The primary week of the Western European Dota Professional Circuit is within the books. The standing of the leaderboard after week one could be anticipated for some, as Staff Liquid swept Tundra Esports whereas Secret bombed out and not using a single win.
After beginning the season sturdy, Tundra dropped a map versus Nigma Galaxy. The Worldwide 2022 champions nonetheless clutched the sequence, however their run got here to an finish versus Liquid, the third place finisher at TI11, immediately.
The primary match between Liquid and Tundra featured some signature picks like Chaos Knight for Skiter and Tusk for 9, however Liquid was able to play across the phantasm and heavy bodily harm lineup of Tundra.
As the sport progressed, Liquid outmaneuvered Tundra in game-changing fights. The extent of coordination between Zai’s Darkish Seer, Insania’s Treant Protector, and the remainder of the workforce was an excessive amount of for Tundra to deal with because the TI11 champs threw within the towel on the 44 minute mark.
Coming into the second match, Liquid took a web page out of Tundra’s ebook and drafted Tusk for Nisha. Liquid ended up successful all of the lanes, and their lead was giant sufficient to forestall Tundra’s teamfight-centric lineup from making a comeback try.
In one of many early game fights, Nisha’s Tusk pushed himself out of a Chronosphere after his Section Boots lively ran out, showcasing that just about nothing went in Tundra’s favor in sport two.
Shortly after TI11 concluded, some pros expressed how Liquid may have a greater probability versus Tundra within the finals. Liquid was eradicated by Secret in an in depth sequence, and the brand new season began in a manner that justified these doubts.
Earlier than all of this occurred, TI11 runner ups Secret had been busy dropping their ninth sport in a row for the reason that event in October. One other 2-0 loss versus Gaimin Gladiators put Secret in final place while also marking one of many longest dropping streaks for the group since TI6.