The International’s group stage is more important than ever — and it’s kicking off with a bang.
The TI12 group stage has finally been announced in a post from Wykrhm Reddy, with the competition’s 20 teams split into four different groups.
Valve is making significant changes to The International format with TI12
It’s a radically different group stage from the one we’ve been used to for so long — and before long, four teams will be eliminated.
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TI12 group stage: Looking even at the start
Group A
9Pandas
Entity
Evil Geniuses
Team SMG
Team Spirit
Group B
Azure Ray
BetBoom Team
Shopify Rebellion
Team Liquid
Thunder Awaken
Group C
beastcoast
Gaimin Gladiators
LGD Gaming
nouns
Virtus Pro
Group D
Quest Esports
Talon Esports
TSM
Tundra Esports
Vivo Keyd Stars
At first glance, each group seems fairly even. The three (arguably) top teams in the world now — Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, and Team Spirit — find themselves in three different groups, and defending champions Tundra Esports is also in its own group, making all their advancements incredibly likely.
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The revamped group stage will see five teams in each group compete in a best-of-two, single round-robin, with the bottom team eliminated — and that’s just the first phase.
The second phase sees the top two teams from each group playing the third and fourth-placed teams in the opposite group. This will be a best-of-three, and will determine the main event bracket placement.
Credit: Valve
20 teams will battle it over four days, from October 12 to 15 — before finally leaving 16 teams to dust themselves off and prepare for the playoffs.
READ MORE: Breaking the Habits: Which The International records might be broken at TI12?
