As the International looms ever closer, the penultimate LAN tournament of the 2016-17 season descended on Atlanta.
Similar to recent DreamLeague LAN finals, it was a small affair, with only four teams battling it out after a short period of online League play.
There were three European teams alongside a single American squad competing for a Grand Prize of $80,000. Team Liquid ended up on top, beating Planet Odd, Team Secret and Vega Squadron in the process.
Round One, Fight!
The event started off with Team Secret, the primary winners of the European Qualifier for the International, against a Planet Odd side who had finished second at TI6 as Digital Chaos but had been unable to qualify for this year’s event.
Planet Odd took the first game inside 54 minutes, but Secret bounced back, winning a much faster game off the back of MidOne’s iconic Invoker to even the scores. The final game was back and forth with each team making mistakes, but Odd’s Resolut1on managed to carry the rest of the team to victory, putting them in the Winners’ Finals.
In the other semi-final, Team Liquid faced off against Vega Squadron. VS started well in the first game, but Liquid bounced back to take the lead, playing to the strength of their draft by farming up and making pick-offs in the late game. This was enough for Liquid to prevail and unlike the Secret v Odd encounter, Liquid didn’t allow their opponents an opportunity to come back, grinding Vega down in a drawn-out affair until they were able to use their large gold lead to push into the base and take the series 2-0.
First to Fall
In the Losers’ Bracket, Secret and Vega fought to try and keep their place in the tournament.
Just like in their previous defeats, Team Secret demonstrated what seemed to be an inability to win in the late-game, particularly in Game One. Vega took the lead early by focusing on ganking the vulnerable Sniper and were able to hold onto their lead and use it to push to victory. In their next games though, Team Secret focused on playing to their strengths in mid-game team-fighting, along with putting focus on protecting MidOne. This saw them close out two 31-minute matches to knock the Eastern European team out of the tournament.
In the Winners’ Finals, Liquid showed they deserved their International invite, playing two completely different strategies to secure a 2-0 win against Planet Odd. They won the first game pretty quickly, going from a 1k gold lead on 26 minutes to an 8k gold and two barracks lead a minute later, taking advantage of the incredible push potential of their heroes. Six minutes later, the first game was theirs.
The second game was a more drawn-out affair, Odd being able to take the lead during the midgame, but with a well-farmed Anti-Mage and enough support to keep him alive on Liquid’s side, Odd were eventually forced to call GG and had to hope they could make it to the Grand Finals through the Losers’ Bracket.
Rematch Times Two
For the second time in the tournament, Planet Odd and Team Secret faced off, this time trying to keep their tournament hopes alive in the Losers’ Finals.
It seemed that Secret’s main strategy of playing for the mid-game would be used against them as Planet Odd picked some of their opponents’ preferred heroes like Templar Assassin and Earthshaker, drafting line-ups that were stronger during the mid-game to try and exploit their weaknesses. The strategy succeeded, with Secret unable to give MidOne the space he needed to farm and carry. This saw Secret finish in third place and gave a second chance against Liquid for Planet Odd.
The Grand Finals
It was another rematch in the Grand Finals then as Planet Odd hoped to break Team Liquid’s undefeated streak and avenge their 2-0 loss in the Winners’ Final.
The first game seemed to be Liquid’s as they secured an early lead, only to lose it temporarily around 28 minutes in. They soon regained it, but a standout performance from w33 on Timbersaw – which forced a number of key abilities from Liquid while he stayed alive by the skin of his teeth – proved to be key. This provided enough space for the rest of his team to work without pressure and saw Planet Odd take Game One.
Game Two was a much cleaner affair, with Odd starting out strongly and keeping the pressure up. While w33 had been the star of Game One, Resolut1on provided an impeccable performance on Anti-Mage, showing just how strong the hero is at pushing. This resulted in Liquid giving up the game on 43 minutes, leaving the American team one game from victory.
While the second game was clean and efficient, the third was almost surgical, with Team Liquid bouncing back with a strong early-push draft, bringing out a few unusual heroes like Huskar and Visage to win an incredibly short game. They did this by taking a base tower and barracks on 17 minutes, forcing Odd to concede defeat. This was Liquid’s first win in the Grand Finals.
The fourth game was much messier than the previous two as Planet Odd had a lead from around ten minutes until Liquid took it briefly at 23 minutes, and then again on 32 minutes, before keeping it for the rest of the game. A desperate push near the end led to two key members of Odd being taken down before Anti-Mage proceeded to teleport towards the enemy base, razing it as Odd were unable to do anything to stop him. This put the score even for the first time in the series.
Given their strong performances in most of their previous games, it was a little sad to see Planet Odd surrender so meekly in the final game. Liquid drafted to push and that was exactly what they did, taking down every outer tower and allowing no room for Odd to respond to their aggression. After 26 minutes, the US-based team conceded, giving Liquid a 3-2 win and the DreamLeague trophy.
All in all, Liquid performed dominantly throughout the entire tournament, displaying their ability to draft for, and win in, each stage of the game. This is likely to be a huge strength heading into the International. Planet Odd did play impressively though, taking down Secret and bringing the Grand Finals to a full series, giving hope to their fans that they will stick together past August.
