The main stage of The International 2016 kicked off Monday in Seattle; fans gathered inside KeyArena to see the sixteen teams take the stage. Four teams would be sent home by day's end, but before the elimination matches, two winner's bracket matches decided who would stay on the high road after day one at TI6.
In the first best-of-three, two-time major winners OG squared off with the SEA powerhouse from South Korea MVP Phoenix. In one of the most intense series of the tournament so far, MVP and OG slugged back and forth. MVP's hyper-aggression won an early lead, but OG fired back with a Naga Siren-focused draft to control the offense and take it to game three. Ultimately, Phantom Assassin was a clutch pick for MVP Phoenix, with Kim "QO" Seon-yeob's massive crits and teamfight awareness securing a continued berth in the winner's bracket for MVP.
Digital Chaos played Wings Gaming in the second winner's match, with the latter exhibiting a dominant Drow composition that ran over DC's lineup. The NA team capitalized on Wing's draft in game two, though, punishing a gimmicky Pudge-Techies combo to push out the series. On match point, Wings exhibited its prowess across all five roles, stampeding over DC in a 25-minute win and knocking the NA hopefuls down to the lower bracket.
After the best-of-threes, the tone shifted to grim, as the lower bracket teams from the group stage had to face off in single-game elimination series. First up was TNC Gaming vs. Vici Gaming Reborn, the SEA qualifiers and the troubled Chinese squad. Though Vici secured early kills to set the pace, the lineup woes took over and Marc "Raven" Polo Luis Fausto's Terrorblade rolled over Vici, eliminating the first team from TI6. TNC advances to face OG tomorrow.
In a tense match for fans, Team Secret faced a trial-by-fire in its best-of-one against LGD Gaming. Two veteran captains in Clement "Puppey" Ivanov and Zhang "xiao8" Ning faced off, and over the course of an hour traded blows. LGD secured enough of a lead after enough crucial misplays were forced, and took the Secret ancient down, advancing to face Digital Chaos and eliminating Secret from TI6.
Fnatic and Escape Gaming fought for survival in the third lower bracket match. The European wild card qualifiers Escape struggled to find wins in the group stage, and couldn't seem to gain ground against the aggressive Fnatic lineup. In a short 26 minutes, the SEA underdogs secured a continued run at the Aegis, and move on to face the loser of tomorrow's EHOME vs. Alliance matchup.
The final lower bracket match was a second heartbreaker; two top teams, Natus Vincere and Team Liquid, faced off, with only one able to advance further in the tournament. Both teams drafted to their strengths, with Liquid securing a tempo-focused lineup and Na'Vi going all-out aggression, putting superstar Danil "Dendi" Ishutin on one of his signature heroes, the Queen of Pain. An early kill lead kept dreams alive for Na'Vi, but Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen gradually gained steam on his Naga Siren, becoming unstoppable for the aggressive Na'Vi lineup. The Na'Vi dream fell to Liquid, as the boys in blue advance to face the loser of EG vs. Newbee.