ESL One Bangkok: Team Liquid Eliminate Falcons in Stunning 3 Game Series

This was without a doubt one of the best series of Dota 2 I’ve ever seen in my life. Two teams fought their hardest to continue their lower bracket run at ESL One Bangkok but in the end, only one emerged victorious. Both TI champions Team Liquid and multi Major winners Team Falcons really put on a show for us but in the end, Liquid came out on top.

The atmosphere here at ESL One Bangkok is absolutely electric and they’ve done their region proud by showing up for these teams. It really comes down to fans just cheering for really good Dota, and really good Dota it was. I’ve actually never seen a game where a double Echo Slam is less impactful than a single Fissure.

Three games of madness

The lower bracket quarterfinals aren’t usually the scenes of heart stopping Dota but Liquid had something to prove. Game 2 was a relatively quick 30 minute stomp from Liquid with catch after catch from Boxi’s Hoodwink. It was sandwiched between two 60+ minute games that saw all rules of engagement go out of the window.

By the end of game 3, the gold advantage didn’t matter and even having a Rosh advantage didn’t make that much of a difference. It all came down to reaction times and pure skill, which is when Dota is truly at its best. During the final push with all 5 heroes in Falcons’ base, Liquid got megas right after the creeps spawned, putting a lot of extra pressure on the Ancient and despite being one of the best players at ESL One Bangkok, ATF just couldn’t sustain through the damage. In all of the madness, Boxi found his man with the Blink-Lasso initiation and it was all over.

What’s left at ESL One Bangkok?

There are still 2 full days of competition left to come at ESL One Bangkok. Three teams were eliminated today: Shopify Rebellion and Team Falcons fell to Liquid while Nigma Galaxy were crushed by Team Spirit. Tomorrow is going to have a tonne of action too, though they’ll be hard pushed to recreate the excitement of this final series today. Here’s the full schedule:

We won’t find out which unlucky team will be next to face Team Liquid until Avulus vs Team Spirit concludes but it’s safe to say it’s going to be one hell of a day of Dota.

Hotspawn will be in the arena capturing all of the action as well as interviews with players and talent. Keep up on our X account and come say hi if you spot me!