MDL Chengdu Major: Day 1 & 2 Playoffs Recap

The first two days of the playoffs of the MDL Chengdu Dota 2 Major have come to an end with six teams already eliminated. The action will resume tomorrow with two more teams facing elimination, after which the teams will get a day's break before playing on the main stage in front of the crowd in The New International Convention & Exhibition Center, Chengdu Century City, China.

Upper Bracket Round 1

The upper bracket started with TNC Predator beating Alliance 2-1 in an exciting series which saw the first game played for 76 minutes before Alliance took down Ancient. J Storm continued their good performance as they knocked Team Liquid to the lower bracket after coming back in the series to win it 2-1. While their fellow North American squad, Fighting Pandas were decimated by the Chinese juggernaut of Vici Gaming 2-0, another North American team, Evil Geniuses dished out another clinical performance to blank Invictus Gaming 2-0.

"It's defense of the ancient, made real!" Well, @TNCPredator definitely didn't go down without a fight - what a start to the #MDLChengdu Major playoffs! Game 2 of TNC vs @theAllianceGG coming up next!📺: https://t.co/VZnt4kO1Z3 pic.twitter.com/XaLnfG8DbH

— Beyond the Summit (@BeyondTheSummit) November 18, 2019

Lower Bracket Round 1

With the lower brackets first round being an unforgiving best of one, the intensity of the games was turned up a notch. Team Spirit were the first team to get eliminated as they lost to Ehome after making some small mistakes, which the Chinese team capitalized on. Their fellow CIS team, Gambit, was the next to follow as they lost to another Chinese team, Aster, in a heavily lopsided game. The next team on the chopping block was Team Unknown, as the South American team never posed a serious threat against the dominant Fnatic lineup. The last game of the first round was probably the most exciting, as Beastcoast came back from a 22k gold deficit to send Team Adroit back home.

It was looking more than over for @beastcoast, but they're making some moves! #MDLChengdu➡️: https://t.co/VZnt4kO1Z3 pic.twitter.com/h1OrtckyDe

— Beyond the Summit (@BeyondTheSummit) November 18, 2019

Lower Bracket Round 2

Day 2 of the eliminations started with Team Liquid eliminating Ehome, 2-0, in a series in which the European team dominated and was never in a losing position. The final elimination series of Day 2 saw Alliance beating Team Aster 2-1 in a closely fought series.

The action will resume tomorrow at 5pm PT (7:30 am IST). While the first two matches will be the lower bracket elimination matches, the next two matches of the day will see the teams battle it out to enter the upper bracket finals.