The final 16 teams to compete for The International Dota 2 Championship 2014 has been decided after Team Liquid emerged victorious from the Phase One playoffs. The American team overcame both CIS Game from China in the first round of the playoff and Korean team MVP Phoenix to earn the right to compete with the other 15 teams for the chance to win the US$4.85 million grand prize.
Team Liquid were out for blood as they swept aside the opposition to finish the phase without losing a single game. The competition for the Americans was not easy as they had to face top Korean side MVP Phoenix.
Things did not look good for the Americans in the first match of the finals round as they faced several setbacks in the early stages. MVP pushed hard forcing the team’s supports to rotate position. Things took a turn for the worse as Liquid’s attempt at taking down Roshan backfired and MVP managed to steal the Aegis and take two kills. The match turned after Liquid successfully defended their barracks; taking down four of MVP’s heroes in the process.
Liquid rode the momentum from the first match win to easily sweep the second game in just over half an hour. Qualifying them to join final 16 in the start of the Phase two playoffs that begin tonight.
Elsewhere, the Solo Championship saw s4 of Alliance beat ferrari_430 from Invictus Gaming. s4 managed a skillful dodge to avoid two Shadowrazes while the match was tied at 1 – 1 to take the kill and win the tournament.
TI4 resumes at midnight tonight as the long 16 team round robin Phase Two playoffs begin. Malaysian Arrow Gaming has will meet Evil Geniuses, Cloud9, iG, Alliance and LGD tonight in their trial by fire. Titan eSports will have an easier time as their main threat for the day only comes in the form of a match against Alliance although they still need be careful against Team Empire, Cloud9, and ViCi.
In case you’re wondering, Valve has listed several highlight reels from DotaCinema on the Dota 2 YouTube channel along with several player interviews. Follow the action either directly in Dota 2 or on the Twitch stream.
[Match highlight video: DotaCinema]
