TI11 LCQ Day 2: Na'Vi, Liquid top groups as LCQ heads into Playoffs

The Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ) for The International 11 (TI11), this year's iteration of Dota 2's multimillion-dollar world championship tournament, concluded its Group Stage on Sunday (9 October).

The 12 teams in the LCQ were split into two groups of six teams each for the Group Stage, where they fought for placement in the double-elimination Playoffs.

The second day of the LCQ followed the trend set by its first day, as teams from Western and Eastern Europe topped both groups while the representatives from North and South America struggled to keep up and failed to secure an upper bracket berth.

In Group A, Eastern Europe's Natus Vincere (Na'Vi), Southeast Asia's Polaris Esports, Western Europe's Team Secret, and China's Vici Gaming (VG) secured the upper bracket spots for their group. Nouns Esports from North America and Tempest from South America will start from the lower bracket.

In Group B, Western Europe's Team Liquid, China's Xtreme Gaming (XG), Southeast Asia's T1, and Eastern Europe's Virtus.pro (VP) claimed upper bracket berths. Meanwhile, South America's Infamous and North America's Wildcard Gaming settled for lower bracket spots.

Here's a breakdown of all the action on the second day of the TI11 LCQ.

Na'Vi maintain their hold on the top spot of Group A

Na'Vi didn't have the same dominant performance in Day 2 as they did on the opening day of the Group Stage, but it didn't matter as they still placed first in Group A.

The Eastern European powerhouse's 5-1 score on Day 1 made up for the two draws they had against VG and Secret in Day 2.

VG had a bad start to their day, as they got swept by Nouns after two nearly 60-minute games. Despite the rough first series, the Chinese team bounced back in time to draw against Na'Vi and ended the day by sweeping Polaris.

In both groups, Chinese teams placed second, establishing themselves as incredible competition.

Secret had two tough matches on their second day of the LCQ as they faced off against Na'Vi and Polaris. Despite a shaky start to the day, Secret managed to draw against both teams and place third in the group.

Similar to Na'Vi, Polaris is another team that didn't do too well in Day 2 but still made the upper bracket due to their strong performance in Day 1.

After using a carry Shadow Fiend on John "Natsumi-" Vargas to mow down buildings and go 1-1 against Secret, Polaris secured their upper bracket slot by taking down Tempest in the fastest match of the tournament so far — taking only a total of 44 minutes to sweep the series

North America's Nouns Esports had a great showing in Day 2, though it wasn't enough to give them an upper bracket berth.

Nouns managed to sweep VG at the start of the day to give them hope. However, their subsequent 1-1 draw with Tempest proved to be their undoing, as that one loss was enough for them to lose their chance at an upper bracket spot.

Despite a bad 1-5 score on the first day of the LCQ, Nouns recovered well on Day 2 and is currently looking like the strongest team that will start the Playoffs from the lower bracket.

One team that has struggled throughout the entire Group Stage has been Tempest, as they ended the first day as the only team without a win and will start the Playoffs with only a draw to their name. It's hard to see the silver lining for Tempest right now but they can still make it to TI11 if they pull off the biggest comeback story of the season.

Team Liquid the first to secure upper bracket berth

At both the ESL One Stockholm and PGL Arlington Majors, Team Liquid were one victory away from securing a Top 8 finish, which would have given them a direct invite to TI11.

But this time, the Western European powerhouse had no intention of relinquishing their last chance of making it to the biggest tournament of the year.

Liquid were in fine form as they took less than two hours to defeat both Wildcard Gaming and VP.

In their first game against VP, the Russian squad's attempt to cheese their way to victory with a fourth pick Broodmother was handily countered by Samuel "Boxi" Svahn's Spirit Breaker — resulting in Liquid's quickest win of the day at 25 minutes.

XG were tied with Liquid for the first spot on Saturday and while they managed to secure an upper bracket slot, they looked decidedly less confident on the tournament's second day.

XG started the day with a brutal 0-2 loss against T1. The Chinese squad came back in the second series against Infamous, although the second game of that match was too close for comfort.

After a dominant 4-2 performance in Day 1, VP were looking shaky on the second day of the Group Stage. The Russian squad are undoubtedly one of the best in the world, but they have also been known to succumb to their nerves and lose games that a team of their caliber shouldn't.

After losing to Liquid, VP's draw against T1 gave them the one victory they needed to secure a spot in the upper bracket and avoid potential tiebreakers.

It was a nail-biter for fans of T1, as the team went 1-3 on Day 1 and had to overcome some tough competition in Day 2 to make it to the upper bracket.

T1's earlier victory against XG was a huge momentum boost.

Team captain Carlo "Kuku" Palad gave the team their first win of the day when he didn't pick Venomancer and instead had a perfect 17-2-18 score on Nature's Prophet while Anathan "ana" Pham went ham on Slark by going 14-2-5 to secure the series sweep.

After taking down XG, T1 secured fourth place in Group B by going 1-1 against VP and Wildcard Gaming. It was a close shave for T1 though, as they were nearly forced into a tiebreaker against Wildcard.

There was a lot of excitement surrounding Infamous, as they have multiple star players from South America, particularly former Thunder Predator cores Leonardo "Leostyle-" Sifuentes and Frank "Frank" Ayala.

Infamous scored some impressive draws against Liquid and T1 but their overall score of three draws and two losses just wasn't enough to make it to the upper bracket.

Here are the results of each match for the second day of the T11 LCQ Group Stage.

• Team Secret 1-1 Polaris Esports

• Xtreme Gaming 0-2 T1

• Vici Gaming 0-2 Nouns Esports

• Team Liquid 2-0 Wildcard Gaming

• Natus Vincere 1-1 Vici Gaming

• Xtreme Gaming 2-0 Infamous

• Nouns Esports 1-1 Tempest

• Team Liquid 2-0 Virtus.pro

• Vici Gaming 2-0 Polaris Esports

• T1 1-1 Wildcard Gaming

• Natus Vincere 1-1 Team Secret

• Infamous 1-1 Wildcard Gaming

Here are the standings for both groups at the end of the T11 LCQ Group Stage:

Group A standings:

1. Natus Vincere - 7-3

2. Vici Gaming - 6-4

3. Team Secret - 6-4

4. Polaris Esports - 6-4

5. Nouns Esports - 4-6

6. Tempest - 1-9

Group B standings:

1. Team Liquid - 8-2

2. Xtreme Gaming - 6-4

3. T1 - 5-5

4. Virtus.pro - 5-5

5. Infamous - 3-7

6. Wildcard Gaming - 3-7

The TI11 LCQ Playoffs will kick off on Monday (10 October) with the upper bracket quarterfinals as well as the first round of the lower bracket. The upper bracket quarterfinals will feature the following matchups:

• Natus Vincere vs T1

• Team Secret vs Xtreme Gaming

• Virtus.pro vs Vici Gaming

• Team Liquid vs Polaris Esports

The winners of those matches will advance to the upper bracket semifinals while the losers will drop down to the lower bracket, where the bottom teams from the Group Stage await in the first round of elimination matches.

Here are the matchups for the first round of the lower bracket:

• Tempest vs Natus Vincere/T1

• Infamous vs Team Secret/Xtreme Gaming

• Nouns Esports vs Virtus.pro/Vici Gaming

• Wildcard Gaming vs Team Liquid/Polaris Esports

The TI11 LCQ will take place from 8 to 12 October and will feature the 12 runners-up from the regional qualifiers fighting for the last two spots in the Group Stage. The LCQ will begin with a single round-robin Group Stage from 8 to 9 October followed by a double-elimination Playoffs from 10 to 12 October.

TI11 will be hosted in Singapore from 8 to 30 October and features a revamped format with the new LCQ and a longer schedule. For everything you need to know about TI11, check here.

Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.

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