LIQUID WINS STARLADDER, AGAIN

Wait, this header looks familiar.

Didn't we already do this?

Well, yes we did, and we did it again.

We are now 4-time StarLadder champions dating back to StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, just a little less than a year ago. That's 4 straight tournament wins — no wonder the Chinese fans call it "Team Liquid StarLeague". The title also marks a special occasion for our captain, as he is now the first Dota player to ever reach 1,000 official wins, further cementing his place as one of the all time greats in the game. With more DPC points in the bag, he's sure to reach even higher milestones in the future.

What an achievement! Congratulations @LiquidKuroKy for being the first ever player to reach 1000 professional @DOTA2 wins! #LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/vcnVdwc2EJ

— Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) February 4, 2018

Home Turf?

The importance of earning Dota Pro Circuit points has turned every tournament into a brutal battle for the top 4. Team Liquid has managed to make top 4 in their last 7 tournaments with four first place finishes including this StarLadder i-League Invitational #4. Their performance in the post-TI season has put them comfortably in 2nd place in the DPC rankings with 3510 points.

Liquid’s tenacity and adaptability were on full display during the semi-finals against Mineski. After losing a team fight, giving up a lane and a half of barracks, losing Roshan, and spiraling down a nearly insurmountable amount of gold and experience... they didn't. Matumbaman, Miracle-, MinD_ContRoL, GH, and KuroKy all itemized perfectly to kite and survive against Mineski’s Ursa, and through long drawn out engagements they were able to battle back and win the second game of the series to advance to the finals after a 2-0 sweep. GH deserves special mention for an incredible play he made, catching out Mineski’s Ursa without buyback and ensuring Team Liquid would have an advantage during the base push.



Blitz summarized the crazy comeback with some quotes from Kuro and Miracle:

Kuro muttering we should have lost while miracle shouts all according to plan is the embodiment of liquid

— Blitz (@Blitz_DotA) February 4, 2018

The finals began with Liquid once again showing their fighting spirit as they fell behind early against LGD. Miracle’s Storm Spirit found all the right runes, and fight after fight seemed like he had a limitless mana pool. He zipped around and took down LGD’s heroes one by one, with a couple of cheeky — and risky — plays in between. The rest of the team had their fair share of highlight plays, from Matumba’s Pugna, GH’s Io, KuroKy’s Bane and Mind_ControL’s Beastmaster, which in game 3 of the finals went out of control.



All played integral parts in securing the 3-1 victory over LGD, even though it looked close at times. With With another title defended, the team looks as strong as ever as they continue through the season.

Next up for the Team Liquid Dota 2 team will be the ESL One Katowice Major at the end of February followed by the Bucharest Major in early March. With the form shown from KuroKy & Co., we could see a new #1 team on the DPC leaderboards come April.