Over-confidence leads to April failures, Team Liquid: a mid-year report by Sheen Sah
Missing the Boston Major was a big hiccup for Team Liquid, who definitely closed 2016 on a sour note. Thus, they opted for a brief resting period to kick off 2017. A failure in November caused TL to miss ESL One Genting 2017 in January, so there wasn’t much to do anyway. 2017 has been solid, but two major April failures put blemishes on an otherwise stellar run this year.
First Quarter, 2017
Team Liquid stormed out of the gates following their January hiatus, going 3-for-3 in February. First, TL went undefeated in the SLi Season 3 European Qualifier (4-3-0 record). Then, Liquid won the DAC 2017 EU Qualifier by sweeping B)ears in the final 2-0. And finally, Team Liquid closed February with a 3-1 victory against Team VGJ in the finals of SLi Season 3. This win earned the club $135,000. Beware, however, there are two April failures ahead.
Second quarter, 2017, April failures explained
Liquid took March off to prepare for the Dota 2 Asia Championship 2017, and failed to overcome Team Faceless in a Bo1 right at the start of the Main Event. Needless to say, TL took dead last at DAC. The loss added $9,000 to their team account, but this is an absolutely lackluster result for Team Liquid. Give credit to Faceless. I did.
Then came the Kiev Major; signs of improvement were apparent despite a so-so group stage for TL; Liquid found themselves atop a six-way tie for 6th place. Newbee jumped out to a 1-0 lead before Liquid managed to reverse sweep and eliminate the hardest working team in China. Invictus Gaming dealt Team Liquid their dying blow in Kiev, and TL earned $125,000.
April was no good for Team Liquid, but they responded well to those losses. Three weeks later, at the SLi Invitational #2, TL reached the finals and defeated TNC Pro Team for $45,000. EPICENTER 2017 came right after, and Team Liquid reached the finals yet again. Defeating Evil Geniuses in the EPICENTER finals earned the club $250,000, and redeemed much of the credit that was lost in April. Check out the highlights below.
Grade: B+
Thanks a lot for reading. I’m not sure if Liquid deserves more criticism for the April failures, so be sure to reach out on Twitter if you have problems with this article or any others in the series. Praise is welcome as well. Have a good one.