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Dota 26 years agoJarrad "Belandrial" Adams

Team Liquid push Mineski into SL i-League Invitational 3 group stage elimination match


picture courtesy of StarLadder

Team Liquid win their first series at the StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 3 versus Mineski 2-0 even after a very shaky start.

In their first tournament and series since their victory at The International 7, Team Liquid start the season with a direct invite to StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 3. The team will be looking to continue on their high but as we all know, there is always a big cloud over the head of TI winners that sees them falling away in the follow-up months. Mineski, on the other hand, dominated their way through the SEA qualifiers, not dropping a single game on their way to the event. With only two teams from each group moving through into the playoffs, these early games are extremely important and both teams will be wanting to take as much as they can from them.

 

Game One

After both teams played a farm game for the opening few minutes, it was Mineski who came through with the early pressure, claiming first blood onto Amer 'Miracle' Barqawi Alchemist. Mineski continued the pressure onto the mid lane, killing him off again – but Liquid returned the favor, killing Kam 'NaNa' Boon Seng twice in quick succession. As the game progressed, the teams remained fairly equal across the map until Team Liquid made their way into the Roshan pit. While they claimed the aegis, it was the Dire team who managed to claim the Roshan kill and the better trade in the proceeding fight.

Mineski continued to keep their lead in the game, and by twenty-eight minutes they had a 14-8 lead and looked ready to go high ground. However, Liquid managed to take a really good fight around the Roshan pit, giving them a small window of opportunity in the game. Even with Mineski taking the aegis and Roshan, the game still seemed to hang in the balance now. Suddenly Liquid were making their showing in the game, finding great fights to secure their way back into the game.

With nearly forty minutes passed, the Radiant moved onto the high ground and dropped the mid lane of barracks and were now in complete control of the game. After barely five more minutes, Mineski had no choice but to throw in the towel, giving Team Liquid game one of the series.

Game Two

Game two got off to a much quicker start as Liquid claimed first blood in just over one minute into th game, onto NaNa’s Medusa. Liquid continued to stamp their foot on the gas, getting a 4-0 lead with under five minutes passed in the game. But Liquid’s advantage saw them getting very greedy and threw away three kills in succession in the mid lane as they dived the tier one tower. With fifteen minutes gone, Team Liquid marched into the Roshan pit – and with a 5-14 lead, they took the aegis without contest.

As twenty minutes passed Liquid went high ground and Miracle’s Sven, with Maroun 'GH' Merhej's IO at his back was unstoppable. After almost being able to claim game one, Mineski struggled to find a firm footing against Team Liquid in game two. The International 7 champions snowballed their way through the SEA team and claimed the series 2-0 as Mineski called GG. 

The last series of the day will see the two winning teams from today, Team Liquid and SG e-sports, going head to head. You can catch that and the rest of the information on the StarLadder i-League Invitational season 3 here.

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Jarrad "Belandrial" AdamsBelandrial has spent most of his years following Dota 2 closely, but now has found a new home in the complex world of Mobile Esports. When not watching nearly every possible esports title available, you can find me running around Azeroth or building strange bases in Valheim.

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