Despite a pretty good first day, North American squad Newbee struggled against the stronger Chinese squad of PSG.LGD.

Newbee tried to get early kills, but PSG.LGD’s reactions were top-notch, able to get kills while surviving mostly unscathed.

Newbee overextending was a recurring theme, and PSG.LGD was able to punish them, letting them build up a solid lead, with Xu “Fy” Linsen’s Ogre Magi able to farm up a quick Hand of Midas as well.

Newbee continued to make mistakes, and eventually lost the first game in just 24 minutes to PSG.LGD’s farmed Faceless Void, Enchantress, and Kunkka core.

With the first game a stomp, Newbee hoped to at least take one game off PSG.LGD. The NA squad got off to a great start with a 5v5 melee in the mid-lane right at the start giving them a quick 2-1 kill score.

The match played out a lot slower, with PSG.LGD only able to gain a small lead at the start. However, a big fight at the 14 minute mark saw PSG.LGD getting big kills to increase their lead, followed by more fights which saw PSG.LGD’s Lu “Somnus丶M” Yao’s Leshrac getting bigger and bigger.

With Newbee’s Yawar “YawaR” Hassan’s Sven managing to keep up in farm and holding the top net worth for a bit, the North American squad managed to get into the late game with a farmed Ogre Magi as well.

It would prove vital for them in the next team fight, which was messy with multiple deaths and buybacks on both sides but ended in favor of Newbee.

PSG.LGD tried to push for high ground, but solid defense combined with a global Cataclysm spell by Invoker was enough to push PSG.LGD back. Newbee also managed to get the top Tier 3 tower in the process.

Despite gaining a lead, Newbee threw it away in the next team fight, with PSG.LGD picking up multiple kills on Newbee’s cores. While Newbee managed to fight their way back, PSG.LGD still held the lead and got Mega Creeps after taking down all the barracks of Radiant.

With the game down to the wire, it was Newbee’s smart play to go straight for PSG.LGD’s Throne to take the game and tie up the series.

Be sure to check out our coverage of The International 2019 Group Stage for more TI9 action.