Looking at Team Liquids draft during the MSI MGA 2015 quarter finals, you can tell what the plan was.
Dominate multiple shrines with a team that loves to skirmish and fight right next to each other. Johanna and Illidan are so hard to kill when backed my Kharazim and Abathur, and trying to brawl with them just gives The Lost Vikings time to soak. In comparison, MVP Black's lineup looked vanilla- not specialized or tailored for Sky Temple or particularly equipped to deal with Team Liquid's unique composition.
Before this game, Team Liquid had just won a one-sided match on Dragonshire and they looked to be MVP Black's better. Maybe the momentum of a live event and the roar of the crowd inspired Team Liquid to try something different. After all, Kharazim hadn't been played during a major tournament before and to defeat Korean using your own strategies would feel pretty good. MVP Black banned Rehgar and picked Uther to counter the early Illidan + Abathur Picks, so maybe Kharazim was all Team Liquid had left.
The Match
When you never manage to get ahead on XP with The Lost VIkings and Abathur, you know things aren't going your way. Arthas and Leoric shrugged off the damage by Team Liquid's melee heroes and even with Illidan + Ultimate Evolution Illidan chasing Valla, she was always safe due to defensive Void Prisons and Divine Shield. Team Liquids team needed a structural or XP advantage to justify the double specialist inclusion, but MVP Black managed to never lose soak them selves, whilst continually winning team fights.
Kharazim was mobile and his move speed buffs had a noticeable effect on Johanna's and Illidan's chase potential, but Divine Palm felt lackluster throughout the game. A skilled team like MVP Black immediately stops all DPS whenever a target gets the Divine Palm buff, reminding us all that Ancestral Healing exists and can't be countered by micro.
Team Liquid lost, and it gave MVP Black the momentum they needed to come back and take Game 3 as well. Do you think Team Liquid's team composition had the potential to win, or did they lose on the draft screen?
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