The Carlo “Kuku” Palad-led T1 had secured a spot in the upper bracket while Djardel “DJ” Mampusti’s Fnatic and Abed “Abed” Yusop’s Evil Geniuses made it to the lower bracket in the playoffs of the The International 10 in Bucharest, Romania.
T1, which finished at the fourth spot of the Group A standing, is set to face the Group B leader PSG.LGD in a Best-of-3 series in the upper bracket. Fnatic will lock horns with Team Undying while EG battles Elephant in a do-or-die Best-of-1 series in the lower bracket.
The South Korea-based T1, after a shaky start to its campaign, won all of its six matches from Day 2 to Day 4 via 2-0 sweeps. The South Korean team won 10 of its 16 games in the eliminations. Karl “Karl” Jayme was making most of his first TI stint as he led the charge for T1 in the group stages including in the crucial 2-0 sweeps of Undying and Alliance.
In contrast, EG, which had a solid start to its bid for the Aegis of Champions, faltered in its last two games, falling to Virtus.pro in a sweep and only settled for a draw against Undying. That, along with the earlier 0-2 loss against Invictus Gaming and draw against Alliance dropped the North American squad to the fifth place in Group A standings with a 9-7 win-loss record in total games.
Fnatic, after a roller coaster group stage, finished at seventh spot with a 6-10 win-loss record. The Southeast Asia representative managed to recover from a horrific 1-5 win-loss record in Day 2 and even ended the group stage with a stunning 2-0 sweep of Group B’s No.2 squad, Team Secret in Day 4.
The teams will have a day rest before The International playoffs kick off on Tuesday, October 12. (Manila Time)