OG are TI9 champions!
Related: TI9 Grand Finals Highlights
An unforgettable Dota 2 International will reach its climax on Sunday with the lower bracket final and grand final in Shanghai.
Defending champions OG lie in wait after defeating PSG.LGD in the upper bracket final on Saturday.
That means LGD will face Team Liquid in the best-of-three lower bracket final after Liquid's victory over Team Secret.
OG and Liquid have the chance to become the first double winners in the history The International - OG won TI8 and Liquid won TI7.
Home favourites PSG.LGD are hunting for their first International title and, if they can beat Liquid, it will set up a rematch of the 2018 final, in which they were beaten by OG in Vancouver.
Related: New Dota 2 hero Void Spirit: release date and details
Head-to-head Record
Advantage Liquid
PSG.LGD beat Team Liquid 2-0 in TI9 group stage but group stage results have not been so good as indicators on TI9. Since TI8, LGD and Liquid played three BO3, all won by Liquid (2-0,2-1,2-0). They proceeded to eliminate LGD from the Paris Major lower bracket round 5 and sent them to EPICENTER Moscow Major 2019 lower bracket from upper bracket round 1 too.
Their road to TI9
Qualification
Advantage Liquid
Team Liquid
Team Liquid finished 5th of the DPC table thanks to a late awakening in the DPC season. They finished second consecutively in the two last majors of the year. (MDL Paris Major, EPICENTER Moscow Major). While they might have been less constant than their opponent of the day on the DPC season, Team Liquid has shown a fantastic form toward the end of it.
PSG.LGD
PSG.LGD finished sixth in the DPC standings with no major performance in any of the Dota 2 majors this year. They finished 4th in The Chongqing Major and the Paris Major and managed to grab a few DPC points in Stockholm, Kuala Lumpur and Moscow.
Their defeat in TI8 Grand Finals seems to have left some scars but equally, it might have gathered LGD's intentions focused around a single objective: winning The International. It did not prevent them to show a relative consistency over the year, but more is expected from LGD.
TI9 so far
Advantage Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Team Liquid was not miles away from worrying fans on their TI9 Group Stage performance, finishing 7th of their group with 4 defeats (Newbee, LGD, Secret, TNC). They only managed to get two victories against eliminated Chaos E.C and Keen Gaming. Team Liquid seemed to appreciate the lower bracket path as they did not concede any game in four best-of-three and one best-of-one matches. Two glorious 2-0 against Evil Geniuses and Team Secret will have boosted their confidence ahead of their clash with the Chinese side PSG.LGD.
TI9 playoffs results
- Team Liquid 1-0 FNATIC
- Team Liquid 2-0 TNC Predator
- Team Liquid 2-0 Royal Never Give Up
- Team Liquid 2-0 Evil Geniuses
- Team Liquid 2-0 Team Secret
TI9 group stage Results
- Team Liquid 0-2 Newbee
- Team Liquid 2-0 Chaos E.C
- Team Secret 2-0 Team Liquid
- Team Liquid 1-1 Mineski
- Team Liquid 0-2 PSG.LGD
- Team Liquid 1-1 Alliance
- Team Liquid 2-0 Keen
PSG.LGD
Like OG, PSG.LGD finished first of their group with 0 defeat and 3 draws (one more than OG) vs Newbee, Alliance and TNC. PSG.LGD did not concede any game in TI9 playoffs stage. Sweeping Virtus.pro and Vici Gaming 2-0, two teams that had serious ambitions for TI9. They fell, yet again, against their archenemy: OG in upper bracket finals.
TI9 playoffs results
- PSG.LGD 1-2 OG
- PSG.LGD 2-0 Virtus.Pro
- PSG.LGD 2-0 Vici Gaming
TI9 group stage Results
- PSG.LGD 2-0 Chaos E.C
- PSG.LGD 2-0 Keen Gaming
- PSG.LGD 1-1 TNC Predator
- PSG.LGD 1-1 Newbee
- Team Liquid 0-2 PSG.LGD
- PSG.LGD 2-0 Mineski
- Team Secret 0-2 PSG.LGD
- PSG.LGD 1-1 Alliance
Mindset going into the match
There seems to be a significant difference in both teams approach to that match. Team Liquid has just erased heavyweights Evil Geniuses and Team Secret. In spite of a dubious TI9 group stage performances, they have shown at the end of the DPC season that they can play brilliant Dota when it matters the most and in TI9 playoffs stage, that they can beat the best teams in the world. They finished twice second in this year's majors, every time coming from lower bracket, their will to take a title home has been contained for some time already.
PSG.LGD are finding themselves in lower bracket finals after losing the upper bracket ones, for the second consecutive year. This time though, they are on home soil and every Chinese fan is looking up to them. There is even a higher pressure than last year on PSG.LGD's shoulders as the last representatives of TI9 host country. This is a risk for a squad that has shown morale weakness in key moments in the past: going into that game with the defeat against OG in mind and the possible future game against them in TI9 Grand Finals could prevent them to focus on the game at hand, against a very strong team.
Out of the 6 teams who went down from TI9 upper bracket, 5 lost their first match in lower bracket. Will LGD break the TI9 lower bracket curse? There is much more at stake for them than breaking a curse here: proving they are strong mentally to achieve the only item there has been on their agenda this year it seems: winning TI.
TI9 final day timetable
- Lower bracket final - 4am - PSG.LGD vs Team Liquid live
- Grand final (best of five) - 8am - OG vs (PSG.LGD or Team Liquid)
It's the last chance for Dota 2 fans who create an account with Luckbox to get $9.99 in their account to make their TI9 predictions, risk-free.
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Pictures: ESL and StarLadder
