The International 10 opening series witnessed Invictus Gaming convincingly take on Team Spirit 2-1. But it was not without some action as Team Spirit managed an epic comeback to have an exciting start to TI10 playoffs.
The first series of The International 10 showcased a powerful run by Invictus Gaming and a strong challenge by Team Spirit. A comeback, a stomp, and the fifth Rampage ever on TI Main Stage; here is the full recap of IG vs Team Spirit.
Team Spirit Pull off an Unexpected Win
In the first game, Invictus Gaming maintained a net worth lead throughout the early phase winning most of its teamfights. Team Spirit held on by picking off iG heroes on the map. The game seemed to be in iG’s favor but in one crucial fight, Team Spirit protected its high ground and turned the game around. Steadily snowballing, the Russian underdogs then captured iG’s Emo who didn’t have buyback.
A huge 14k net worth swing went to Spirit’s favor and Yatoro went ham on his Morphling, getting a Rampage. In a split second, Spirit were already pushing the Tier 4 towers of iG and with no solid defense, iG’s Ancient was destroyed.
Roshan Fights Decide the Game
IG did not put their guards down in the second game. The early phase was once again in IG’s favor, where three of its cores were heavily farmed. At one point in the game, Spirit successfully contested Roshan and then attempted to push to IG’s highground. However, Spirit found themselves losing the fight and the aftermath was of IG’s favor. The net worth gap widens and IG was already leading by 17k gold. Team Spirit, in a desperate move, contested another Roshan but IG preserved. Spirit calls ‘GG’ and tapped out of the game at 48 minutes.
TI10 No. 1 Seed Shows us Who's the Boss
The deciding match of the series saw an early game draft from Spirit and long-cooldown centered heroes on IG. Spirit could not reach the early game peak that could help them snowball into the game and IG then took control of the map. It was a long, miserable game for Spirit as their heroes were constantly picked off, and at 36 minutes IG started pushing high ground. Ultimately, IG closed the game with an outstanding 54 -16 kills against Spirit.
Invictus Gaming will proceed to the next round in the Upper Bracket while Team Spirit falls to the Lower Bracket. IG’s next opponent will be the winner of Team Secret vs OG. Team Spirit, on the other hand, will face the winner of Team Undying vs Fnatic.
The next series of TI10 Main Stage will be OG vs Team Secret. You can refer to the Playoffs schedule here.
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