Welcome to EGamersWorld.
We continue to talk about what's going on in the Dota 2 competitive scene. Right now the focus is on DreamLeague Season 24, where 8 teams are left in the race for $1,000,000 with a top prize of $300,000.
All these 8 teams will now play in the second group stage of the tournament where they will play for 4 spots in the play-offs. Among the contenders for Team Liquid to advance to the main stage is Team Spirit.
Trying to figure out how the match between Team Liquid and Team Spirit will end.
Let's go.
Team Liquid's form
We open the Liquid vs Spirit match with an analysis of the form of the reigning world champions of The International 2024 - Liquid. In this match they will play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.6.
Liquid didn't lose a single match at DPC 2023: WEU Division 1 Tour 1 and then took the top 2 at The Lima Major 2023 while playing with substitutes. More than decent.
The second round of the DPC was as similar to the previous round as possible. Liquid again took the Top 1, but now with only one loss in the table. On the international stage, Liquid shone again, but were still overshadowed by Gaimin Gladiators, who took their second Major a Champions Cup of the season.
In their third season, Liquid were no longer able to cement their supremacy. "Liquid" fell to fourth place, but it was good enough to pass at Bali Major 2023, which in the case of the past at The International 2023 Team Liquid does not play any role.
- Liquid line-up: miCKe, Nisha, SaberLight, Boxi, Insania.
After the disappointing result at DreamLeague Season 20, where Team Liquid fell out of the first group stage, there was a feeling that Bali Major 2023 would be held for Liquid at the International 2023. However, Liquid decided to switch on and play to the fullest.
And they almost succeeded: they took the top 2, losing in the grand final to Gaimin Glaidators! Again. Third time at a Major tournament in a year.
Riyadh Masters 2023 Team Liquid started at the Play-In stage, as they surprisingly didn't collect enough ESL ranking points. They finished the Play-In with a 3-1-1 score and second place in Basket A, and then played the group stage with a 3-3-1 statistic, advancing to the top set of play-offs.
At the end of the biggest tournament of the year, Team Liquid finished in the top 2, which can't be called a bad result. Unlike the top-10 at DreamLeague Season 21, which was after the Riyadh Masters 2023 and before Longsong The International 2023.
Team Liquid made it to the next round of the group stage pretty confidently from Group B. "Liquid" took the top 1 by taking a 3-1-0 lead in the series.
In the play-offs seeding match, Liquid faced Evil Geniuses. The Peruvians are not happy at this The International 2023, from which they expectedly lost 0-2 against Liquid.
In the first round of play-offs LIquid met Talon Esports. They won on class, taking two maps. What is true, further went not according to plan: a loss from Spirit and then Gaimin Gladiators, already at the bottom of the table. At the end of the main event of the year Team Liquid took the top 6.
The new season began with a performance at Kuala Lumpur 2023, where they reached TOP-2. In 2024 they played everywhere they could. They also went to BB Dacha and made it to the TOP-2 (lost in the final to Falcons), played on DL Season 22. DreamLeague Season 22 was definitely not a priority, as Liquid were so out of shape that they didn't make it out of the group stage.
There was the 1win series tournament, where Ledge or Spirit went 1-2 in the grand finals and Elite League, where they finished top 4.
At ESL One Birmingham 2024, Team Liquid finished in the top 6, with Ledge beating future champions Falcons. PGL Wallachia Season 1 the team started with a win over G2.IG, then lost 2 series to Xtreme and Shopify Rebellion before beating MOUZ. Finally, they defeated their counterparts from Secret, thus advancing to the play-offs with a score of 3-2.
Next, Liquid played at DreamLeague S23, where they finished in the top 10. In July of the 2024 season, Liquid made it to the grand finals of the Riyadh Masters 2024, and then Top 1 at Elite League Season 2. However, the main triumph of Liquid was The International 2024, where Liquid showed themselves extravagantly, where they reached the grand finals and already there they beat Gaimin Gladiators 3-0 without any problems.
Team Liquid played well in the first round of the group stage of DL Season 24, where they played with a score of 3-3-1, taking the top 2 in their basket.
Team Liquid's most popular heroes
Team Liquid has Crystal Maiden in the top picks with 7 games and 6 wins.
In addition to Crystal Maiden, Doom (4 matches, 100% wins), Sven (4 matches, 75% wins), Skywrath Mage (4 matches, 75% wins) are the picks.
Rubick (4 matches, 25% wins), Void Spirit (3 matches, 100% wins) appear in spades, Underlord, Pangolier, Storm Spirit have 3 matches each and all have 2 wins.
Team Spirit uniforms
We continue our analysis of the Spirit vs Liquid match with an analysis of Spirit's form. In this match one of the best teams in Eastern Europe will play as an outsider with odds to win around 2.5.
In the first round of DPC 2023: EEU Division 1 Spirit took 2nd place. Then the dragons were prevented from winning by BB Team, who finished the tournament in first place with a score of 7-0. After playing in their home league, Team Spirit visited The Lima Major 2023 where they finished in the top 8.
Later Spirit played the second round of the home league and again finished in the top 2. Going to The Berlin Major 2023 they expected to improve the result of the previous Major, but in the end it got worse: already TOP-12.
Despite the "sluggish" game on the international arena, Spirit still consistently come out of the groups at the Major, and at home they look like the main contender for victory in every game. This was the case in the third season of DPC 2023.
Spirit finished the Eastern Europe final cycle in first place. It took 3 tries to earn the championship in Eastern Europe.
- Team Spirit roster: Satanic, Larl, Malik, Rue, Miposhka.
Spirit visited The Bali Major 2023, but the trip there ended in failure. The team finished in the top 12 and didn't make it to the prizes.
Team Spirit made it to the Riyadh Masters 2023 directly into the group stage. The Dragons finished with a score of 8-6 and the second place in Group A.
Once in the play-offs Team Spirit started their way to the grand finals. In the first match they outplayed Team Aster, after a very difficult Long Srpeg on two maps.
Next was BB Team and almost identical series: Spirit fell behind on all 3 maps, but somehow won 2-1.
In the match to reach the grand finals they played against Liquid. After giving up the first map, they cameback on the second and demolished Liquid on the third. At the Riyadh Masters 2023, Spirit were transformed into macro masters. Not least because of this, Spirit became the champions of the biggest tournament of the year.
Before the Long Sogpeg The International 2023, Spirit became the champions of DreamLeague Season 21. In the grand finals, they ran over Shopify Rebellion by a score of 3-0.
At The International 2023, the Dragons are still unbeaten. Spirit became the only team not to lose a single game in the first stage of the group stage, finishing 8-0. They were in dominant form throughout the tournament, taking home the Aegis of Immortals trophy.
Things were not so smooth in the 2024 season. Spirit finished top-4 at DreamLeague Season 22 and won PGL Wallachia Season 1, but they couldn't get above top-8 and top-12 at the Riyadh Masters 2024 and The International 2024, respectively.
In the first round of the DreamLeague S24 group stage, Team Spirit went 3-3-1 in Basket B.
Team Spirit's most popular characters
Team Spirit's top most picked characters is led by Crystal Maiden. The character has appeared in the peak 6 times and has an 83% win rate.
Apart from Crystal Maiden, Disruptor and Underlord are also appreciated, having been peaked 5 times each with 80% winrate. There was also Skywrath Mage (4 matches, 100% wins), Doom (4 matches, 75% wins), PL, Viper, Slark, Riki appeared 3 times each and has 100% wins.
History of head-to-head meetings between Spirit and Liquid
Spirit and Liquid have played each other three times in the 2024 season and Spirit has won twice.
Predicted result of Team Liquid vs Team Spirit at DreamLeague Season 24
In this match we should expect an even game. Despite Liquid's recent win at The International 2024, they have changed a key position, swapping 33 to SaberLight. At the same time Spirit also changed their lineup significantly and it affects their play. I think we should wait for a full-fledged bo3.
Bottom line: total +2.5.