Day 2 of the main event saw the rise of CIS Dota as both Virtus.pro and Team Empire won their series, edging out potential title contenders. In the meantime, two European teams faced off against one another and TNC is set to face OG in the lower bracket yet again. As a big reveal, Valve announced the release of a new Dota 2 themed card game.

The International 2017 has finally opened its door at Key Arena and like previous years, 4 teams had to bid farewell at the end of the day. The group stage set the pace with 106 different heroes picked, making this event the most diverse yet. With numerous big names, such as OG and Secret, in the lower bracket, day 1 looked to be a very promising one.

LFY has been the most talked team of TI7 so far, with a close to unbeaten record and insane execution, particularly when they destroyed both Kiev Major finalists VP and OG.

To say that the group stage results were unpredictable would be an understatement. OG and Team Secret starting playoffs in the lower bracket, Fnatic not getting to the main event and four out of five Chinese teams starting in the upper bracket. The TI7 main event promises to be exciting.

The International 2017 has so far been a stellar example at how diverse the current patch is. What began last year has remained a trend until this year. Day 2 of last year’s International boasted 88 out of 110 heroes picked, but this year has seen 100 out of 112 heroes picked so far. Additionally, 105 heroes have been picked or banned already as well, tying the record set by TI6 who had this exact number after the entire event.

With The International starting its group stages tomorrow, here’s a primer on how to watch the event, and how to keep up with 144 games in the span of 4 days.

We’re rounding up our TI Preview this past week with the six invited teams: Virtus.Pro, Evil Geniuses, OG, Invictus Gaming, Team Liquid, and Newbee. Three of them have a chance of being TI's first, two-time champions.

The talent list for this year's International has been announced and StarCraft personality and Dota streamer Day9 will host the TI7 main stage. Last weekend, Team Liquid won DreamLeague Season 7.

After covering the South-East Asian and the Americas regions, it is time to take a look at Europe, CIS and China. This year is the first year that CIS (and South-America) receive a direct qualification spot, which is why the European qualifier was a bit underwhelming on paper. A lot of the teams weren't as established as a lot of names and orgs were now forced into the CIS qualifier. Both regions still delivered exciting games and match-ups, most notably the 140 minutes long game between Empire and Vega Squadron. Europe was also the region with the qualifier's biggest upset as Planet Dog (now HellRaisers) managed to qualify.

In the east, China had three spots for teams to fight over. All eyes were on the likes of EHOME or Vici Gaming to perform as veterans such as Hao or ChuaN stepped back onto the plate or as former Wings Gaming members looked to defend their title. Unfortunately though, no Ti6 champion will be able to defend their title, but China may have a title contestant among their qualifier winners with strong performances from the likes of LGD.

The International 2017 is just around the corner and now is the time to have a better look at participating teams. This International feels different to the previous ones, with so many teams capable of claiming the Aegis. There seem to be no clear favorites and no clear outsiders at the tournament.