It was the second day of the DPC Western Europe Regional Finals. All eyes were rightfully on Team Liquid after the team’s dominating run on the first day. Not only did the team perform flawlessly during its first match in the Dota 2 event, but they also impressed the audience by how fast they closed out matches.
Considering Gladiators also moved onto the second leg of the Upper Bracket with a 2-0 victory under their belt, they didn’t lack the potential to give Team Liquid a run for their money. That wasn’t the case, however. Liquid’s dominant and consistent gameplay overcame Gladiators in two short matches.
While the second match of the series had a lot of back-and-forth action, the first match was under Liquid’s control from start to finish. Zai, on Timbersaw, created lots of space around the map as Gladiators failed to respond mostly due to a lack of damage in its lineup.
Liquid, as a team, have been showing how well they’re functioning for the last two days. The chemistry within the team seems to have worked out quite well and there are also massive improvements when it comes to players’ individual skills. For example, miCKe has recently started outplaying most of his opponents on his lane. With miCKe constantly coming on top of his opponent, Liquid got to work with more space in the early game, preventing the enemy team from catching up to them by simply farming.
In the second series of the day, OG and Tundra Esports had their backs against the wall. Both teams were one match away from elimination. This pushed them to play rather carefully, and fans were treated with two of the longest matches of the main event at 47 and 43 minutes.
OG picked an early-game-focused lineup in game one with Viper, Ursa, Shadow Shaman, Storm Spirit, and IO, but couldn’t close out the game quickly. Tundra’s defense seemed to work to some extent, but OG could crack it toward the 40-minute mark and seal the deal.
The tables turned in the second match when Tundra drafted a lineup with a high-damage potential. With Gyrocopter, Luna, Templar Assassin, Beastmaster, and Weaver in its rank, Tundra didn’t have any trouble when it came down to picking OG heroes on the map. Though OG’s Underlord, Puck, and Bristleback had a few moments under the spotlight, the team had to give in to the pressure at the 43-minute mark.
After two long competitive matches, fans were ready for another rollercoaster of emotions for the third game. OG gave it away that they were going to push early into the game with Chen and Templar Assassin, while Tundra picked the right tools to deal with the incoming aggression. Picking anti-pushers wasn’t enough to save Tundra from a 23-minute long stomp, however, since the team completely botched its item selections.
Tundra’s Chaos Knight and Invoker purchased Hand of Midas six minutes into the game. The decision suddenly increased OG’s gold lead on paper. Before Hand of Midas starts paying for itself, the item only grants players 40 Attack Speed for 2,200 gold. When two cores picked up the item, OG had a 4,400 gold advantage over Tundra, and the squad seized the opportunity with a game-winning pressure.
