Team Liquid put on a clinic against Virtus Pro in the lower bracket of the WePlay! Pushka League playoffs today, winning 2-0 to confirm a top-three placing.
Liquid have been spectacular in the Dota 2 tournament thus far, a far cry from their distressing 0-5 start at the ESL One L.A. Online event—the same competition that their opponents won. The team is streaky and tends to run hot and cold—and they’re positively boiling now. VP were outmatched in two straight games and barely had time to register the assault on their senses.
While Liquid’s most vaunted ability is their swift adaptiveness and preternatural aptness at teamfighting, Michael “miCKe” Vu stole the show in game one. Playing Void Spirit in the mid lane while qojqva moved to the safe lane with Lycan, miCKe handled himself well against an unfavorable Monkey King matchup played by one of the best mid laners, no[o]ne. MiCKe ended with 15 kills to his name, far outstripping anybody on his side, and managed to claim more scalps than VP’s entire team.
MiCKe continued his hot form into the second game, playing the same hero. While he shined a little less this time, it wasn’t because he fell off. Rather, the entire team stepped up with brilliant initiations and skirmishes that saw VP scrambling for scraps.
The CIS team clutched the fifth game of the ESL One Los Angeles Online grand finals against OG, mounting a comeback after OG let a huge lead slip. There were no late rallies to be found for VP today, though, and they fell to a dominant Liquid.
This is VP’s second loss to Liquid in the playoffs. VP exited the group stage with a 4-2 record, good for second place. But they were swiftly sent to the lower bracket after the first round courtesy of Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi’s squad. The team then beat out HellRaisers, who had finished above them in the group stage, and Ninjas in Pyjamas’ young upstarts.
But now, VP have been eliminated from the tournament in fourth place. Surprisingly, the organization’s second team, VP.Prodigy, is guaranteed to finish above the main squad. VP.Prodigy already has a spot on the podium and will now battle Team Secret to determine who will be the first grand finalist of the WePlay! Pushka League.
