"Liquid is Doing it," Marches on to TI11 Lower Bracket Finals

Team Liquid marches into The International 2022 (TI11) Lower Bracket finals following its 2-1 win over Team Aster in the fifth round of the Lower Brackets. The Western European team was at one point considered to be at the bottom after its lackluster performances during the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season. However, after its amazing performance in both the Last Chance Qualifiers & Main Event playoffs many believed that Team Liquid would go far in the tournament.

While Team Aster did knock them down into the Lower Bracket during the Main Event playoffs, Team Liquid finally managed to get its revenge when it mattered the most.

Team Liquid vs Team Aster: Match Recap

Team Liquid’s journey has been nothing but exciting to watch as the team were considered by many to not go far in the tournament. However, Team Liquid were proving the doubters wrong time after time again as it defeated rival teams including Entity, OG and Thunder Awaken in a blockbuster match in the Lower Bracket.

The Western Europe (WEU) team now faced Team Aster in a rematch as the Chinese organization had defeated them in the first round of the Upper Bracket. However, with Team Liquid’s recent rise of form the series proved to be an interesting series to watch.

Game One

Game One started off with Team Liquid drafting Bloodseeker for Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen and Lina for Michael "miCKe" Vu as the main damage dealers while Team Aster went for a fairly aggressive lineup with Sniper, Leshrac & Underlord as the core lineup.

The early game was heavily in Liquid’s favor as the combo of Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg’s Broodmother and Samuel “Boxi” Svahn’s Marci were constantly killing off Aster’s safelane duo of Du “Monet” Peng & Yu "皮球" Yajun. However, the mid-to-late game ended up being a back and forth game between both teams.

While Team Aster did manage to help Monet’s Sniper to recover during the mid-game, Team Liquid’s initiation in the late game was on target as miCKe’s Lina was providing a lot of damage output while Boxi’s Marci jumped head first into teamfights and stunning heroes. Game One ended after just over 45 minutes as Team Liquid claimed the first game of the series.

Game Two

Game Two saw Team Aster changing up its lineup by drafting Pudge for Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang and Marci for Lin “Xxs” Jing while retaining the Sniper for Monet. On the other side, Team Liquid opted for a more stable draft by picking up Morphling, Storm Spirit & Leshrac as the core lineup.

This time, Aster were the aggressors in the early stages of the game as it dominated the laning phase from minute one. While Liquid did manage to gain some ground during the mid-game, Ori’s Pudge was too much for Liquid to handle as Aster claimed Game Two after 37 minutes to force a Game Three decider.

Game Three

With the series now becoming a best of one, both teams wanted to make this game count as it could be their final match at TI11 as a whole. Team Liquid went back for miCKe’s Lina while also picking up MATUMBAMAN’s signature Nightstalker carry. On the opposite side, Aster went all-in on team fight potential as it picked up Drow Ranger, Naga Siren & Primal Beast as the primary lineup.

While the early game was even between both teams, Liquid had the upper hand going into the mid-game phase as the Nightstalker-Lina combo were constantly providing a lot of damage output. While Aster did manage to salvage what it could during a teamfight near the Roshan pit, Liquid’s draft was too much for Aster to handle as they claimed Game Three after 38 minutes.

Following the series, Team Liquid will move on into the Lower Bracket finals as it awaits the loser of the Secret vs Tundra series and has secued itself a top three finish at TI11. However for Aster, its journey at TI11 ends here as they finish 4th at TI11.

from AFK Gaming https://ift.tt/kH1eDPw