Who Will Win The International 2017 Main Event?
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The wait for The International 2017 Main Event is nearly over. On Aug. 7, 18 of the top esports teams today will fly to Seattle for the chance to take home the coveted Aegis of Champions.
Many Bitcoin sportsbooks might be leaning heavily on the invited teams for the event. The highest among them is Virtus Pro and Evil Geniuses. Bettors who are into esport Bitcoin betting should take note of these two teams.
One Bitcoin sportsbook is following Valve’s lead by putting higher odds on the invited esports team to The International 2017 Dota 2 Championship. Bet365 sets both Virtus Pro and Evil Geniuses with 4.50 outright odds while OG and Team Liquid get 6.00. The only two invited teams that are not getting single digit odds are Newbee with 11.00 odds and Invictus Gaming with 21.00 odds.
There are, however, no formulas of methods that Valve has shown before as to how they pick which teams get an invite. But there are some recognizable patterns in the invited teams, there are some teams that stray from these patterns.
Most of the invited teams are those that have won the Major tournament series or have placed above the top fourth rank. These teams are also consistent with their performances. Virtus Pro, for example, got the first place in the Dota Summit 7 and Russian e-Sports Cup 2017. Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, got the first place in the Manila Masters and Dota Pit League Season 5 this year.
However, there are some invited teams that do not conform to the normal patterns of team invitations. This year, these teams are Newbee and Invictus from China. Many people were surprised by the decision to invite the two, even more so the fact that Team Secret failed to get an invite.
The rationale behind Valve’s decision can be due to a team’s performance outside of a major tournament. Newbee got the first place in the Galaxy Battles and Zotac Cup Masters tournament this year. They event got to 2nd place in the Manila Masters tournament.
Invictus is the curveball of the six teams. The team disbanded in 2016 and just recently came together. What could have drawn Valve’s attention was the team’s victory in the Asia Championships Grand Final. The biggest feature of that tournament was Invictus opponent, OG. OG is a beast throughout the tournament. In the finals match, Invictus dominated the game and did not give OG a point.
When it comes to this year’s format, there will be the upper and lower brackets for the Main Event. Those competing in the lower bracket during the round will play for best of one match. In the first round of the upper bracket and second round of the lower bracket, it will be a best of three match.
Those who lose in the upper bracket during the first round will move to the lower bracket to compete with the winners of the first round in this bracket. The same applies to teams that lose the second and third rounds of the upper bracket. Also, the grand finals match will be a best of five.