Across a barn burner of a series with two out of three games hitting the hour mark, the boys in blue held their ground to overcome Entity.
Team Liquid Dota 2 fans heaved a collective sigh of relief today, as the EU fan favourites edged a win over upcomers Entity 2-1. Team Liquid has had a rough start to Tour 2 of the WEU DPC to say the least, with a score of 1-3 up till now.
While it looked dicey for Liquid after a crushing Game 1, they managed to regroup and punch back in Game 2, and put the nail in the coffin in a slow and painful final game. On the flipside, despite their current record not really reflecting so, Entity have proven to be a force to be reckoned with. It makes sense for them to have something to prove. Especially for a team only recently promoted from Division Two. That said, it was Team Liquid that came out on top as the dust settled—evening up their record at 2-2.
Entity Turn Up The Pressure in Game 1
The story of the opening match was a parable of trying to turn a rock into a diamond—A battle between Medusa and Tiny, the hottest carries of the current patch. Knowing that Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen would want to farm up for a considerable time, Entity turned up the heat.
The non-stop aggression across the map caused the game to devolve into an absolute bloodbath, ultimately favoring Entity. In classic Medusa fashion: when it doubt, Divine Rapier up. True enough, with MATUMBAMAN'S newfound firepower, Liquid would clinch the lead for the first time. So how does one deal with a farmed Medusa? It's simple, really—perfect teamfight execution.
With the buybacks spent, and Rapier gone, Liquid were quick to tap out of Game 1.
Liquid Punch Back
After their win, Entity looked to further dismantle Liquid with a nightmare draft featuring Batrider, Huskar and Venomancer cores. Not to be outdone, Liquid would bring their blend of pressure opting for heroes that could fight non-stop.
After a strong early game lead formed on the back of captain Aydin "iNSaNiA" Sarkohi's Enchantress and Ludwig "Zai" Wahlberg's Necrophos, Entity were left with no room to breath. By the time Remco "Crystallis" Arets finally purchased his BKB, MATU's Weaver had already nabbed the first Aegis.
What should have been a power spike for the Huskar turned sour. With no real way of turning a team fight, and BKB charges ticking low, it was only a matter of time. Liquid proceeded to stream forward with ease to force a final game to the series.
Liquid Are Doing It...Eventually?
Feeling themselves, Liquid would pick up many of their winning components from Game 2 again come Game 3. Entity on the other hand opted to go back to their comfort heroes in Bloodseeker and Visage.
This time, it was the Samuel "Boxi" Svahn Death Prophet that would ravage the Entity ranks. With no burst to speak of on the Entity side, they simply could not take any of Liquid's high sustain heroes down. By the time the game hit the 25 minute mark, Liquid were already 12k gold ahead.
It looked like yet another quick and easy settlement for Liquid until a beautiful Winter's Curse turned the tides.
From there, the game got...weird. Despite a seemingly insurmountable lead, Liquid didn't have the best objective takers. Entity would capitalise on this, and a few questionable decisions from Liquid to draw the game out. In a bid to turn the game around, Entity sneaked into the Roshan Pit behind Liquids back in hopes of further stunting their push. That is until Zai got to work.
With their opening denied, Liquid would finally break open the base of Entity and finish the series 2-1.
The Team Liquid Road to Redemption
With how stacked the WEU DPC Tour 2 is, there had to be a team to bend their knee. Not many would've expected it to be Team Liquid though, who had an almost flawless Tour 1, placing 2nd in the Regional Finals.
With their win here, they've managed to stabilize the situation for now, putting Entity at risk instead. Their path doesn't get much easier though, with matches against Tundra, Nigma and Gaimin Gladiators coming up. Specifically, their bout against the Gladiators should be one to watch—a rematch of the Regional Finals.
For Entity though, it's a tough pill to swallow that they may drop down as quickly as they've been promoted. In a similar vein, their path is not set in stone just yet. They will still have a chance to keep their place, but it'll all lie in the matches ahead.
While both teams have no way of making the upcoming Stockholm Major, it'll be their pride, and their spot in Division One they'll have to fight for.
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