Former champion Team Liquid exits during the fifth day of the main event of The International 8

أغسطس 25, 2018

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During the fifth day of the main event in DOTA 2 The International 8, the former World championship Team liquid fails to defending his title against Evil Geniuses in the semifinals.

Unfortunately, only one team could move on in this series and despite showing us some of the best Dota at TI8, Team Liquid were perhaps favoured to win, especially given their strong showing throughout the year, coming in second to Virtus.Pro in the overall DPC rankings, which includes their win at the DOTA2 China Supermajor. Yet the group stage saw EG and Liquid tied for first in their group, which left this series up in the air.

In game one of the hotly contested series, both teams drafted relatively solid lineups, with Syed Sumail ‘Sumail’ Hassan on his signature Storm Spirit, and Maroun ‘GH’ Merhej on his equally infamous Io. after overpowered performance from both teams and when the game went into its final stages, EG start pushing lanes so hard, destoryingbaracks to claim mega creeps and take the first match on his road to the finals.

In game two, Liquid decided to draft what seemed to be a fairly mobile lineup once again, although denied the Io by EG’s ban and instead, Liquid opted for a similar global presence in the Nature’s Prophet for Kuroky. Denied a number of picks from game one, including the Weaver and Storm which were crucial to their success, EG drafted for the late game with a Spectre for Canada’s own, Artour ‘Arteezy’ Babaev.

In the final stages of the game, both teams followed a similar trajectory to game one and continually traded blows. However, it was EG’s story from around 26 minutes onward, as they found four from Liquid’s lineup in a great teamfight and continually split the map, attacking Liquid’s base from all fronts without leave chance for them. EG pushing lanes so hard again, claim mega creeps, and despite a Herculean effort by Liquid in their base, EG claim the victory in just under 35 minutes ending Liquid’s chance at a second Aegis of Champions.

In a historic win in the upper bracket finals OG defied all odds and secured a top 2 finish by sending the only remaining Chinese contender of the tournament PSG.LGD to the lower bracket.

The underdog European squad, OG, have given us perhaps the best storyline at The International 2018, one that will go down in history and be remembered for long by the community. Bringing in two new, young players after a controversial roster change that left the team fractured in the wake of the Open Qualifiers for the big tournament, they looked like a team that would not go very far at the main event.

PSG.LGD were the clear favorites entering this semi-finals series, as the only Chinese contender remaining to fulfill the age-old TI curse. As a more seasoned and experienced team, winning two Majors in the DPC season, a first for any Chinese team, this was not a new peak for them. They had done the impossible and conquered the top two teams of the DPC season, Team Liquid and Virtus.pro in their upper bracket run. OG, on the other hand, have never made it this far at The International, always entering through the lower bracket and always getting eliminated early.