The second day of the main event of The International 6 saw titans fall to the new guard. Two former TI victors dropped their series today, and a favorite for the top saw an earlier exit than anyone could have predicted.
In the first upper bracket series, the wild card underdog EHOME continued its dominating streak in the tournament against Alliance. Despite Gustav "s4" Magnusson drafting comfort picks for his longtime teammates, EHOME seemed to have the team's number at every turn, always seizing the net worth advantage back in teamfights. In two 36-minute matches, EHOME secured a spot in the quarterfinals and sent Alliance to the lower bracket.
Evil Geniuses, the victors of TI5, faced an intimidating Newbee squad in the second upper bracket match. Newbee was one of the strongest competitors coming into the tournament, but EG made the matchup look lopsided. Over two games, Syed "SumaiL" Sumail Hassan put on a mid-lane masterclass. Newbee fell hard in game one and tried to extend game two -- with an Alchemist pick and excellent Sand King play from Damien "kpii" Chok -- but the Chinese team could not withstand the continuous onslaught of EG. Eventually, the boys in blue broke Newbee and secured a ticket to play EHOME for a semifinal spot.
In the lower bracket matches, tournament favorites OG played for survival against TnC Gaming. The SEA qualifiers were not expected to make it far in the tournament, but over the course of two games, these five players shocked fans with an incredible upset, dismantling OG on the back of incredible play from TnC's cores. OG fought hard and exhibited excellent play, but at every breaking point, TnC refused to give, bouncing back and fending off OG. In two hours, TnC eliminated the tournament favorites, becoming the first team from the Philippines to make it into the top eight teams of TI6.
The final match of the day pit North American qualifier Digital Chaos against LGD Gaming. With the former coming off a hard loss in the upper bracket, and the latter a veteran team and direct invite on its last legs, both teams would be playing for survival in TI6. Despite the veteran leadership of Zhang "xiao8" Ning, LGD struggled to keep up with Digital Chaos and the top tier play of Aliwi "w33" Omar on picks like Invoker and Mirana. DC swept the seasoned squad 2-0, and will advance to play TnC in the next round of lower bracket matches.