ESL One Manila: Liquid Wins Over Team Empire With a 2-0 Clean Sweep

While Wings Gaming sent crowd favorites Fnatic away from ESL One Manila off a three-map match, Liquid finish off Russian side Empire in the last semifinal of the day, 2-0, in order to become the last finalist for ESL Manila.

In the first game, Liquid picked up Rubick, Lone Druid, Winter Wyvern, Beastmaster and Lycan in what could be called as a “zoo strategy”, while Empire opted for a teamfight composition, getting Balanar, Phantom Assassin, Puck, Vengeful Spirit and Doom for themselves.

The game started slow, with only a total of three kills in seven minutes; however, a decisive clash at the bottom lane by Empire at the 17th minute changed the pace of the game as the clash gained them a three-to-one trade as well as the second-tier tower.

From then on, it was all about aggression as both teams went all-out on their respective opponents, with Liquid’s Winter Wyvern and Empire’s Puck making the difference in the fights.

At the half-hour mark, Empire tapped out as they are unable to stop the amount of firepower that Liquid had with them.

Zoo strat for the win! @teamliquidpro getting game 1 over @team_empire! #ESLOne
https://t.co/jrbojuUbQ5

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) April 24, 2016

Going on to the second game, it was a thriller between Empire and Liquid as MATUMBAMAN’s Anti-Mage and Ramzes666’s Spectre played out of their minds.

Antimage was just too tough to handle! @TeamLiquidPro 2-0s @team_empire and moves up to the grand finals!#ESLOne https://t.co/d6th1r8TBb

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) April 24, 2016

In the end, Liquid’s MATUMBAMAN proved too heavy to handle and as a result, Empire goes to the finals of ESL One Manila, where they will meet their Chinese counterparts in the form of Wings Gaming.

Empire finishes joint 3rd/4th place along with Fnatic, with both teams getting $25,000 for their heroic efforts.

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