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The first of two lower bracket elimination games for today would see Team Liquid knocking Team Secret out of The International 2017.
After the upper bracket games, it was time to return to the dreaded elimination lower bracket games – the first of which would see Team Liquid going up against Team Secret. After four teams were eliminated yesterday, today’s lower bracket games would at least give the teams a bit of respite – as they were now all best-of-three. But even so, by the end of this series, one of these teams would be eliminated, while the other would keep their TI hopes alive.
Game One
Team Secret managed to persist and claim a very early first blood onto Ivan 'MinD_ContRoL' Borislavov Ivanov's Bristleback, after he popped up in the Radiant’s jungle to claim an early bounty rune. Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov, on the Spirit Breaker was making the difference for Team Secret as they stretched to a 5-0 lead in the opening five minutes due to constant Charge of Darkness to set up kills for his team. Secret refused to let their pressure fall away, claiming all of the tier 1 towers on the Dire side before fifteen minutes had even passed and enjoyed a massive lead across the board.
With just after twenty minutes had passed, Team Secret showed their relentless assault’s power, ripping through Liquid’s line up and cleaning up the final tier two tower on the Dire side of the map. A few minutes later the Radiant team marched straight up onto the high ground top lane and destroyed Liquid heroes before attempting to claim mega creeps.
In a little under twenty eight minutes, Team Liquid were unable to stand up against the power of Team Secret’s line-up – and with mega creeps all but facing them – Liquid threw in the towel, giving game 1 of the series to Secret.
Game Two
With elimination now looming for Team Liquid, they would have to win game two of the series to keep their TI dreams alive but once again Team Secret opened up with first blood and claimed another kill a few moments later. However, this time Liquid seemed a bit more ready to hold their ground and did not let the Dire side take a massive lead – keeping themselves on almost equal footing with their opponents. Maroun 'GH' Merhej was definitely the one helping keep his team in the game this time around, making fantastic rotations with his Nightstalker and not letting the game get out of reach.
By fifteen minutes, the game continued at a fairly even pace but Liquid were beginning to pull ahead in net worth albeit only due to Amer 'Miracle' Barqaw Alchemist constantly farming. As Liquid claimed an aegis just after twenty minutes, they found a great fight, dropping two of the cores from the Dire’s line up which was followed by a bit more map control with the tier two mid tower. Suddenly Liquid seemed to have a new invigoration and they began hunting down their opponents and finding kills and objectives constantly.
With thirty minutes approaching, Liquid found two quick pick offs which gave them access to the top barracks which they dropped with ease. Team Secret looked to try to make one final attempt to turn the game around but were met with a fierce defense which was the last straw for their defense.
With that, Liquid marched into the Dire base and claimed mega creeps before the GG was thrown out by Secret – taking the series to a decisive game three.
Game Three
Both teams would be wanting to move forward at TI but unfortunately for either Team Secret or Team Liquid, their TI7 journey would end tonight – and this would be the decisive game.
Secret claimed first blood once more in this game, but it was much slower than it occurred in the previous games. Secret took control of the opening moments of the game as MidOne on the Queen of Pain was showing his dominance. By fifteen minutes, Secret still controlled the game even though the score remained at a low 7-1.
The saving grace for Team Liquid was definitely Miracle’s uncontested farm on his Troll Warlord. And that saving grace came into play as Secret gifted an aegis to their opponents which was claimed by Miracle. The game now swung into Liquid’s favour as they marched down mid and took down both the tier 1 and 2 towers. With their advantage, Team Liquid marched into the high ground and dropped the barracks without Secret even trying to contest.
With just over twenty five minutes passed, Liquid were looking unstoppable as they ripped through the Radiant line up over and over again, forcing buybacks and destroying tier 3 towers. The game looked completely over for Secret now as they battled to find any openings back into the game.
While Secret were doing their utmost to defend their last lane of barracks, it definitely looked like it would not be enough to quell the continuous onslaught by the Dire team. With Mega Creeps and Miracles Troll Warlord bashing their tier four towers, Secret had no choice but to throw in the towel and called the GG.
Unfortunately for Team Secret, that would be the end of their TI7 journey but for Team Liquid, they showed exactly why they are one of the favourites at this event and would move forward to face the winner of the next match up between Team Empire and Evil Geniuses.
