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The International Day 4 recap: Fnatic, DC take out formidable foes

Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok of Digital Chaos prepares before his team's first game against TnC Gaming at Dota 2's The International 6 in Seattle, WA at KeyArena. Michael Hanson for ESPN

The fourth day of The International 6 was the most dire for all teams involved. Every team playing was in the lower bracket, and three teams would be going home after the day's events. From qualifiers and direct invites to tournament favorites, no one was safe.

The first series of the day pit two Cinderella story teams against each other. TnC Gaming, the SEA qualifiers who had eliminated OG on day 2, and Digital Chaos, the NA up-and-comers, pushed each other to the limit in their series. TnC came out strong, securing an early lead with a game 1 victory; DC pushed back, however, with a potent Ember Spirit pick-up for Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok. The momentum swung back in DC's favor, and in a short 28-minute game 3, DC secured the 2-1 and knocked out TnC.

Team Liquid played Fnatic in the second series of the day, where Fnatic fared much better than its fellow SEA team in the previous set. Liquid, another direct invite and favorite for the top, struggled to keep up with Fnatic's economy in game 1, and soon found itself down 0-1 and on potentially its last match before elimination. A more comfortable lineup in game 2 gave Liquid the initial advantage, but a series of disastrous teamfights in the midgame created a discrepancy that the team could not recover from. Fnatic took out Liquid 2-0, and continue on to Friday's match with MVP Phoenix.

The third series saw Digital Chaos return to the stage to play EHOME. The latter seemed unstoppable until yesterday, when the NA titans Evil Geniuses sent EHOME down to the lower bracket. Now facing a second NA squad, it seemed like America was this Chinese team's kryptonite. Allowing David "Moo" Hull's explosive Timbersaw through the draft in two games, DC ended game 1 with an incredible 20,000 gold differential. Game 2 was closer, but Digital Chaos continued to find advantage after advantage, securing the 2-0 and another day in KeyArena.