Team Spirit have just send Team Liquid down to the lower bracket at The International 2023. Join us as we dive into the exciting series.
Team Spirit continue their domination at The International 2023 after their first match of the TI12 main event. In a full three-game series against Team Liquid, Spirit ended up sending Liquid to the Lower Bracket of The International. Yet another team on Team Spirit's hit list - taken down. It truly seems like few teams will be able to take down The International 2022 winners.
Collapse's Axe Dunks on Liquid in Game One
Game one of Team Liquid versus Team Spirit was an absolute treat for Team Spirit fans all over. Team Spirit graced the stage in Seattle with Collapse's world-famous Axe. And if there was any doubt over who the best Axe player in the world was, Collapse has put that to rest once more. Despite Yatoro having a rough start to the game, even at one point being two levels behind Zai's Tidehunter, Collapse said "let me take care of you".
Collapse did exactly that. Creating unrivaled space on the map for Yatoro to catch back up in farm. Gank after gank, Team Liquid just couldn't manage to find an opportune time to group up and utilize their big team-fighting draft.
The early laning stage was a decent one for Team Liquid. But once Spirit got some mid-tier items on their heroes, they set the ball rolling. Multiple ganks across the map and Team Spirit was not afraid to take on the tankiest hero on the Liquid roster.
With Collapse continuing his aggression across the map, it also allowed enough space for Yatoro's Chaos Knight as well as Larl's Kunkka to continue their farm unabated.
Team Spirit were winning the mid-game, but also securing the late game on their heroes.
Related articles
Team Liquid pulls out the special picks in Games 2 and 3
The highlight of Game two was certainly Liquid Micke's Carry Weaver. However, it was also no surprise that Nisha's Pangolier put in some massive work throughout the game. Zai's Spirit Breaker was the cherry on top, one of the most broken heroes at TI12. After a strong early game with their draft, Liquid carried their early game momentum until they destroyed the throne of Spirit.
On the other hand, Game Three featured an equally unique pick but this time for Nisha. Team Liquid drafted a mid-lane Riki for Nisha. Which made a surprising amount of sense despite all the memes surrounding the hero. Riki played well into most of the heroes of Team Spirits draft and even excelled if he got off to a good start. However, despite being even for most of the game, Team Spirit pulled ahead in a skirmish around the 31-minute mark.
This is where Team Spirit gave them no kills, but took everything from them. This means they killed Liquid's Micke's Spectre and Insania's Disruptor without losing anyone. From there it was just one big momentum swing that Team Spirit capitalized so well on, and took game three.
You can check out the full series breakdown here. After game three, Team Spirit had a little press conference with Collapse about the series and he had already broken down the series and gone into full analysis mode.
But, not all hope is lost for Team Liquid fans, as Team Spirit has not eliminated them. Team Liquid will face off against fan favorites Gaimin Gladiators in the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals at The International 2023. For more TI12 coverage and esports news, stay tuned to Esports.gg.
