An unexpected ending for Team Spirit, the roster that won the Aegis of Champions for two times. Xtreme Gaming is now the last hope for the Chinese fans.
It has been eight years since Wings claimed the Aegis of Champions. Since then, no Chinese team has won The International. With G2.iG and Team Zero out, the chances for this year were looking grim too. However, XG didn't disappoint, reverse-sweeping Team Spirit to keep their TI 13 run alive.
Even though the series ended with a 2-1, Xtreme Gaming felt in control during the three games. Despite losing the first one, they had an advantage to work with; just were not able to close the game. The next games were both stomps in favor of XG. This shouldn't take anyone by surprise, considering they were slightly more consistent than TS during the year.
Like XinQ said during the post-game interview, this has not been Team Spirit's best year. He described them as "not being in their best shape".
But it wasn't only a performance issue. Team Spirit also let them play in their comfort zone, allowing Xm's sniper for two games, a hero they also used to beat Gaimin Gladiators.
Game 1: Team Spirit's scary comeback to jeopardize XG's The International 2024 run
The game was in favor of the Chinese team during the whole early game. Xtreme Gaming's constant pressure opened the door for them to take on the first Roshan. In addition, they got two important kills that made the game look terrifying for Team Spirit.
Unfortunately, XG made two mistakes against Team Spirit on their lower bracket's TI 13 run. First, their Muerta died outside their base without a buyback. Then, they had to sacrifice their Doom's buyback to take a high ground fight. Despite these efforts, they only got two kills and lost two sets of barracks.
Team Spirit closed the game after a desperate push from Xtreme Gaming. After cleaning three heroes without buybacks, it was an easy task for the Dragon Knight.
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Game 2: Night and day for Xtreme Gaming
The net worth control was a huge issue for Team Spirit on the second game. Not many kills were happening around the map, but Visage's facet and the position 5 Tinker were giving them too much advantage. Also, Luna is a better hero in farming capacities, compared to Morphling. This made Team Spirit force an awkward fight close to their tower; and never recovered from that.
After an impossible high-ground defense, Team Spirit used all their buybacks, but XG still managed to tie the series and stay alive on The International 2024.
Game 3: The last stomp that XG needed to take Team Spirit out of TI 13
Spirit allowed the Sniper one more time and picked their signature Terrorblade. However, the pick didn't work at all. It was another game with not many kills, but every teamfight XG forced, Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk was severely punished.
It was a game of pick offs over teamfights, and Wang "Ame" Chunyu's Medusa had more items than Team Spirit could handle. By the end of the game, no one could even get close to killing the Chinese hard carry.
With this result, XG gets a Top 8 placement for The International 2024, and Team Spirit ends with a 9th-12th. The next stage of TI will happen in front of a live audience, make sure not to miss any detail with us!
