TI8 Grand Finals Recap – Final Prize Pool and Brackets

The Lower Bracket battle was set between Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses later in that day. Meanwhile, OG and PSG prepared for their epic battle.

It went in favor of OG, where they sent PSG tumbling down to the lower brackets via a 2-1 score. An unexpected defeat that would end up setting the tone for the weekend.

That game sent PSG.LGD into the lower brackets and set up a time bomb that was waiting to erupt.

Which team would have to deal with that time bomb was still up in the air at that point, however. Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid had their score to settle since, in their previous encounter, Liquid took it 2-0. They demonstrated what it meant to be a TI veteran and champion.

TI8 Grand Final Time Bomb – PSG.LGD

An important question going into these matches was whether or not Evil Geniuses would be able to adapt their strategies to deal with Team Liquid’s championship skills. That question got answered with a resounding yes where EG was able to 2-0 the former TI champions.

With the defeat of Team Liquid behind them, it looked like Evil Geniuses had a shot at breaking back into the Upper Brackets. That is until they ran into the gatekeeper of the Upper Bracket known as PSG.LGD. Although EG played impressively, it was not enough to handle PSG and they were eliminated with a score of 2-0.

Saying that the results were an upset are quite an understatement. Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses were looking like absolute monsters during the entire TI8 process where they obliterated one team after another. That just goes to show you never know who will defeat whom.

At the end of the day, PSG wanted another shot at OG for taking them down. The matches went back and forth, but finally, OG was able to pull off a miraculous victory finishing the final score at 3-2 in OG’s favor. OG was the underdog story of TI and they now rest amongst the other legends of DOTA 2.

TI8 Grand Finals – Final Prize Pool

The International is known for exceptional DOTA 2 play and an excessive amount of prize money involved for the competitors. We were not disappointed this year with the prize pool results having reached a total of $25,532,177 dollars! A substantial boost from last years overall pool.

The speculation that The International prize pool could not match TI7 was mistaken since not only did it reach the previous year’s amount, but exceeded it by quite a bit. The total prize pool for TI7 if you recall was 24,787,916 dollars and made video game history for the largest pool.

Seeing that the pool was 3/4 of a million more than the previous year, it makes folks wonder where the supposed decline is to occur.

What It Could Mean for Future TIs

None of the top 6 teams took home less than a million dollars, and that’s no chump change. If we take anything from this year’s TI, and especially the prize pool, it is that the fans are the ones who decide how the tournament goes and they made their voices heard with their wallets.

The International has broken the mold when it comes to tournament prize pools, and the aspect of crowdfunding does not go unnoticed. Fan contributions cannot get easily predicted, and although it seems far-fetched, the prize pool could be even larger for TI9.

TI8 Grand Finals – Games on Friday and Saturday

Friday Games – Best of 3 Series

Liquid vs Secret

• Liquid – 2
• Secret – 0

PSG.LGD vs OG

• PSG.LGD – 1
• OG – 2

Evil Geniuses vs Liquid

• Evil Geniuses – 2
• Liquid – 0

Saturday Games – Best of 3 Series

Evil Geniuses vs PSG.LGD

• Evil Geniuses – 0
• PSG.LGD – 2

TI8 Grand Finals – Best of 5 Series

PSG.LGD vs OG

• PSG.LGD – 2
• OG – 3

TI8 Grand Finals Wrap up

Another year of TI has gone down in the history books, and new records have once again gotten set as a result within the esports community. It could be argued that TI8 was by far the most entertaining yet since all of the incredible performances we saw from some unexpected teams.

That goes to show that you never honestly know who will win it all in the end and that any team is capable of defeating another. Whether it be fate or the luck of the draw, the matchups that we saw during TI8 will dictate the upcoming season. What players may we see on some of our favorite teams when they start their path for TI9?

We will have to wait and find out, but it would not surprise me to see quite a bit of organizational restructuring with many of the teams since that tends to happen each year. If any of these teams keep a similar roster to what they brought to this year’s TI, we are definitely in for an intense season.

The question remains what type of switches some of these organizations will make if they want to try to get further up the ranks for TI9. Will it be new players, coaches, or just tactics in general? Probably all of that and much more as teams now take what they learned this year and apply it to their organization.

We will see how effective these strategies are when the teams begin their battles anew. The DOTA 2 war shall march on and once again we should salute OG for their fantastic performance at this year’s TI! 2019 is sure to be an exciting year for DOTA 2, and we look forward to bringing you that news as it unfolds. Until next time folks!