Alliance Grabs Final TI9 Spot
The EPICENTER Major was the final Major for the 2018/19 Dota Pro Circuit and saw Vici Gaming edge out a win over Team Liquid in the grand final, beating them 3-2. Both Vici and Team Liquid were both already qualified for The International 9 (TI9), to take place later this year in Shanghai, but it was Alliance who among the winners too.
Even though the run for Alliance ended in 6th place, with then getting knocked down to the Lower Bracket and then being beaten by Virtus Pro in a 2-0 clean sweep, this was enough to secure them the DPC points needed to secure the final 12th spot for TI9. They earned 900 DPC points for their top spot, pushing them just above Keen Gaming in the final DPC standings.
The final standings for the EPICENTER Major were as follows:
1st – Vici Gaming ($350,000)
2nd – Team Liquid ($170,000)
3rd – Virtus.Pro ($100,000)
4th – TNC Predator ($80,000)
After Forward Gaming got eliminated by PSG.LDG, the final 12th spot came down to Alliance and Gambit Esports who just happened to face off in the third round of the Lower Bracket. Despite the final score being a 2-0 sweep to Alliance, the second game saw a 70 minute epic battle as Gambit held a lead early on, but Alliance quickly overtook them in gold and experience from around 40 minutes.
Alliance Gaming:
- Michael ‘miCKe’ Vu
- Maximilian ‘qojqva’ Brocker
- Samuel ‘Boxi’ Svahn
- Aydin ‘iNSaNiA’ Sarkohi
- Tommy ‘Taiga’ Le
What this means for the other teams is that they will need to try and make amends in the regional qualifiers for TI9. These will take place in the next few weeks of July, with the TI9 group stages taking place at the middle of August.
Here are your final 12 qualified teams for TI9:
- Team Secret
- Virtus Pro
- Vici Gaming
- Evil Geniuses
- Team Liquid
- PSG.LGD
- Fnatic
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- TNC Predator
- OG
- Alliance
- Keen Gaming
If there is one thing that this Major has taught us, is that TI9 is going to be a closely contested affair. Some of the favourites went down and out quite early with a few surprise victories along the way.
The International 2019 (TI9) Group Stages will take place between August 15 and August 18, with the Main Event starting on August 20, running up until August 25. It’s being hosted as the 9th annual TI event and will be held on Chinese soil for the very first time, at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai.
