The group stage of the International 2016 ended with a few surprises. On the winner's side of the bracket there are several teams that snuck up on the competition with strong performances: last year's champions Evil Geniuses, Digital Chaos, Alliance, and EHOME.
EHOME dominated the wild card bracket and finished up as the top finisher, record-wise, in Group B. Alliance and Evil Geniuses were the two teams that came into the event with plenty of question marks -- questions on whether the lineups would perform well together or if they could even be contenders. Then, the dark horse of the group, Digital Chaos, was just a shock to the Dota 2 world.
The main event should provide plenty of fireworks as well. These are the teams that could do some damage.
Team Liquid
Team Liquid is underperforming.
That's an understatement.
This juggernaut of a team is suffering from severe performance issues. The lone bright spots on the lineup continue to be the support play, especially Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka, but inconsistency plague and threaten the team's tournament chances.
In the group stage, Team Liquid played to the tune of a 5-9 record and looked absolutely lost at times. There were certainly moments where the team's signature defense and comeback potential shown (its matches against Team Secret and Newbee), but it was mostly a lost cause. All that said, Team Liquid faces shaky Na'Vi first, who accrued a 6-8 record in groups. Should TL win, it'll take on a beatable Fnatic or a very beatable Escape Gaming, meaning a good run and possible high finish is still achievable.
MVP Phoenix
The team may be on the winner's side of the bracket, but it drew one of the favorites, OG, as its first round opponent. However, not all hope is lost. If the South Korean powerhouse drops from the winner's side, it's placement will be forgiving in the loser's bracket. The next potential matchups could be TNC Pro Team and then LGD Gaming, both very winnable situations.
This is a team that moves fast and decides faster. This lineup blew up last year with a blitzkrieg-esque strategy to just plow through opponents, but this is refined MVP Phoenix. It's a lineup that could pull back and draw out mistakes, in addition to accelerating the pace. There's plenty of potential for a top 4 finish.
EHOME
The darlings of the wildcard can run the gauntlet and leave Seattle as the champions of the International. It's all there for the Chinese. They lead the tournament in kill/death ratio at 5.04, third in average kills with 25.79, second lowest average deaths with only 16.93, and third in average assists with a robust 59.57. In other words, this team is doing it all.
From top to bottom, there's been hardly a weak link and the bracket lines up perfectly for a deep tournament run. This team will be favored against Alliance and then face a winnable matchup against either Evil Geniuses or fellow countrymen, Newbee. The biggest hurdle may be OG, but EHOME looks every bit the part of championship contender.