TI 9 Groups Drawn: A look through each region

The TI 9 will be starting on 15 August and will see 18 teams battle out to get crowned the worlds best team and lay claim to a record-breaking $14,976,070 as winnings. The games will start at 01:00 UTC with 4 games from Group A kicking the event off.

Format

The teams have been divided into two groups of nine teams each where they will play in a round-robin format from 15 August to 18 August. All matches in the group stage will be a best of two and the top 4 teams of each group will advance to the upper bracket of the Main Event. The last team in each group will be eliminated and the remaining teams will move to the lower bracket.

The main event will take place between 20-25 August in a double-elimination bracket. While the first lower bracket rounds will be a best of 1, the Grand Finals will be a best of five series. All other rounds in the main event will be a best of three.

Round up of each Region

Europe

One of the most competitive regions in the world, this region saw 5 teams make it to the TI with a direct invite out of a possible 12. While favorites like Team Secret and Team Liquid will expect nothing less than the title, previous TI winners OG will look to be the first team to defend their title. Ninjas in Pyjamas, Alliance and Chaos Esports will look to place well and cannot be counted out from shocking any of the favorites.

South America

As the sole representative of this region, Team Infamous would like to better their previous TI performance (13th-16th) and boost the image of this region which has failed to deliver at the world sage inspite of the talented players it has.

North America

Evil Geniuses, the flagbearer of NA in the Dota scene, will again have a lot of hopes on their shoulder to bring a title back to their region. The region will also be represented by Newbee, the Chinese organization which picked up the Forward Gaming roster, after Forward Gaming had ceased operations.

CIS

The CIS region will send two of the most famous Esports organizations of all time, Virtus Pro and NaVi, though both teams will have contrasting goals. While VP will look to claim the title after a good start in the season, NaVi will look to leave a mark in the TI after an absence of few years from the prestigious tournament.

China

With the backing of the home crowd, the Chinese teams will have huge expectations to live up to, especially Vici Gaming, who would like to continue the form they were in at the end of the season. PSG LGD will look to claiming the title after missing it out in the previous edition. While Keen Gaming and Royals Never Give up will not have the high expectations, the will like to put up a good show in front of the home crowd.

South-East Asia

The SEA region will see the 3 dominant organizations in the region representing it again, with TNC, Fnatic and Mineski. While Fnatic have had a poor showing at the end of the season from which they would hope that they bounce back from, TNC will look to continue the form they were at the end of the season ever since acquiring the services of ex-Liquid coach Heen. Mineski will look to prove a point against their SEA compatriots and will hope for an improved performance after adding their ex-captain Mushi as their coach

The tournament will be held for the first time in China in Shanghai in the Mercedes Benz Arena. The tournament will be streamed on twitch in English, Russian, Chinese, Korean and various other languages.

Follow Sportskeeda for all the latest news from the world of Esports.