Team Liquid thumps Onic Esports to keep Golden Road bid alive
At A Glance
- Up against the Indonesian champions and perennial contenders, the Cavalry came out swinging with an early 2-0 lead before regaining their footing from a Game 3 loss with a wire-to-wire series clinching win to advance to the lower bracket quarterfinals.
Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya, on his Lapu-Lapu, found himself in the middle of four Onic Esports players who committed all of their ultimates to take him down only for him to not only survive but also set up a play.
Relentless. Unbreakable.
That was just the kind of game Team Liquid had as it sent Onic Esports packing, 3-1, to keep its Golden Road hopes alive in the M7 World Championships at the Tennis Indoor Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday, Jan. 22.
Up against the Indonesian champions and perennial contenders, the Cavalry came out swinging with an early 2-0 lead before regaining their footing from a Game 3 loss with a wire-to-wire series clinching win to advance to the lower bracket quarterfinals.
Sanford shone for Team Liquid – particularly in Games 2 and 4 where his Lapu-Lapu and Terizla picks gave the Filipinos the sustain and setup during the prolonged team fights.
He finished with a 6-1-3 line on the Lapu-Lapu and a 2-1-9 KDA on the Terizla to cap the series-long brilliance.
The Filipinos, who are seeking to complete the rare feat of winning all four major championships in one year, was off to a hot start to the series, with four players finishing with at least five kills apiece.
Kiel “Oheb” Soriano and Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno went on a rampage for TL with the former exploding for a 7-1-8 KDA and the latter finishing with a 5-1-10 tally all while denying Onic jungler Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol his resources.
It was pretty much the same story in Game 2 as TL was simply running over Onic during the major team fights. A diversion play by Alston “Sanji” Pabico’s Luo Yi allowed the Cavalry to chase the escaping Onic players during an 18th minute skirmish around the Lord.
They took down two Onic heroes enough to take down the base and put Team Liquid on series match point.
Refusing to go down without a fight, Kairi came alive on the Yi Sun Shin pick and provided the tip to the Onic’s spear in Game 3.
The Indonesian forced a Game 4 with a dominant 21-5 win in just 11 minutes but that only delayed the inevitable as Team Liquid quickly returned the favor in the series-clinching win.