Alliance knocked Team Liquid out of the Starladder|i-League in the semi-finals. The Swedes will join Team Evil Geniuses tomorrow in the grand finals.
After defeating Team Secret yesterday, Alliance will play against Team Liquid, who dominated Group B earlier in the tournament.
Game One
Team Liquid’s bans aimed at shutting down AdmiralBulldog’s comfort zone. Banning out Lone Druid, Natures Prophet and Broodmother, Bulldog did not have many options left. However, with these three bans Alliance was able to pick up two of their most familiar heroes – s4’s Puck and Akke’s Chen. Team Liquid’s lineup was also very much their style with the strong five man team fight with Dark Seer, Death Prophet and Gyrocopter. As expected, Bulldog was forced into a Weaver pick. Although Liquid had the superior team fight, the lack of stuns in the lineup could be problematic for them.
The early game did not go well for the Dark Seer. Giving out first blood and having his salve cancelled, he was completely denied to stay in the lane with the threat of Chen. Both teams started to put on early pressure due to the nature of their lineups. Liquid tried to seek objectives with the Death Prophet Exorcism whereas Chen on the other team also put on pressure in the top lane. 13 minutes in, with a kill on DP in the beginning of the fight, Alliance displayed fantastic team fight execution and team wiped Liquid, taking down the mid tier one tower as well. With this team fight victory, the net worth of Alliance’s cores rolled ahead with Bulldog’s Weaver leading the net worth chart. Shortly after Alliance proceeded to take Aegis.
18 minutes in, Alliance began their first high ground siege. Even though they won the team fight on the back of the Aegis, Bulldog overextended into the tier four towers and Liquid successfully halted the push, Alliance was forced to retreat. Although Alliance still held a substantial lead, Liquid’s Gyrocopter returned to the top of the net worth chart. The overextension of Bulldog had more severe consequences. With the previous successful hold, Liquid capitalized on this gold swing and killed off Loda’s Juggernaut in the bottom lane. Liquid tried to take Roshan and Alliance attempted to deny this with a buyback on Loda. However, with amazing plays coming from Jerax’s Earth Spirit, controlling the team fight with three-man-stuns, Liquid once again team wiped Alliance and took Aegis. Liquid’s high ground siege came at 30 minutes, but Loda managed to deflect the push singlehandedly after all abilities on Liquid’s side were used. Although Liquid retreated with no one killed, Alliance bought themselves another chance.
Liquid did not want to waste any time and regrouped for another push. However, even though they were able to take down a lane of barracks, Alliance was able to kill off two cores on the side of Liquid. Alliance once again capitalized on a mistake of Liquid and caught out FATA in their jungle. Alliance team wiped Liquid and was ready to siege high ground. Liquid immediately bought back to defend but that proved to be a failed attempt as Alliance wiped them once again with an Omnislash on Gyrocopter. Alliance took game one of the series.
Game Two
Alliance decided to resort back to their lineup that defeated Team Secret yesterday – Batrider and Lone Druid. Whereas Liquid stood their grounds and tried their core picks in game one once again – the Death Prophet, Dark Seer and Earth Spirit. The Napalm Savage Roar combo could be a huge problem for the Lycanthrope. However, Alliance’s Juggernaut pick was also limited by the Oracle and wolves from Lycan. Liquid was insistent on their death-ball strategy whereas Alliance had their faith on the Lone Druid.
Alliance exploited the weak laning stage of Lycan with an aggressive tri-lane approach. Lone Druid was able to completely dominate his lane against Dark Seer and Liquid’s tri-lane also crumbled due to the combination of Blade Fury and Shadow Wave. But Alliance threw away their advantage with an overextension of Juggernaut, Liquid retaliated with a double kill on Juggernaut and Rubick. Liquid tried to shift their focus with a gank on the Lone Druid, but that also failed due to the tankiness of True Form. Alliance rotated three more heroes and counter wiped Liquid.
Liquid was able to regroup and take advantage of the Lycan to get the first Aegis. On the back of the Aegis Liquid was able to put on pressure with the threat of Exorcism and Lycan. But Alliance chose an optimal time to smoke and successfully took Dark Seer out of the fight before he was able to deploy a good Vacuum. After this they proceeded to take the mid tier two tower of Liquid. All the outer towers in the mid and top lane of Liquid are now gone. With another smoke gank from Alliance, Loda obtained an ultra kill in the Radiant jungle displaying incredible patience on the Omnislash, waiting for all the summoned creatures on Liquid to die off. With the Batrider, it seemed like Oracle could not do anything in the fights since Batrider focused on him every fight. One the back of an Aegis and the earlier ultra kill, Alliance marched into the base of Liquid in commanding fashion and took the series with a clean 2:0.
Alliance will join the TI5 champion Team Evil Geniuses in the grand finals of the Starladder|i-League tomorrow on January 17, Sunday, 11:00 CET.
Headline image credit: Alliance Twitter
