This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　I'll try to keep the recap of the days story lines as spoiler free as possible, but if you want to check out the recommended games of the day without any hints as to what will happen, feel free to jump over this section of the daily recap.

　　If yesterday was the day of the North American underdogs showing off their fangs, today was a big boost to the Chinese teams, with Team DK and LGD showing signs of improvement while Invictus Gaming mostly held fast on their path bar a few stumbles. The real winner however was ViCi Gaming who have silently racked up wins and now sit atop the whole pile with an impressive 7-1 score. It should be noted however that VG have some of their toughest opponents still ahead of them, but at the same time few teams have managed not to stumble against any of the weaker teams.

　　While the Chinese teams were climbing up the ranks, Evil Geniuses and Na`Vi also took home a few key victories, setting themselves up within striking distance of the top two. In particular Na`Vi who have only only played eight games so far still have a lot of potential to reach far. Similarly defending champions Alliance have made great strides to overcome their abysmal 1-4 finish on the first day, stacking up a 3-1 run for one of the best day 2 results.

　　While most of China had a good run, NewBee found themselves struggling to find their way back onto the path, plummeting from a 3-1 first day to a 5-5 by the end of the second day, leaving them only inches above water. Similar hard falls were experienced by Na`Vi.US and Fnatic, who both struggled to find their footing. Even though Arrow Gaming are sitting at the bottom of the rankings their two wins today guarantee that we will have no team going without any wins during this years event.

　　

Games to watch

Unlike previous years the games seem not to be uploaded to YouTube so far. They are however easily accessible either through the Dota 2 client or via The International website.

Na`Vi vs. Cloud 9

While Na`Vi had a quietly great start to the tournament, their game against Cloud 9 telegraphed to the whole world that they were in fighting shape. In one of the closest games so far with an abundance of great individual plays and some really intelligent draft interactions, two Western titans of this groupstage duked it out in a highly entertaining fashion.

　　

Na`Vi.US vs. Invictus Gaming

It might not have been the cleanest of games but this 73 minute thriller was never out of reach for either team. JingJun 'Sneyking' Wu on the Naga Siren may have been the person at the center of all attention in this game but the truly amazing plays came out of Steven 'Korok ' Ashworth on the solo mid Earthshaker as well as Jiang 'YYF' Cen on the Faceless Void, providing drama for the whole family.

　　

Team DK vs. Team Empire

In many ways Empires results so far don't quite do justice to the level of play they've displayed, and this game showed off some of their best. Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominok in particular shone for his team on the Dragon Knight, while Team DK's Zeng Rong 'MMY' Lei summoned his inner rat on the Shadow Shaman as he kept his team in the game with plays that would make even Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg proud.

　　

Fnatic vs. Alliance

It seems every time these two old scrimming partners meet we get a good game and this was no different, as Alliance on a hot streak faced off against Fnatic who were desperate for some good news at the end of a rough day. For only the fourth time ever Johan 'BigDaddy' Sundstein took to the Lone Druid for Fnatic, matching up against a Lycanthrope and Enchantress pushing lineup from Alliance.

　　

Team Empire vs. Invictus Gaming

Closing out the night Empire and iG put on a show after a long day, with iG running their typical tricore lineup with two aggressive supports against Empires heavily teamfight orientated one, seeing Resolut1on take on one of his favourite heroes in the Magnus while his captain Andrey 'Mag' Chipenko put on a show as the offlane Faceless Void.