Reigning TI champions knocked out by underdogs on playoff day 1

In a shocking turn of events, the reigning champions of TI, Team Spirit, were eliminated by BOOM Esports on the first day of the playoffs. This guarantees a new champion being crowned at the Dota 2 championship.

The Main Event of TI11 kicked off on October 20, and the biggest shock of the day came when Southeast Asian side BOOM Esports knocked out the defending champions, Team Spirit.

Team Spirit’s early exit comes as a shock to the community as the CIS side was regarded as one of the favorites for the event. This is the first-ever TI appearance for BOOM Esports, who recently finished 7th-8th at PGL Arlington Major and 9th-10th at ESL One Malaysia.

Upset strikes on day 1 of the TI11 playoffs

As a lower bracket round 1 match, the game between BOOM Esports and Team Spirit was a best-of-one affair. With the stakes that high, both teams played the match in a very disciplined manner, which was reflected by the low number of kills (25) in a 40-minute game.

Although Team Spirit put up a strong fight with TORONTOTOKYO’s Leshrac and YATORO’s Lifestealer, BOOM made sure to constantly target Collapse’s Outworld Destroyer, which prevented the defending champions from making their own plays.

BOOM did exceptionally well to control the map and choke out Team Spirit’s heroes before eventually closing the game out.

Team Spirit’s elimination from TI11 confirms that there will be a new champion this year. However, there are still four players in contention for a second TI ring. These players are:

• Faith_bian and y’ from PSG.LGD (TI6 Champions)
• Puppey from Team Secret (TI1 Champion)
• MATUMBAMAN from Team Liquid (TI7 Champion)

Make sure to check out all the latest results and upcoming schedules on our TI11 hub.