Cover-Credits:
The third day of The International 2022 (TI11) Main Event saw another Western European matchup as Team Liquid claimed victory against dark horse Entity in an exhilarating best of three in the Lower Bracket. Entity had an amazing story during the Dota Pro Circuit season, as the team qualified for TI11 from the Regional Qualifiers after a rise in form during the third tour of the WEU scene.
However, Team Liquid were looking to give Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen a second championship before his eventual retirement from the pro scene after the conclusion of this tournament.
Despite an amazing performance from both teams, Liquid would end up claiming the final victory as it defeated Entity 2-1, eliminating them from TI11 while also delaying MATUMBAMAN’s retirement for another day.
Team Liquid vs Entity: Match recap
Team Liquid had a rise of form in the group stage following its qualification from the Last Chance Qualifiers, as the team had 13 wins to 5 losses and secured its spot in the Upper Bracket. However a stomping defeat to Team Aster saw Liquid being dropped into the Lower Bracket.
Entity on the hand, managed to defeat RNG who were affected by COVID-19 in the longest game in The International (TI11) Main Event history.
Game One
Team Liquid started off its draft by picking up Lifestealer, Leshrac & Enigma for its core lineup while Entity went for a fairly aggressive draft, picking up Slardar and Arc Warden as the main damage dealers.
The laning phase was even between both teams, however going into the mid-game phase Team Liquid had the upper hand as Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen’s Lifestealer & Michael "miCKe" Vu’s Leshrac was dishing out a lot of damage upon Entity’s heroes.
Game One ended after 34 minutes, as Team Liquid secured the first game of the series.
Game Two
Entity were looking to even out the series as it drafted Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko’s signature Sniper while Liquid went for Enigma for Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg and Pudge for MATUMBAMAN.
While the early game was again even between both teams, this time it was Entity who were the aggressors as Pure’s Sniper was constantly providing a lot of damage for Entity during team fights while Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau’s Leshrac provided the pushing potential for his team.
Game Two ended after just over 43 minutes, as Entity claimed the second game of the series to force a Game Three decider.
Game Three
With the series now being a best of one, both teams wanted to advance further in TI11 however one of them will be eliminated after this game. Liquid started off the drafting phase as it went back for MATUMBAMAN’s Lifestealer and zai’s Enigma while Entity went for its comfort heroes in Pudge for Pure and Puck for Stormstormer.
Game Three lived up to its hype, as it was a back and forth game between both teams. While the mid-game phase saw Entity almost had the game and the series on their hands, clutch plays from zai’s Enigma and MATUMBAMAN’s Lifestealer saw Team Liquid slowly coming back into the game. Upon seeing Entity’s buyback situation, Team Liquid claimed the third game by destroying Entity's base after a grueling 51 minutes as MATUMBAMAN delayed his retirement for another day.
Following the series, Team Liquid will move on into the Third Round of Lower Bracket while also guaranteeing themselves a Top 8 finish as it will face OG tomorrow. However, for Entity, its campaign at TI11 will end here as it claimed a Top 12 finish in its first ever TI.
