The tension was high at TI6 as Fnatic faced off against Team Liquid in the second of three Lower Bracket elimination games today. One of these teams would be going home, while the other would secure a top 6 spot at least.
Game One
The game had a rather slow start, as first blood only fell after six minutes going Fnatic’s way. But moments later, Liquid claimed two kills for themselves as the lanes started to open up. Fnatic started to gain a lead in the game, finding pick offs across the map. With fifteen minutes gone, the Radiant were up by 10-5 and were beginning to look in complete control.
Liquid managed to find a break through, taking down Zheng ‘MidOne’ Yeik Nai’s Ember Spirit, but were unable to capitalise any further. But this now gave them a small window to work with even though they were still a fair amount behind on the scoreboard. This wasn’t to be the case as Fnatic’s line up just proved far too strong for Liquid to deal with. With an aegis in hand, Fnatic went high ground and dropped the mid and bottom lane barracks while also killing off Liquid’s line-up after their buybacks.
With forty minutes passed, Fnatic ripped through the Dire line-up once more – with some absolutely fantastic Crushes coming in from Chong Xin 'Ohaiyo' Khoo with his Slardar – and Liquid had to throw in the towel and call GG.
Game Two
It took just over three minutes in this game for first blood to fall, and it was Liquid’s aggressive tri-lane who struck swiftly to claim three kills in quick succession. Liquid continued to rack up the kills and by ten minutes they were 7-2 up. With only thirteen minutes passed, Team Liquid were really starting to show their strength as they wiped Fnatic off the map completely and things were looking dire for the Dire.
With twenty one minutes passed, Liquid were 25-6 up and Fnatic had absolutely no chance of finding any openings as the Radiant pushed high ground and dropped the tier three tower mid lane. But suddenly Fnatic found a brilliant team fight, where they dropped four from Liquid and moved into the Rosh pit where they claimed the aegis.
Fnatic now looked to be completely on the front foot, as they managed to wipe Team Liquid when they found another great engagement under their tier two tower top lane. While the kill score and net worth was still in Team Liquid’s favour, Fnatic were definitely looking stronger. With thirty one minutes passed, Fnatic secured another team wipe followed by the barracks bot lane.
The pendulum swung once more and Liquid began to make a comeback into the game but no clear winner was in sight by forty minutes. It was now Liquid’s turn to take an aegis as they looked to retain full control of the game. But again, Fnatic found a great fight as they cleaned up four from the Radiant team when they tried to take down the mid barracks.
After fifty two minutes, Fnatic went into the Radiant base to claim mega creeps and after an incredibly back and forth game, which was fought tooth and nail by both teams, Team Liquid tapped out. Sadly for Team Liquid, they will be heading home from TI6 but for Fnatic, after playing a fantastically composed game, secure a top 6 position and will move forward to take on MVP Phoenix.
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