With a very dominant 2-0 over Digital Chaos, Team Liquid move onto round three of the lower bracket, where they will fight for the chance to face OG in the lower bracket final.
Team Liquid had a very strong showing against Digital Chaos in round two of the Lower Bracket, with the entire series taking just a little over an hour. While game one lasted about an hour, Liquid showed their strength in game two taking it in just under 17 minutes.
Game One
Game one of the DC-Liquid series saw strong drafts from both sides. Liquid went with their safe-lane Morphling played by Lasse 'Matumbaman' Urpalainen, which had great success against Ad Finem on Day one of the tournament. Rounded off by a Elder Titan and Lion pick, respectively played by Kuro 'KuroKy-'Salehi Takhasomi and Jesse 'JerAx' Vainikka, Liquid looked to have a strong presence in the safelane, securing Matumbaman's farm with lockdown and a nice counter to the Void Chrono in the form of the ET Echo Stomp. DC went with a very sustainable safelane, picking up a Faceless Void played by Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominok along with a position five Oracle played by Martin 'Saksa' Sazdov. DC rounded off their draft with a Bounty Hunter and Dark Seer, respectively played by Rasmus 'MiSeRy-' Filipsen and David 'Moo-Fak' Hull, who looked to contest Matumbaman's farm.
Early on, Liquid dominated the safelane, feeding Morphling two kills early on just before two minutes. This trend continued throughout, as Morphling stayed on top of the Net Worth Chart the entire game. Meanwhile, in Liquid's offlane, Ivan 'MinD_ContRoL' Borislavov Ivanov continually bullied the Void and Oracle, who couldn't seem to find the damage to kill the tanky lumberjack. Only a rotation by four around seven minutes finally cost the Timber his life.
Ultimately, it was the lack of damage on DC's cores that caused their downfall. While Void had the Chrono and Ion Shell, an early Vanguard really limited his farm and damage which couldn't keep up with the DC cores. It was DC's Aliwi 'w33haaa' Omar on the Mirana that kept DC in the game as long as they did, with the Aghanim's Starfall doing so much work. An attempt to mitigate the damage problems came by the way of two Dagons picked up by DC but it was too little too late. A brilliant scan at 45 minutes by Liquid caught Resolut1on in the trees outside the DC base, costing him his life. Without the usage of Chrono it sealed the game for Liquid whose cores were always ahead on net worth.
Game Two
Licking their wounds from game one, DC drafted a very strong looking late-game and teamfight heavy lineup with a Tidehunter, Witch Doctor and Luna, rounded off by w33haaa's signature Meepo. Liquid however, countered with an early-mid game lineup in a Warlock counter for the Meepo, and a last pick Drow played by Matumbaman for some great aura-synergy with their Beastmaster. Liquid rounded it off with a Mirana and a Dazzle for some very nice sustain early game.
In the early game, it seemed that DC had the control, picking off the Drow and Warlock before the rune spawn. This continued in the DC safelane as Resolut1on's Luna continually picked off the JerAx Warlock offlane, the defensive trilane proving really successful. In the DC offlane, Tidhunter was forced to the jungle as the Matumbaman Drow bullied him out of lane. Finally in midlane, w33haaa had uncontested farm as he farmed up towards his Aghanim's.
While Liquid had a slow start early on, it was Resolut1on who quietly farmed up in the jungle that started the momentum for his squad, catching out Luna alone on the bottom lane around seven minutes with a nice Upheaval into Roar. DC had quite a strong teamfight lineup, but couldn't seem to come together as the Liquid squad continually picked them off one by one with the Drow aura proving extremely useful for the mostly ranged Liquid lineup. An early aegis at the ten minute mark allowed them to siege up the bottom DC highground forcing DC to respond aggressively. However, while DC found their initiation in the midlane at 16 minutes, Matumbaman's positioning on the Drow Ranger was impeccable, allowing him to pick off the entire DC squad sealing the victory.
Liquid will face the winner of the Fnatic and Natus Vincere series tomorrow at 0100 CEST and can be watched live here. The two teams will fight for the chance to face OG in the Lower Bracket final.
