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The culmination of the Riyadh Masters 2023 is approaching. The $15,000,000 Long Range tournament is now in its final day of matches.
There are 3 teams left in the race for the champion's trophy and the $4,000,000 grand prize. The champion will be Spirit, who are already waiting for their opponent in the Grand Final, and Talon and Liquid, who will play for the second place in the final.
Talk about the confrontation between Talon and Liquid. For the second time this year South-East Asia reaches the TOP-3 stage, while Western Europe is represented by only 1 team.
We're trying to figure out who in the Talon - Liquid pair will be more worthy to reach the Grand Final, and who will be one step away from the biggest prize pool of the year.
Let's go.
Team Liquid's form.
Let's open the match analysis by analysing Team Liquid's form. In this match, the representative of Western Europe is the favourite.
In the list of Dota 2 betting sites, the odds for Liquid to win this match are estimated to be around 1.7. Such an indicator speaks about the advantage of Liquid only indirectly. In fact, we are facing a match of two equal teams, which we have already had the opportunity to see at this tournament.
At DPC 2023: WEU Division 1 Tour 1 Liquid didn't lose a single match, and then took the top 2 at The Lima Major 2023, while playing with substitutes. More than decent.
The second round of the DPC was as similar to the previous round as possible. Liquid again took the Top 1, but now with only one loss in the table. On the international stage, Liquid shone again, but were still overshadowed by Gaimin Gladiators, who took their second Major a Champions Cup of the season.
In their third season, Liquid were no longer able to cement their supremacy. "Liquid" fell to fourth place, but it was good enough to pass at Bali Major 2023, which in the case of the past at The International 2023 Team Liquid does not play any role.
- Liquid line-up: miCKe, Nisha, zai, Boxi, Insania .
After the disappointing result at DreamLeague Season 20, where Team Liquid fell out of the first group stage, there was a feeling that Bali Major 2023 would be held for Liquid at the International 2023. However, Liquid decided to switch on and play to the fullest.
And they almost succeeded: they took the top 2, losing in the grand final to Gaimin Glaidators! Again. Third time at a Major tournament in a year.
Riyadh Masters 2023 Team Liquid started at the Play-In stage, as they surprisingly didn't collect enough ESL ranking points. They finished the Play-In with a 3-1-1 score and second place in Basket A, and then played the group stage with a 3-3-1 statistic, advancing to the top set of play-offs.
In the first match of the Riyadh Masters 2023, Liquid played Gaimin Gladiators. A 2-1 win should have given a huge boost in morale for Liquid.
Next, Liquid defeated Talon Esports in a mind-blowing series with an upsets exchange, and met Team Spirit in the top set final. The latter were able to break Liquid and outscore them 2-1.
Team Liquid's most popular heroes
In the top picks for Team Liquid is Crystal Maiden with 7 games and 6 wins.
In addition to Crystal Maiden, Doom (4 matches, 100% wins), Sven (4 matches, 75% wins), Skywrath Mage (4 matches, 75% wins) are the picks.
Rubick (4 matches, 25% wins), Void Spirit (3 matches, 100% wins) appear in spades, Underlord, Pangolier, Storm Spirit have 3 matches each and all have 2 wins.
Talon Esports uniforms
Now we move on to analysing the main opener of this tournament. Talon Espotrs will be playing in a catch-up status.
The odds on the Southeast Asian residents to win are floating around 2. Again, such a figure hints at a very even fight and I am sure it will be so.
The team confidently broke into the top 1 of the region, and also reached the heights at Lima Major 2023: in the first round of SEA the team took 3rd place, at The Lima Major 2023 the same top 3, and in the next round they won the home league.
However, what followed was chaos. The first signs of Talon's fickleness were at DreamLeague S19, when after a solid The Lima Major 2023, the team finished top-12 at a major international event.
At the next Major, The Bali Major 2023, Talon finished in the top 8 before a very mediocre performance at DPC SEA 2023 Tour 3: Division 1, finishing in 4th place in their home league.
The last tournament before the Riyadh Masters 2023 was DreamLeague Season 20. There the team finished in the top 4.
- Talon Esports roster: 23savage, Mikoto, Jabz, Q, Oli .
At the Riyadh Masters 2023 Talon Esports got straight into the group stage, and all thanks to the rating from ESL. They did well in the group stage: they finished in the top 4 and made it to the top play-offs.
In the first match Talon Esports played against Quest Esports. In a very difficult match, being an outsider on paper, Talon Esports managed to win with a score of 2-1.
In the second round of the top set Talon played the same game against Liquid, when Zai ate them ancient in the third decisive map. However, Talon didn't get confused at all and in the lower grid first defeated 9 Pandas and then defeated Gaimin Gladiators, the storm of international dota.
The most popular Talon Esports characters
The most popular Talon Esports character is Tiny. The team swaps his positions, but most often he is sent to position 4. The character has 8 matches and 87% wins.
Next are Natures Phophet (7 games, 100% wins) and Io with Leshrac, who was also picked 7 times and won 6 matches.
Clockwerk (100% wins) and Morphing (60% wins) appeared 5 times each.
History of head-to-head meetings between Talon and Liquid
Liquid and Talon have played each other 5 times this season, including 2 matches at Riyadh Masters 2023. Only 1 time, namely in the group stage of DreamLeague S20, Talon managed to win.
Predicted result of the Talon vs Liquid matchup
If we take into account everything that is happening in this tournament, it is Talon who should win. It will be at least fair.
Liquid, as strange as it may sound, lost in the course of the championship. In the match against Spirit they lost the thread of the game on the second map and they were simply driven on macro, and before that, in the match with the same Talon, the team was distracted and disoriented, as Zai himself said. Talon look very focused and play like a team ready to go to the grand finals.
Bottom line: Talon wins.
