Dota 2’s The International 4 playoffs end; main event matches decided

The playoffs of Dota 2‘s The International 4 tournament have ended, which means the matches starting the main event are now set in stone.

Eight teams will be competing for the Aegis, the title of Best At Dota 2, and the grand prize of nearly $5 million USD: Vici Gaming, Newbee, Evil Geniuses, Team DK, Cloud 9, Natus Vincere, Invictus Gaming, and LGD Gaming. Newbee stormed today’s playoffs, defeating every team thrown their way – Titan, Na’Vi, and IG – in three consecutive best-of-three matches. In the space of one day, they’ve gone from nearly being knocked out to being in the upper bracket of Friday’s main event. Cinderella story, etc.

Here’s how the main event will shake out: in the upper bracket, Vici will be taking on Newbee, and EG will be fighting it out with Team DK. In the lower bracket, Cloud 9 will battle Na’Vi, and IG will play against LGD. All matches are best-of-three, except the grand final, which will be a whopping best-of-five. It’s a double elimination tournament, so those defeated in the upper bracket will have a second chance as they’ll be then moved into the lower bracket. Those who lose their matches in the lower bracket, though, are eliminated from the tournament. The grand final itself will be between the winner of the upper bracket, and the winner of the lower bracket.

The upper bracket matches will be taking place this Friday – 18 July – so we’ll know one of our grand finalists by the end of that day.

Dota 2‘s The International 4 main event begins on 18 July at Seattle’s KeyArena, and will end on 21 July. The teams competing will earn a minimum of $510,000 USD, while the winner of the grand final will scoop up a prize that’s currently at $4,945,566 USD. Not bad at all.