Manila Major: Team Liquid surge forward, LGD Gaming eliminated

Team Liquid got LGD Gaming eliminated, 2:0, in the fifth round of the Manila Major Lower Brackets. The Chinese are the 13th team to be knocked out of contention in the main event and will walk away with $255,000 for their fourth place finish. Team Liquid will face Newbee in the Lower Bracket finals tomorrow, June 12, at 04:00 CEST.

The last elimination series of the day saw some intense, nail biting and thrilling Dota 2 games to round out the second to last day of the Manila Major.

Earlier today, LGD Gaming had prevailed over MVP.Phoenix, 2:1. The Chinese team was looking powerful as they went into their elimination match against Team Liquid.

LGD Gaming gave a commendable fight but were overpowered by Team Liquid in both games.

After placing first in their groupstage with a 4:2 score, they were seeded into the upper brackets. In the first round, the European squad was knocked into the lower brackets by MVP.Phoenix in a clean 2:0 sweep.

Once in the lower brackets, Team Liquid swept through all of their opponents, 2:0 – compLexity, Na’Vi, Fnatic and now LGD Gaming.

The European mix saw LGD Gaming eliminated and claimed their spot in the lower bracket finals, where they will face Newbee for a chance to advance to the Grand Finals.

The Manila Major standings: Team Liquid vs. LGD Gaming

In the first game, Team Liquid took their Sladar-LifeStealer combo. The European squad was dominating since the early game. LGD won a good Roshan fight but it wasn’t enough to turn the tables on Team Liquid who were already too far ahead. Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen had an extraordinary performance on LifeStealer, going 17:3:6 by the end.

© DotaBuff

The second match gave LGD most of the strong heroes including a Terror Blade, Timbersaw and Beast Master. The match started out back and forth for the first 13 minutes between the two teams before Team Liquid would start to take the lead. At 18 minutes a favorable fight for Team Liquid getting four heroes and Roshan would further extend their lead. LGD was also getting heavily outfarmed by the Alchemist, making it even more difficult for them to catch back up in worth and advantage in the early and mid game. A few more favorable fights for Team Liquid would make it near impossible for LGD to turn anything around but at 48 minutes. However, shortly later LGD turned around a team fight and wiped out Team Liquid, losing one hero. LGD then pushed forward into high ground and started to take barracks, closing the gap between them significantly. Team Liquid were able to turn things around once again with favorable team fights and finally claim their victory after 65 minutes.

© DotaBuff

Manila Major standings: Team Liqiuid 2:0 LGD Gaming. Team Liquid advance to the lower bracket finals after seeing LGD Gaming eliminated.

Manila Major

The Manila Major – the third and final Major this season in advance of The International 2016 – is produced by PGL, with the main event scheduled to take place between June 7-12 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines. Sixteen teams will compete over six days in a double elimination tournament.

Europe had six teams at the Manila Major, followed by China with four teams, the Americas and Southeast Asia with three representatives each.

Only three teams remain: two from Europe – OG and Team Liquid, and one from China – Newbee.