With the second day of The International 2019 playoffs over after multiple upsets, it's time for move on to fantasy predictions for day three at TI9. Dota 2 fan and Luckbox community member Riley is here to assist with his TI9 Main Stage fantasy challenge predictions
Check the updated TI9 bracket and schedule
A reminder on the golden rules
Always take note of three golden rules below, because the best TI9 fantasy challenge results are subjective to the cards you possess.
Golden Rule 1: Always pick players from teams that plays the most that day. It’s just maths, even players from underwhelming teams will definitely score more points if they played more games than players from top-tier teams.
Golden Rule 2: Card stats matter. Same thing can be said for these as in the above - worse-performing player cards with better stats will score better than high-profile player cards with worse stats.
Golden Rule 3: Some stats are better than others. Way better. Teamfight is generally a good stat to have. Kills, GPM, and Creep Score are the golden standard for carry stats; for mid, it would be Kills and for support stats, it would be Obs. Wards Placed and Camps Stacked. Runes Grabbed are also good for players that like to roam. Don’t pick cards with unreliable stats like First Blood or Roshan Kills - they’re garbage.
Disclaimer: Since the new Fantasy Challenge system merged Offlane into the Core role, it's almost always better to get 2 Safe Lane players for your Core since Offlane players yields the least amount of points compared to other players.
Now on to the day three predictions...
TI9 day three predictions - tense matches at the upper bracket
Four series are scheduled to be played on Thursday: Vici Gaming vs PSG.LGD and Evil Geniuses vs OG in the Upper Bracket; Team Secret vs Mineski and Newbee vs Infamous in the Lower Bracket. While there's definitely possibility of tense upset matches down at the Lower Bracket (it's TI after all), let's focus at the Upper Bracket series where tense matches are definitely bound to happen.
Thus, best matchups to place your cards on are on the four Top 6-guaranteed teams: PSG.LGD, VG, OG, and EG. For core, best picks would be Paparazi, Ame, ana, and Arteezy. For mid, Somnus'M, Ori, Topson, SumaiL; for support, fy, xNova, Fade, Dy, JerAx, N0tail, Cr1t-, Fly. Still, if you have better cards of players at the Lower Bracket, then definitely go for it.
Favored lineup: ana, Paparazi, SumaiL, Dy, Fly.
Thoughts: The battle between Chinese juggernauts Vici and PSG.LGD is gonna be lit for sure. However, the match where flames are gonna break loose is the Fly vs N0tail match. Lots of action (and BM) will happen in that match, so that's where my I'd like to place my cards on.
Stay tuned for day four fantasy predictions and chat with me and other Dota 2 fans in the Luckbox Discord server
Our community has also helped us compile the best plays from TI9 - check out some of the most memorable moments.
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Picture: StarLadder
