Cover-Credits:
In the Western Europe (WEU) Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021-22 Tour 2: Division 1, Team Liquid defeated Tundra Esports for its third straight series victory. The series started out with a bang, as the first game featured heart-stopping gameplay where Liquid ended up winning by a hair. The next two games were fairly one-sided, with Tundra winning the second one and Liquid winning the third to win the series 2-1. A highlight of the third game was Lasse Aukusti "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen's flawless performance as the Lone Druid leading his team to victory.
Tundra Esports vs Team Liquid: Match Recap and Highlights
Recap
Game 1 was a great battle. Liquid had a pickoff and single target focused strategy, while Tundra had a better teamfight lineup. It turned out that both teams executed their strategies perfectly, causing the networth to drift back and forth. Every time it appeared that one team was pulling ahead, the other would fight back with sublime spellcasting and teamfighting. In the end, it was Team Liquid winning a crucial teamfight in its base and pushing the enemy tier 4 towers next to win in 52 minutes.
Game 2 saw Tundra go with some meta favorites: Pangolier for Nine, Chaos Knight for skiter, and Death Prophet for 33. Tundra played very aggressively from the start thanks to 33’s excellent laning stage. Liquid, unable to stand up to the pressure, began to crumble. MATUMBAMAN’s Bristleback offered some resistance to keep the game rolling, but after 37 minutes, Tundra’s attempt to take down the bottom Barracks also forced the ‘GG’ call from Liquid.
Game 3 saw Tundra surprisingly go with position four Techies for Saksa while Liquid drafted MATUMBAMAN his signature Lone Druid. Due to a favorable laning matchup against 33’s Sand King and Techies, got off to a great start. With no pickoff potential in Tundra’s draft, it was powerless to make any sort of movement, while Liquid frequently scored crucial kills. Tundra lost control of the game quite early and although in a couple of teamfights, it looked as though they might be able to turn things around, it was too hard with their draft, and lost in 40 minutes.
Highlights
Here are some highlights of the series.
After losing 2-0 to OG and Team Secret to start its season, Liquid will be pleased to have beaten Tundra for its third win in a row. In particular, this victory over a team such as Tundra, which had been looking quite strong, will certainly give Liquid a big confidence boost, as it still has to face Gladiators and Nigma Galaxy.
Contrary to Liquid, Tundra has lost two in a row after a sensational start to the campaign with three wins. It had been destroyed by OG a few days ago, and today, despite fighting very hard, it was not able to hold on. Although Tundra has utilized a number of different strategies successfully in the past few months, the Techies' pick in the decisive third game today was certainly a big risk.
In Division 1 of the WEU DPC Tour 2, Liquid will next face Nigma Galaxy on 12th April, while Tundra will face Gladiators on 16th April.
