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Team Liquid eliminated from BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024
Team Liquid recently had their most successful season yet. They finally overcame their demons and immortalized their names on the prestigious Aegis of Champions at The International 2024. After the tournament, they underwent a roster shuffle. With their offlane player, Neta "33" Shapira, parting ways with the team, they brought in Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek as their newest offlaner.
This new version of Team Liquid made its debut at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024. However, despite some brilliant showing at the group stages, they had a couple of hiccups in the playoffs. These mistakes costed Team Liquid a hefty price as they were recently eliminated from the tournament by Yakult's Brothers.
How Team Liquid got elminated
The last elimination series of the day was a nail-biter. Both Yakult's Brothers and Team Liquid secured dominant victories in the first and second games, respectively. The deciding game was a long and intense battle. However, in classic Team Liquid fashion, they pulled back the losing game but made some crucial mistakes during the high-ground siege.
As a result, despite not having their safelane Luna, Yakult's Brothers fended off Liquid's final push and took down two of their crucial cores who did not have buyback. When Yakult's safelane Luna respawned, they ran down mid, ultimately eliminating the reigning TI champions from the tournament.
Blitz talked about what happened
After the series, in their post-game interview, Team Liquid's beloved coach, William "Blitz" Lee, reflected on the series. He also took a slight jab at this year's TI series in the interview.
" It was more than the TI games. So, I hope the people had a good time watching the games. It was exciting for me too. I like to be a spectator and fan as well. At least, it was a good game to go out on."
Team Liquid was considered one of the favourites to win the tournament despite their roster shuffle. They were, at the very least, expected to secure a top-five finish due to their star-studded roster and recent performances. However, they failed to meet those expectations, and in his elimination interview, Blitz discussed what went wrong.
" We were probably just a little bit underprepared. It's our first tournament with Saber obviously. I think our priorities are probably a little bit off in terms of heroes. It takes a little bit of time to get that agile. Obviously, we changed players and the playstyle differences between the two of them is the like the most extreme that's gonna be. It happens – sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."
Blitz states Team Liquid needs time
One of Liquid's players recently revealed that the team took a break after their TI victory. Now, with a new addition to the roster, Blitz also discussed the adjustments the team will need to make.
"I know that this tournament obviously matters a lot and it sucks to lose. At the same time, we are just continue to build, take away some stuff that we learned. I think we probably figured out a little bit more as the tournament went on how we are going to incorporate Saber. We only had three or four days of practice. So, I think that given a lot of time, we are a talent group, I think that I have the best players in the world – I think it will eventually work out, just need a little more time to cook. I think people are probably going to be impatient because we just won TI and it's disappointing to lose like this. That's just the way it goes. We will compare at the end of the year how things went versus how they start. It's not always how you start in these kind of situations."
With their victory, Yakult's Brothers advance to the next round of the lower bracket where they'll face BetBoom Team. As for Liquid, they will be making their return on Dreamleague Season 24.
Featured Image Source: Valve
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