Liquid Will Face Gaimin For The 100th Time For A Grand Final Spot At TI13
All roads lead to Team Liquid versus Gaimin Gladiators. Both Western European powerhouses have won their respective Upper Bracket matches to once again meet, this time for a spot in the Grand Final.
Team Liquid 2-0 Cloud9
Game 1 of the series started relatively even in the laning stage. Despite having a tough lane matchup against watson’s Monkey King, 33’s Sand King simply went to the jungle to farm stacks upon stacks to climb to the top of the net worth chart.
The Team Liquid offlaner purchased Bloodstone as his first item and became unkillable. 33 would run into a fight when all his teammates were dead and still got kills and got away alive. This MVP-level performance from 33 propelled his team to a 36-minute win.
The second map was simply the Nisha show. The Pole picked Puck and was counter-picked by No[o]ne-’s Sniper in the mid lane matchup. However, Nisha was quite literally playing like a God, pulling off incredible plays to push Team Liquid back to the lead.
After numerous back-and-forth affairs, Team Liquid’s experience outshined Cloud9 and the former could take the game after a handful of cinematic fights to win the series 2-0.
Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 Tundra Esports
After defeating Team Falcons 2-0, everyone thought Tundra Esports had a real shot at taking down the Gaimin Gladiators. However, it seemed like the boys in blue were not used to playing against the Gladiators and their fast-paced lineups.
In the first map, the Gladiators went for a full zoo lineup with Chen, Broodmother, and Lone Druid. Despite a slow start to the early game, the Ti12 runner ups could farm their aura items and get to work. They grouped up and was too much for Tundra Esports to handle, and the game ended in 32 minutes.
Tundra Esports learned their lesson and spent most of their bans on zoo heroes for Game 2. However, the Gladiators still picked snowballing cores such as Underlord, Sand King, and Alchemist, and the second game ended even faster than the first in only 24 minutes.
These results mean Cloud9 and Tundra Esports have been sent down to the Lower Bracket, while one of Team Liquid or the Gaimin Gladiators will become the first finalist of The International.