On the first day of the playoffs of the Dota-2 World Cup "The International" Team Secret has PSG.LGD surprisingly sent to the lower bracket. At least as surprising is the early elimination of the reigning world champions of Team Spirit from the tournament.

"Even though the Dota Pro circuit went pretty bad for us, we pulled together and now that we're here, we feel great," Remco "Crystallis" Arets said. "When Puppey brought me into the team, TI was still the main goal, winning the tournament was the plan from the very beginning.»

Puppey in the race for the second world title

For Team Secrets captain Clement "Puppey" Ivanov, this would be the second World Cup victory of his career, in 2011 he already won the first World Cup in Cologne and is one of the players with the longest careers ever. Team Secret seems to be on the right track and left the tournament favorites of PSG.LGD look pretty out of shape with a distinct 2:0.

Another surprise is the elimination of Team Spirit on the first matchday of the playoffs. After a mediocre group stage, the reigning world champions started in the lower bracket, where the tournament is already over for the team after a 0:1 against BOOM Esports.

All Western European teams still in the race

After the end of the first matchday, all Western European participants are still in the race. Gaimin Gladiators defeated Fnatic in the best-of-one, while Entity managed to eliminate Royal Never Give Up.