Cover-Credits:
ESL One Summer 2021 is underway and in a surprising turn of events, Team Secret and Team Liquid are two of the first teams to get knocked out of the tournament. The first round of the lower bracket was a surprise to many with teams like Secret, Liquid, Nigma, and OG finding themselves against each other on day two of ESL One Summer 2021. Nigma prevailed against Secret in a nailbiting 2-1 series. OG on the other hand wiped out Liquid 2-0. And as if that wasn’t good enough action, Team Nigma and OG will now face each other in the second round of the lower bracket of ELS One Summer.
Team Secret and Team Liquid get Knocked out of ESL One Summer 2021 by Team Nigma and OG
Team Secret has lost a lot of the momentum from their legendary undefeated run in 2020. The team finished fourth in the second DPC season of 2021 and didn’t even make it past the wildcards of the AniMajor. They have fallen far from the well oiled winning machine that they once were.
Team Secret has already confirmed a slot at TI10, and they need to get their act together if they want to have any chance at winning. It is obvious that there is a missing element in the team right now and they need to fix it
Team Liquid on the other hand took ESL One Summer 2021 in a sort of nonchalant manner. Their carry player Michael "miCKe" Vu did not play a single game in the tournament. He was replaced by a stand-in in both the series the team lost. Team Liquid explained that miCKe was taking a break. This was also Team Liquid’s first event after the return of offlaner Samuel “Boxi” Svahn and they seem to be struggling with getting back on pace and playing as one unit.
This break will hopefully benefit the team as they need to build up their strength for their upcoming battle in the EU TI10 Qualifiers against the top teams of Europe.
The TI qualifier this year is one of the most stacked ones we have had with big names like Nigma, Liquid, OG, Tundra, and Lower Division challengers like Vikin.gg and Team Bald Reborn.
With how shaky teams like Nigma and Liquid look right now, the qualifiers could be anyone’s game. It would be quite an upset if both of the previous TI finalists get knocked out of the qualifiers.
Meanwhile, said teams, Nigma and OG are set to face each other in the second round of the lower bracket of ELS One Summer 2021 on 18 June 2021.
