We came here playing the group stages we're
Pretty confident. We scream. We're going good, but
We like
Got here to actually play the other teams
Like especially here in Seattle we figure out that we are actually not that good right now
Then we went to the
The first day was actually really good. We played good, but after that it just went downhill. I don't know what happened
It's well I think it was a mental thing
Sort of
Then we just couldn't get our shit together
Fnatic 2-0 Liquid
Liquid are going home!
The buybacks they won't be enough!
WINGS are your International 2016 Champions!
I hope after this ti
Everybody's gonna find their like a new team or we'll stay together. I don't know what's gonna happen
TI always like shit goes down
That's the way but
They're my friends. This is my friends. I can't hate them for losing against Fnatic. I blame myself. Yeah, always like
if you think about life the way that
You always deserve. What comes for you. You always deserve it in a way or another
You just deserve it, so you don't think about it that like someone fucked you
You just think about that I fucked up
That's way I think life, and it's easier to process you don't have that many regrets if you think this way
I think signing a roster starts with a couple important really influential building blocks
You know that could be a great coach I think in case of our dota team
Kuroky is that building block he not only does he draft and lead in the game
He he also performs
An incredible amount of duties that would normally fall upon the coach with that you can attract a lot of talent in the scene
"Hello how's it going?"
"Are you good?"
These games are all still relatively young and coaching is
really complicated and there are times where players especially players that have been around for 10 years professionally in 14 years even playing a game
Do perform that type of role and
Kuroky is a talent scout and two years ago when we were building the roster
He looked at Mind_Control, Matumbaman Jerax
Those three names didn't have the teams for the picking, but he saw something in them
And he said if we bring this group together. We can do some great things
So last year we placed top 8 at TI
Which is by no means a bad result your top eight in the world. I think for our group organization and players we were
Really striving for more and we know that we were of capable of more. It didn't come out however, so
honestly after it finished
The period after TI is always crucial in terms like how you pick up and move forward so all minds
Immediately moved into that direction, and we started to figure out like what is needed to
Be here again next year, and possibly have a better result
My role is not to
Figure out which players are good and which players are not
my role is to hire the right people and listen to the right voices and then way that and
value that
and that's I think where
You know where I need to do my job, so. Gh was someone that had already been brought to me or to my attention by
Mohammed Kuroky and Heen in the summer after
the international and at that point in time
I think gh actually was not ready to make the move so when his name came up several months later
It still made a lot of sense. You know everyone was convinced that this was the right move and we went for it
"How do you like it in Lebanon"
It's super super nice
Yeah, where I live
The country there's Beirut the capital and everything around it is mostly Muslim people where I live
It's mostly Christian my area is mostly Christian people so everyone just lives their lives there long
And there's their last problems were like 30 years ago
It's super nice now
Because you get to go to the beach
You can like the same day and winter you can go like go skiing then go back to the beach the same day so it's like
I enjoy it, and I have my friends
"Holy shit that's pretty crazy"
But I can't ski
"From an outside perspective Lebanon sounds kind of intimidating"
Yeah I know, I am very aware of it
Because there's what Mind_Control thinks that if he's gonna go there he's gonna die
As for me as I lived there in my entire life. I just go to the net cafe play some games
Hang out with my friends,  go grab a beer then go back and sleep
Honestly like being a player
It's really fucking fun. You know, like just competing, so my job right now
I definitely have a super fun job, but like when you when I was a player. It's it's so pure
Yeah
Like if you're better you win period no politics to be played you don't need to sell anything like just if you're better you win
That's the best feeling in the world
My name is Maroun Merhej, I play support and my in-game name is GH
So you want to hear my story i'm not sure which part you want to hear, but well
I started playing when I was like 10. Started with Dota 1
Played at home versus AI most of my days then went to net cafes in Lebanon played with some friends then started slowly playing online
Dota but the ping was always an issue because we had like 300-400 ping
Until recently it got better to
200 or something and I just I just played I did my thing I enjoyed playing a lot
So I spent most of my hours playing
I'm Blitz I was the previous coach for Team Liquid last year for
most of the majors and the TI portion and this year I was the coach for planetodd and now Im a caster
So when we knew the roster came to an end
This is gonna sound like really hindsight(y) but I kept telling Kuro like this guy GH, like he's sick good
He plays everything what he was known for at the time was his Magnus mid
And I remember I played a game against him and I got absolutely crushed like it was a really one-sided game
And I was like this guy like who is he?
What does GH stand where he's got to be a smurf or something so I check it out
And it's just gh and some guys like yeah
He's just some really nice guy like there's no way he's nice, and then two games later
I get him on my team. Just the kindness guy doesn't care if we make mistakes. He's like don't don't worry about it
Don't worry about it like this is not how I expect the best player in the game to behave
Just a excellent guy overall so I told Kuro this is the guy this guy's got it all. He's a nice guy
I think he aligns with your values really highly-skilled it all kind of just meshed well together
Moe the manager he was the one who contacted me and
Asked me if I wanted to try out for the team. I was like of course. I'm hyped to play with Kuro
I'm a huge fan of his and the rest of the team was remarkable players, so I enjoyed just playing with everyone
My name is Kuro. I'm the captain of Team Liquid
Ever since we added GH I think we've been improving
Every week every day every month. This is my seventh TI. I've played in all TIs so far.
The furthest I've gotten was second place at TI3
I'm
Lasse Urpalainen
Matumbaman, it's my second TI, last year was my first
I'm not sure if you can expect anything going into TI cuz it's a very different tournament compared to the other ones
Of course we expect that to a place very highly of four top six, but it wasn't really on our minds last year
I totally forgot the question already,  it actually happens every time I start talking I mean
If it's more than two sentences. I forget the question. It's okay
Let's do it again
"Short questions from now on"
All right nice, thank you
Hello, my name is Amer Al-Barqawi. I play for Team Liquid and my role is mid player and my nickname is Miracle-
My goal didn't really change just a different team but
I guess this year  I'm like more
Inspired and more concentrated to win this ti and I have really really good feeling about it
My name is Ivan Ivanov my nickname is Mind_Control. I play for Team liquid
the only TI pressure we have is the
It was in the start of a group stage. I think everyone has it all the teams in the tournament
They have this ti pressure because you play for all of millions. I think it just pressures everyone
I think TI is a
dream come true, so especially now we're top seed anyway the whole process of Ti is a dream come true
You're in the winner's bracket. You have two lives in the tournament. It just gives us confidence
It just feel safe for some reason. When you're at TI you want to have those two lives
First main event match it's gonna happen. It's going to be liquid versus IG who's the player to watch on TL
I think gh is actually I think is just the simply the best support right now. He is amazing
Their opponents are of course going to be former ti champions
Not your Bristolback of three to six months ago
Gh now taking the stun again at birdie racing on to him they turn back for Mind_Control
Miracle sounds the retreat with the defening blastfoot Kuro is caught in the crossfire
A second hero down the support duo of liquid that has been so instrumental in their run to first place in the group
Has been very quiet in this game 1/2/13 combined.
IG dominant to open up TI
I think the real question is can Liquid establish a draft that will give them the appropriate
answer to what IG is bringing to the table because as we've heard before a lot of the Chinese teams are
remarkable at playing well as a unit so the entire draft has to be key for Team Liquid
They blew the ages they blew the cheese they did it outside the base
So they won't build a threat in high ground with their full complement at the same time. There's no buyback here
coming in from the backline
They get the Ursa that might force Mind_Control back the wheels
might have just come off of this push Mind_Control is slow to retreat, but the caustic is gonna make this a bit trickier
I don't think they can win that fight, they're gonna try, it's gonna be close here
Looking for the clean trade
It's still a Bristleback I don't know if you want to go in!
They do! IG, it's a spikey mouthfull!
Still the commitment, still the commitment
They aren't going to get the kill! Iceblast comes in!
And now Monkey King jumps forward
IG getting sloppy getting desperate liquid able to take advantage
Team Liquid vs.. IG game 3 is about to begin who will advance to the winner's final
We'll find out after this match. This is what happened again
This is what happens when you jump in all they have to do is hit the building
Now the Chrono, but XXS the god!
He never gives ahead, that's all she wrote for liquid Miracle stun once dead for sure
Has to buyback, ice blast is there they do get one.
They don't even get the kill, IG has the buybacks if they need them
they've got the damage, they've got the control, the position is theirs, the game is theirs, the series is theirs and Top Six is theirs!
How many bracket predictions are ruined now? That was a big upset for me.
I genuinely thought liquid was a much better team than what they show today
It's must feel quite bad for liquid who actually wins the group stage, and then they get down to the lower bracket straightaway
And they have to battle to try and get top 12 and move on to the eight
You
