Team Liquid win both matches on day 2 of DreamLeague S19

The second day of DreamLeague Season 19 was full of upsets. Teams that should have easily won their matches or at least gotten a draw lost in spectacular fashion.

Not even the best teams had an easy day. With the exception of Team Liquid, who are now the highest-rated competitor in the tournament (3 W – 1 D – 0 L), everyone was put to the test and failed to some degree or another.

Key results

The most shocking results of the day were registered by ex-HellRaisers and Talon Esports. Both teams were regarded as exceptionally strong and among the favorites before the tournament began. Now they’re sitting near the bottom of their groups and their odds of qualifying for the next stage are slim.

Ex-HellRaisers got crushed by Execration and Evil Geniuses. In all of their games from day 2, their drafts looked weak. And it was hard not to feel that during the key moments of each battle.

They tried Techies and it didn’t work. Then they went for Bounty Hunter. Again, it didn’t work. After that, they switched to something a bit more common but still decided to stick to niche picks. Meanwhile, their opponents played very basic drafts in which the execution is easy. And they won each time.

Talon Esports had a different approach but they simply ran into teams that seemed to know exactly what to do to counter their play style. They picked heroes like Nature’s Prophet, Ember Spirit, Death Prophet, and Spectre.

All of them are strong meta heroes but the way they tried to use them wasn’t appropriate. Or at least, it wasn’t effective against what Team Spirit did. To be fair, the first game was not a complete stomp. At one point, Talon even had a significant gold advantage. But in the end, one big team fight decided everything.

The other game was a stomp. By the 20-minute mark, Spirit had already amassed a gold lead of around 10.000.

Gaimin Gladiators did well and won three of their four games on day 2. They drew against Evil Geniuses and defeated Entity in two quick games that lasted around 25 minutes each.

EG are becoming one of the strongest competitors in the race. At this point, it’s obvious that their Lima Major result was not a fluke. This team really knows how to play in international tournaments and they are very exciting to watch.

Team Liquid won both of their matches. The first was against OG while the second one was against nouns.

Header: Team Liquid