There seems to be no stopping Team Liquid as they advance into the upper bracket finals of AMD SAPPHIRE Dota Pit without dropping a single match.
The International 7 championship team Team Liquid and runner up team - Newbee went head to head for the first time since. The highly anticipated match was hyped not only with hopes to see an epic clash between titans, but how the new patch 7.07 would impact their meeting after only going live one day ago.
Newbee had a rocky start, losing the first match of the day against SG e-sports. It seemed to take the Chinese team the one game to adjust, as they then cemented their place in the upper bracket semi finals with a 2:1 victory. Team Liquid, on the other hand, seemed to run amok over the North American representatives, Immortals. In a convincing 2:0 sweep, the European juggernauts didn't even seem fazed about the patch changes, looking as strong as ever.
A fantastic match up with both sides demonstrating a good command over the new patch, Team Liquid were once again able to outplay and outclass their Chinese rivals in a 2:0 sweep.
Undefeated, Team Liquid have moved onto the Upper Bracket finals, securing their third top 3 placement and minimum of 45 points. Newbee have dropped to the lower brackets where they will need to battle through the brutal best-of-one elimination series.
Game One
Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barqawi picked up the Anti Mage, farming with unparalleled efficiency. In just over 30 minutes there was nothing Newbee could do to stop Miracle- from forging ahead and bearing down on their barracks with ease. No matter how many kills Newbee managed to claim or fights they tried to turn around, they couldn't keep up with Team Liquid's barage and fell behind enough to call 'GG' 37 minutes in.
Game Two
Like their last series, after losing the first match, Newbee came out of the gates swinging for the second game. However, unlike their last series, their solid start was cut off by Team Liquid before it would become unmanageable. Advancing into the mid game, Newbee once again started to hit back, taking control of the game and the pace. Unable to close out the game about 34 minutes in when they sieze the barracks, Team Liquid managed to keep themselves in the game long enough to wratched up the tension a few notches. Neck and neck, a nailbiting late game gave Team Liquid the upper hand and eventual victory.
Action will resume tomorrow with best-of-three series between OG and ViCi Gaming at 12:00 CET.
