Team Secret took on Team Liquid at the Lower Bracket Finals at TI11. Join us as we break down the dream shattering series.
Finals day is upon us and there are only 2 matches left at The International 2022. Team Secret took on Team Liquid in the lower bracket finals of TI11. The intense series went on the full length and it was a true clash of stories. One one side was Puppey, the TI all timer and on the other, Matumbaman's last ride.
Matu alongside Liquid captured the hearts of many, with one of the toughest climbs out of the lower bracket of TI11. It was a true shame to see him go, but for the sake of Liquid's elimination, Team Secret can have their rematch with Tundra at the Grand Finals of TI11.
Primal Beast sneaks through, but Team Secret doesn't care
The first game of the Finals day at TI11 between Team Secret and Team Liquid was pretty rough for Team Liquid. Despite the draft seemingly going their way with the classic Matumbaman Lifestealer that's known for terrorizing games. Especially, when the final pick for Liquid was a Primal Beast, one of the meta defining heroes of The International 2022. However, Team Secret didn't really care.
Their draft didn't directly counter Liquids, but rather had macro-level solutions to Liquid's playstyle. This was mainly due to Zayac's infamous Nyx Assassin and Resolution's Beastmaster that provided tons of vision and control. Zai's Enigma had at most, 3 Black Holes throughout the game. As Zayac completely stayed on top of him, preventing him from having any sort of impact.
Sniper, Team Liquid's double edged sword at TI11
Throughout the LCQ and the main stage of TI11, there's been a statement that Team Liquid's weakness is Sniper. Although it has been a meta pick of The International, Liquid specifically seemed to struggle with it the most. Or so it seems. Despite teams picking it against Liquid, they always seem to find a way one way or another to come back from it. Secret did just that in game 1, they picked up sniper and Liquid just couldn't deal with it.
However, game 2 was a little different. In quite the surprise, Liquid picked up the dwarven marksmen for Matu. Despite Sniper being the bane of Team Liquid, the picked worked wonders in game 2. Liquid managed to tie up the series on the back of Matumbaman's Sniper. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on who you ask, Sniper was banned in game 3. You can check out the Dotabuff breakdowns here.
Matu's Retirement
The series between Teams Liquid and Secret was one of the most story driven series at TI11. On one side, its Puppey's all time TI record and the other is the last days of Matumbaman's career. And as Sheever said "For every victory, there's a losing team". In the case of Liquid and Secret's match, it was Liquid that got sent home. We got to see some really heartfelt moments at the end of the match, with Matu and Puppey warming our hearts. All we can say for now is that we hope retirement treats you well Sea Captain, and we hope to see you back soon.
With Team Secret moving on, they'll face off against Tundra Esports in the Grand Finals at TI11. This will quite the exciting Western European finals. So, stay tuned to Esports.gg and see who comes out on top of The International 2022!