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Virtus.Pro vs. MVP.Phoenix

The first game of the play-in's pitted Russian team Virtus.Pro against the Korean hopefuls MVP.Phoenix, in a game where many were predicting the Russians would come out on top based on the sheer experience of their team, which included former TI grand finalist Sergey 'Ars-Art' Revin. Things started off well for VP, as they got off to a considerable lead and had a strong start on their Tinker, which should have been able to guarantee their continued map control and deny MVP's lineup which heavily depended on the Warlock's Chaotic Offering to fight and push. Instead VP fell back on the incessant fighting which has kept them languishing at the bottom of the European scene for the entire year, foregoing the split-push that was the main reason they qualified for this tournament. This allowed MVP to slowly get back control of the game and push into VP's base, at which point VP finally lost control of the game. After that point it was mostly a formality, as MVP took the first game of the series.

　　In the second game VP doubled down on their unconventional aggression, thinking that all they needed was to ban out MVP's key heroes from the previous game. As it happened, VP's draft was even less stable and they were unable to snowball fast enough, slowly but surely losing ground to MVP who only had to hold their own in the early game, a much more manageable task. After 33 minutes of back and forth kills, MVP emerged victorious 2-0 over a VP who were a shadow of the hopes placed on them after their European Qualifier second place finish.

　　

Team Liquid vs. CIS Game

It had been a month since we'd seen anything out of Team Liquid, and many probably still expected they would be the same disheveled team that were still struggling to find their common tune during the Americas Qualifier, but what we got in this series was far from it. As CIS picked a very lategame orientated lineup without much synergy, Liquid started it out with a strong initiating and teamfighting lineup which in more way than one countered what CIS were trying to do. The results were about as ugly as could be expected, with Liquid getting off to an early lead and never letting off the gas, ending up winning the game 26-6 in 32 minutes.

　　For the second game CIS tried to up their agression, getting a Rikimaru and Io with hopes of being able to out-gank Liquid. Things did not work out much better however as Jimmy 'DeMoN' Ho on the Tidehunter was able to set up winning teamfight after winning teamfight, with the massively farmed Weaver of Max 'qojqva' Broecker moving around freely in teamfights and putting out the right click damage. The results were about as ugly as the first game, with 23-6 in 26 minutes, sending a scary looking Liquid into the play-in finals with a 2-0 win.

　　

Team Liquid vs. MVP.Phoenix

After an impressive series against CIS, DeMoN had a poor decision early on, giving away first blood to MVP and setting them up for a slight advantage during the laning stage. This in turn lead to Kim 'QO' Sunyeob on the Slark for MVP to get an early Shadow Blade, which allowed him to foil Liquid's early Roshan kill by stealing the Aegis of Immortality. This in turn allowed MVP to get some control of the early game, forcing Liquid to rely on their strong split-push from the Lycan. Patience and some over-extensions from MVP allowed Liquid to slowly take control of the game and especially DeMoN to redeem his early mistake, time and again picking off MVP's key heroes and decimating MVP's ability to push, while qojqva took the enemy barracks one by one until they were able to push down the throne, taking the first game of the series and showing off their ability to play from behind.

　　For the second game MVP again gave away the Lycan to Liquid as well as the Skywrath Mage for Sam 'Bulba' Sosale, which had proven to be a surprise favourite during these play-in games. This time around there was no early mistakes from Liquid, instead they set up their lanes to out right win two, and ended up coming on top against MVP's offensive trilane as well after turning around an early kill attempt. With a strong lead Liquid never let off the gas, ending up diving MVP's base by 18 minutes in, absolutely running circles around the inexperienced Koreans. While the North Americans took their time to close out the game, it was more a case of caution, as they were able to continuously building up and ever growing advantage. Finally at 31 minutes in Liquid grouped up and ran over the bottom lane, ending the game with conviction and taking the series 2-0.

　　Team Liquid return to The International having defeated both CIS Game and MVP.Phoenix 2-0.