The group stage for the much awaited tournament in DOTA 2 was very spectacular, given how the teams performed and outwitted each other in order to secure their place in the Winners' Bracket.
The most surprising and unexpected event so far took place after the group stage. Former Champions of the International Series Na'Vi, IG and Newbee ended up in the Losers' Bracket. The Losers' Bracket is composed of the bottom eight of the ranking after the group stage, and will only have a Best of One match during the first phase of the Main Event.
The International 2011 Champions Nature Vincere (Na'Vi) seems to struggle finding their footing even after winning the Europe Qualifiers. They are the second lowest, next to MVP.Hot6ix, in terms of points, having only 3 points from 3 draws and 4 losses.
The International 2012 Champions Invictus Gaming (IG) also had difficulties in setting up their play, securing only one win against Na'Vi and having 3 draws and 3 loses.
The International 2013 Champions Alliance sadly never made it to the Main Event of the Internationals 2015, after giving up the Europe Qualifiers to Na'Vi.
The Internationals 2014 Champions Newbee failed to secure a spot in the Winners' Bracket after having 6 draws and losing to CDEC Gaming.
Team Empire and Virtus Pro Gaming battled it out for the last remaining slot in the Winners' Bracket with a Best of Three tie-breaker. The last slot will go to Empire after beating VP with the score 2-1.
The Round 1 for the Winners' Bracket will be a Best of Three match and will be played by: LGD vs. Empire; CDEC vs. Cloud9; Evil Geniuses vs. Complexity Gaming; and Secret vs. Ehome.
The Round 1 for the Losers' Bracket will be decided by having only one game. It will be a do-or-die for the following teams: MVP.Phoenix vs. Newbee; Vici Gaming vs. Na'Vi; Virtus Pro vs. Fnatic; Invictus Gaming vs. MVP.Hot6ix.
The International 2015 starts August 3 and will be held at the KeyArena, Seattle. Livestreaming is available on YouTube Live and Twitch.
