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We continue to see what's happening at ESL One Birmingham 2024. This is the first major LAN tournament of the 2024 season, where $1,000,000 and full EPT points will be awarded.
It all starts with the group stage, where 16 teams divided into two baskets will play to advance to the group stage. Among them are Liquid and G2.IG, who will play each other in the first round.
Let's see how the match between Liquid and G2.IG will end and whether either side can earn a win in this match.
Let's go.
Liquid's form
We start the match with an analysis of Liquid's form. "Liquid are playing a number one here, with odds to win in the region of 2.
At DPC 2023: WEU Division 1 Tour 1 Liquid didn't lose a single match, 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 lineup: miCKe, Nisha, 33, 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 Internationals. 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 they defeated Ledge or Spirit 1-2 in the grand finals and Elite League, where they took the top 4.
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.
Form G2.IG
We continue the match analysis with the analysis of G2.IG form. In this match they are in the status of a clear outsider, with odds to win around 6.
In the first round of DPC 2023 Invictus Gaming took the top 6, almost losing their place in the top division, but they got through. Naturally, Major e was out of the question.
In the second round of DPC 2023: China Upper Division there was no talk about Major e either, but somehow Invictus Gaming got there. The team made it to the top-3 in the home league, only to fall to the ground with a bang: at Berlin Major 2023 Invictus Gaming finished in the top-18.
The third season of DPC gave hope for an IG comeback. IG went to Bali with a top-2 DPC in their pocket, but the curtain came down. The team finished top-18, thus failing to confirm their status as the top-2 team in China.
- IG lineup: Monet, NothingToSay, JT-, BoBoKa, xNova.
After a series of failures, which can be attributed to the failure at the qualifiers for The International 2023, IG completely rebuilt the roster, inviting all the top players from the region. Now the team has a lot of potential to fulfil.
The renewed G2.IG squad showed great results in the group stage of ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023. The Chinese took the top 1 in Group B Ledgeiv on only one map. In the first play-offs match, G2.IG faced Gaimin Gladiators. In an intense match, one of last season's top teams, GG, proved to be stronger and closed out the series with a 2-1 score.
Falling to the bottom grid of Kuala Lumpur 2023 the team lost to BB Team and left the championship. As a result, G2.IG finished in the top 8 at the first major tournament of the season.
Next, G2.IG played 3 qualifying tournaments. BB Dacha 2024: CN and SEA Closed Qualifiers, where they finished top 8, DL Season 22: China Qualifier, where they finished top 2 and ESL One Birmingham 2024: China Closed Qualifier, where they finished first.
DreamLeague Season 22 G2.IG got off to a terrible start. The team played two series and lost both of them with the score 0-2. The second day was much better - already two draws. However, it didn't allow them to stay afloat: after the third game day, where G2.IG played a draw with BB and lost to Azure Ray, the team lost their chances to qualify for the play-offs.
After the failure at DreamLeague Season 22, G2.IG played two qualifying events: DreamLeague Season 23 China Qualifier and PGL Wallachia. They couldn't make it to the first one, but they will go to Romania after winning the qualifiers against Azure Ray.
The last tournament before the ESL One Birmingham 2024 was Elite League, where G2.IG took the top 8, Ledge and Gaimin Gladiators.
The most popular G2.IG heroes
The most sought-after IG pic is Timbersaw. The character has appeared in the team's games 5 times and has a 60% win rate.
Other picks include Spirit Breaker (4 matches, 75% wins), Medusa (4 matches, 75% wins), Silencer (4 matches, 50% wins).
There was also Void Spirit (3 matches, 100% wins), Brewmaster (3 matches, 100% wins), Monkey King (3 matches, 66% wins).
History of head-to-head meetings between Liquid and G2.IG
Previously, the teams played each other at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, where the Chinese won.
Predicted result of the match G2.IG - Team Liquid at ESL One Birmingham 2024
In this match I am expecting a close Dota 2. Although bookmakers highlight Liquid as a very clear favourite, for me everything is not so clear here. G2.IG looked good at the Wallachia qualifiers, beating Azure Ray, for example. Yes, it's not the level of Falcons and other tops, but still. All in all, I think it's 1-1 here.
Bottom line: draw.
