The heir apparent to the Manila trophy, Team Liquid seems to have little to prove at the upcoming major. A dominating streak of wins across qualifiers and LANs have led up to this coming weekend, and after coming so close to the title at Shanghai, you can imagine this team will be seeking nothing but the top.
But this is a new patch, a new major and a tournament where many will be looking to stake their claim. There's many teams that need to prove themselves at the Manila Major, and with TI6 on the horizon, the window to do so is closing.
For Jesse "Jerax" Vainkka, support for Team Liquid, the status as tournament favorite doesn't put any extra pressure on the team.
"We go to tournaments to win," says Vainkka. "But it doesn't pressure us to think this way."
Views From The 6.87
For any team, a patch can be many things. A broad update to the pace, balance and overall strategy of Dota 2, a major patch can tip the scales in your favor or set your entire playstyle askew.
The newest patch, 6.87, has had mixed results for other squads, and many buffs and nerfs contributed to a major shift in the game. Team Liquid, however, has seemed resilient. Jerax says that adapting to this patch has not been a problem for the team, whatsoever. His signature Earth Spirit play has continued to propel the team forward, maintaining a 71 percent win rate overall despite the reductions in the hero's power. The team continues to experiment with different heroes, running cores like Alchemist, Dragon Knight, Lifestealer and Bristleback across victories at Epicenter.
"We can quickly pick up strong ideas, test them and value if it's actually viable for us," says Jerax. "For us, it's a matter of time if we get to practice the heroes that excel."
That matter of time may not be long, it seems. Though Team Liquid has yet to play many official matches on this patch, they've already got impressive stats on heroes like Earth Spirit, Lone Druid and Beastmaster. Even Lycan, a hero that seems lost to another era of Dota, has been a solid pickup for hard carry Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen, going 7/1/7 in a match against Chinese powerhouse Newbee at Epicenter.
Bonding Liquid
It's hard to look at the current landscape of teams, those at the top and those struggling, and make an argument against keeping rosters stable. Teams like Liquid, OG and Wings have had a team that's stuck together for a long time, resilient to the common ebb and tide of post-tournament shuffles.
Yet Team Liquid, formerly competing under the team name 5Jungz, has been together since August 2015, and the results speak for themselves. A runner-up spot at Shanghai and ESL One Manila, and first place spots at The Defense Season 5, Dota 2 Champions League and, most recently, Epicenter in Moscow.
The eight months spent together as a team has given Team Liquid an advantage, according to hard carry MATUMBAMAN, in terms of both chemistry and tactics.
"It makes bootcamping and tournament prep much easier because our team feels so connected," says MATUMBAMAN. "Everybody knows what sort of preparation we need to win."
Jerax echoed this sentiment, talking about team cohesion as a focus in their Manila preparations, rather than working on any specific compositions or strategies.
"With the boot camp we want to bring back the synergy between the players," says Jerax. "And have a solid plan [of] how we want to play at the majors."
The Lay of the Land
That preparation will be key to taking the title at Manila, as many teams will be looking to Liquid, both for inspiration and as the titan to defeat on their way to the top. While above the drama surrounding other group match-ups, there's still always teams to look out for, especially those that have bested you once already.
Wings Gaming, a Chinese qualifier squad in the ESL One Manila tournament this past April, climbed the brackets to fight Team Liquid in the grand finals, sweeping them in a 3-0 series. As one of Team Liquid's coaches Lee "Heen" Seung Gon tells ESPN, Wings is a squad Liquid has had their eye on going into the major.
"I'm looking out for some of the Chinese teams like Wings Gaming because their scene is isolated," says Heen. "And it's hard to get a good grasp of how strong they are or how they would feel like to play against in a game."
Heen also doesn't count out western teams, like Team Secret and Evil Geniuses. As he puts it, these two squads "underperformed" at Epicenter, and Liquid is eager to see how they have improved their game since.
It's a balancing game, trying to prep for the immediate issue of the group stage while also keeping your likely grand finals competitors in the periphery. But these cross-regional match-ups mean more than just one tournament title; it's only so often now that the best-of-the-best compete in Dota on the same LAN, and with the greatest prize in Dota looming overhead, teams will in many ways be playing for more than a prize pool.
International Expectations
The sixth International, and the chance to cement a team's name into the Aegis of Champions and the history of competitive Dota, grows closer with each week. For many, this will be the final LAN event before then, and the last chance to test your mettle against the world's best in an official setting.
In many ways, the Manila Major can be seen as the prelude to TI6, where storylines will form and expectations set. For Team Liquid coach William "Blitz" Lee, the overall goal is simply TI.
"It's a balancing game, trying to prep for the immediate issue of the group stage while also keeping your likely grand finals competitors in the periphery. But these cross-regional match-ups mean more than just one tournament title."
"That is not to say we ignore this tournament, to do so would be presumptuous," says Blitz. "But it does weigh in the back of your mind.
"As big as the major is, as a coach the overall picture is going to always be The International."
It's no question of whether Team Liquid will be attending The International 6, but the onus is on the team to perform in Manila regardless. A solid showing here won't just be a way to earn some prize pool money and guarantee a decent berth in the TI group stages. It also means reminding teams, and themselves, who one of the most dominant teams in Dota is. Blitz lays out the team's mindset for Manila succinctly:
"We want to go into this tournament as the favorite, and to follow through with people's expectations."