outclassed by their European rivals. Game one was close, but Chaos never really had a handle on the situation. By the time game two rolled around, things were looking bleak.
Chaos managed to split their final series of the day against Alliance after an hour-long game one, but a 1-5 record wasn’t the start they were looking for. Sitting in last place of Group A heading into day two, there was a lot of work to do, but the turnaround never happened.
In their only match on the second day, Chaos fell to Mineski and were only a few games away from the worst possible outcome: an early elimination.
Day three was the last chance for Chaos to change their fate. If they could win at least one series, they could push their potential elimination to the final day. Things didn’t start well as they lost arguably their most important series against Keen Gaming, letting another struggling team pull away from them.
Against TNC Predator, Chaos came close to getting their first series win. After nearly an hour of play, TNC pulled away and took game one, putting Chaos into a difficult spot in the rankings.
Eighty minutes later, Chaos were celebrating one of the most intense wins of the entire tournament, and the fact they had one last shot at keeping their hopes alive.
Newbee were struggling before their matchup with Chaos, but a couple of splits still had them confident enough to win one more series. In two close games, Newbee managed to complete a sweep and officially eliminate Chaos from the competition.
The team exit TI9 in a tie for 17th with whoever gets eliminated from Group B tomorrow. Chaos walk away after this disappointing result with $83,000 and an uncertain future as Matu’s contract with the team is up with the offseason approaching.
Even though they aren’t in contention for the main event, Chaos will still play Team Secret in their final match on Aug. 17 at 10:30pm CT.
Published: Aug 17, 2019 11:21 am