All nine Filipinos have made it through to the main stage of The International. The group stage saw the bottom team from the two groups leave the tournament without even playing at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Among the teams, All-Filipino team TNC Predator had the best group stage results finishing 3rd-4th in group A to secure an upper bracket slot. This means the team won’t be eliminated right away in their first match. Part of their success was from clutch plays from support Timothy “Tims” Randrup who was also tapped to play in the All-Star match on Saturday.
Mineski, on the other hand, finished 5th-6th in group A and faces elimination at the lower bracket. Both groups A teams were tied going to the last day of groups but a 2-0 win by TNC over Team Liquid denied Mineski a tie-breaker for the last upper bracket slot.
Fnatic also failed to secure an upper bracket slot in group B. The team was tied with RNG, Virtus Pro, and Infamous at the start of the last day but failed to take a game against Virtus Pro losing a chance for a tie-break scenario at the end of the day.
Starting the main stage, all Southeast Asian teams face tough opponents. TNC will try for an upset against the third placers of the DPC Vici gaming. Fnatic will take on The International 2017 champions Team Liquid at the start of the lower bracket. While Mineski will face a resurging Natus Vincere for their run at the lower bracket.
With the group stage finished, the remaining teams are secured to take home USD 503,442 or more than PHP 26 million. Starting at the upper bracket TNC Predator is now secured of at least USD 671,256 or more than PHP 35 million.