This weekend saw the kick off of The International 2023 upper bracket quarterfinals. This is the second weekend in the 3 week tournament designed to maximize the amount of fans that can attend the event and tune in to the game each day.

Four series were played out on the main stage in the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit last night. However, none of the games yielded unexpected results. Three clean 2-0s and the most surprising 2-1 of the night resulted in Team Spirit, Team Liquid, LGD Gaming and Azure Ray proceeding to the UB semifinals.

Credit: Dota 2

Team Spirit Finally Dropped a Game at The International 2023

As the only team who had yet to drop a single game at TI 2023, Team Spirit finally put a foot wrong in their series against Virtus.Pro. Despite Yatoro’s Faceless Void farming like his life depended on it, he couldn’t contend with the Spectre/Bristleback combination thrown his way.

The only real consolation for Spirit fans was that the game only lasted 33 minutes before they tapped out with a 32-9 scoreline in favor of VP.

But while Spirit were down, they definitely weren’t out. The kings of the comeback turned things around and beat Virtus.Pro in the next two games. Yes, they had to fight for it. But the Team Spirit we know and love was back on form.

Did nouns Stand A Chance?

Europe’s nouns were the standout team of the group stage. Despite seeding into the group of death alongside LGD Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators, they locked themselves into a very respectable 3rd place.

Their seeding luck went from bad to worse though. They faced off with defending champions Team Tundra for their upper bracket seed. In a move no one saw coming, nouns 2-0’d without, seemingly, too much trouble at all.

A team can only cut down so many titans in a row though. Eventually, nouns met their match in Azure Ray and were quickly taken care of. Here was a rare series where Dazzle, the most contested hero at TI, wasn’t picked or banned at all.

But this isn’t the last fans will see of nouns this TI. They still have one more life to spend. They’ll need to spend it against the best the North America has to offer, TSM or Shopify Rebellion. If they want to make a real run for the finals, they’ll also need to be the team to knock out Gaimin Gladiators if they take down both EG and 9Pandas. Times are tough for nouns but this wouldn’t be the first time an EU underdog has lifted the Aegis of Champions.

Tonight, there are elimination games on the line. All eyes should be on Gaimin Gladiators and Tundra Esports. They’ll be fighting to stay afloat in round 1 of the lower bracket.