Team Secret atop Group A, Mineski keep climbing at The International 2019

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Two full days of competition are in the books at The International 2019 and Group A has a clear leader in Team Secret. But several teams are battling to secure a spot in the upper bracket before the main event starts. 

Secret have been as dominant at TI9 so far as they were during the regular season. Either they utterly destroy their opponents or end up battling back into games, claiming victory from the jaws of defeat. 

Group A standings

With just one series to play on day two, Secret walked into their match against Keen Gaming as one of only two undefeated teams left in the tournament. And after a clean sweep of the Chinese squad and Infamous taking a game off of Vici Gaming in Group B, Secret are now the only perfect team remaining. 

Their 8-0 record includes wins over Alliance and Team Liquid, ensuring that even if they start to drop games in the coming days, they’ll still have some tiebreakers in their back pocket. They’ll be playing the rest of their group tomorrow, which should help solidify the playoff picture for the first group. 

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov is keeping his team cool under pressure as he tries to lead Secret to their first TI victory and claim a second Aegis of Champions for himself. 

The main competition for Secret right now comes from PSG.LGD. Last year’s runner-up have gotten off to a strong start, putting up an 8-2 record. They’re behind Secret purely because they’ve dropped two games even though they’ve played more matches. 

Because they split their series with both Newbee and TNC Predator, LGD have some work to do if they want to stay in second place or move into first before the main event begins. They’ll face Secret in the second set of matches on Aug. 16, and if they win, they could potentially hold the tiebreaker and overtake the Europeans.

Mineski are one of the squads garnering a lot of positive attention during TI9. They had a very messy season, constantly fluctuating between being one of the best teams in Southeast Asia and not even making it into Dota Pro Circuit events. Their roster was always rotating players in and out, with little stability to provide a fall back during poor showings. 

Now, with a talented roster headed by Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross Jr.and coached by Dota legend Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung, Mineski have turned their season completely around. They’re in third place after upsetting TNC Predator and taking a game off of Liquid. They have yet to play Secret or LGD, but if they can win at least a few games on day three, the SEA underdogs should be in a good spot moving forward. 

TNC are just behind them since Mineski hold the tiebreaker between the two. After some stellar performances, including several stunning defensive showings that helped them turn games against Alliance and LGD, TNC look pretty good. 

Even if they end up having to play an elimination match, no one will want to face them. Earlier today, they showed that they can slow things down and farm if they really need to, but TNC’s offensive approach to the game is what makes them a scary team in this tournament. 

Alliance and Newbee are both tied for fifth at 4-4 after mixed days competing against their Group A opponents. 

Alliance had a chance to start things off with a bang, but since losing to Secret in the opening series on day one, they’ve only shown a few flashes of that potential greatness. They did manage to sweep Keen and split their series with TNC, though.. 

Newbee had some strong showings on day one but split both of their matches today. Day three will be the make-or-break moment for these two teams since they play each other and the other middling squads like Mineski and Team Liquid. 

Liquid haven’t been able to get anything going yet. They’ve been one of the biggest disappointments of the event thus far, only winning one of their matchups against Chaos Esports Club. There isn’t a great chance for them to bounce back well enough to make it into the upper bracket, but they should be able to avoid dropping further than their current position. 

Keen and Chaos are the two teams fighting for their lives as the group stage nears its end. Keen have a 2-8 record while Chaos sit at 1-7. If either team has a poor showing on day three, that could spell the end of their TI9 run.