Gone is are the Bo1's, gone are the unknown teams, and gone is the complicated group math. What's left in The Defense in a playoff bracket, and for Liquid`Dota, it's a single elimination one. Win, and you move on to the next day, lose and you're done. In the playoff tiebreakers we were unable to secure the second spot in the group, and this is our lot from here on out.

Tomorrow we will start our playoff push against a team that has remained together despite a ton of recent difficulty. Led by syndereN, this team was playing under the mTw banner when we defeated them 2-0 in the D2L. But in sticking to the team despite the surprising collapse of their sponsor, these five have shown resolve that is unusual in the Dota 2 scene. They are clearly a group with more heart and a belief that they can and will improve. Not an opponent who we can take lightly.





RDM's set-up is the same as it has been in a while. Tulex and syndereN are solid carries, and syndereN is a famous drafter. Most recently they fell 0-2 to Na'Vi in the D2L, but they didn't look so bad in doing it; going toe to toe with Na'Vi in the first game before being outplayed as the midgame progressed. Although RDM isn't full of famous names beyond their captain, that's no indication that they can't achieve success. In pieces of games they have shown ability; what's been lacking has been a full effort throughout. In today's matches, we need to be sure to disrupt their game plan and throw them out of their comfort zone as often as possible. With a team that's having issues putting everything together, any deviation could open up a hole that will only get wider.



The winner of this match will play the loser of No Tidehunter and 3DMAX. This is not an impossible run for Liquid; we know we can play with any team in this tournament. But that doesn't mean we'll be the favorites, and we will need to work extremely hard to fight through this bracket. Throughout the group stages, I talked about how important each match was. But this is truly a must win. Let's take it home.

Liquid Fighting!