Aurora upsets Team Zero at TI13
Aurora has pulled off a stunning upset by defeating Team Zero in The International 2024 Playoffs seedings decider phase. The Southeast Asian Dota 2 team has defied the odds and defeated China’s dark horse to secure a berth in the upper bracket of the playoffs.
Photo: @dota2ti | XTI13: Aurora stuns Team Zero
The series between Aurora and Team Zero went to a full best-of-three (BO3) as both teams engaged in bringing their own style of gameplay with some intense moments. Aurora won the first game and stopped Team Zero’s high-tempo draft with its clever tank and aura-based draft. Despite Team Zero’s best attempts, Aurora drew first blood.
The second game was quite the opposite as Team Zero heavily punished Aurora’s slow scaling and greedy draft. Having three greedy cores turned out to be the Southeast Asian teams’ undoing as the Chinese sailed through the victory boat with its aggressive draft. Team Zero won although it took them 48 minutes to secure the victory.
The deciding game of the series was a thriller. Team Zero opted for Bristleback and Earth Spirit thus sending a clear message of wanting to apply pressure right from the onset. However, Aurora opted for the SEA classic strategy, i.e., the late-game strategy with Drow Ranger and Puck as its core.
The game went past 62 minutes with Lorenof playing out of his mind along with Q’s Snapfire who secured Aurora a decisive victory to qualify for the upper bracket of The International 2024 (TI13) playoffs.
Day 1 Results
In other news, Xtreme Gaming cruised to a dominating victory against Talon Esports with a clean 2:0 sweep. Xtreme’s onslaught was just too much for Talon to handle as the latter struggled to improvise during key moments that led to their demise. Xtreme Gaming secures a spot in The International 2024 Playoffs upper bracket.
Team Liquid defeats BetBoom in a thrilling best-of-three series. Liquid won the first game convincingly against BetBoom who’ve been criticised for its slow gameplay. However, in the second game, BBT left everyone stunned as they defeated TL in just 22 minutes with an ultra-aggressive draft.
But TL’s clever draft with a Weaver pick and BBT’s questionable Queen of Pain pick in the deciding game turned the tables in Team Liquid’s favour thus sending the latter to the upper bracket of the playoffs.
Cloud9 secures a spot in The International 2024 (TI13) Playoffs upper bracket after handily defeating 1win. C9 looks in great form while 1win’s dark horse story is slowly turning out to be a nightmare with its dismal performance in both the group and seedings decider stages. As a result, 1win will start in the lower bracket.
Day 2 Preview
Four series will be played on Day 2 of the seedings decider stage. The matches can be found below:
- Gaimin Gladiators vs. G2.iG: Gaimin is the favourite to win but G2.iG’s capability can never be undermined.
- Tundra Esports vs. Heroic: Tundra is the better team and is the most likely winner. Heroic will have to punch above their weight to topple this beast.
- Team Falcons vs. Beastcoast: Falcons have the upper hand against beastcoast because of its firm grasp on the meta and with South America disappointing as a whole, it looks difficult for the latter to pull an upset.
- Team Spirit vs. Nouns: This is the true David vs. Goliath battle as the underdog nouns look to overcome the giant Team Spirit. The series will either be a stomp or a thrilling encounter – nothing more or nothing less.
The playoffs bracket for The International 2024 (TI13) will be set at the end of Day 2 of the seedings decider stage. Stay tuned to BLAST to keep up to date with TI13.