Photo courtesy of DreamHack
Team Liquid and Team Secret have both prevailed in the semifinals of DreamLeague Season 9 to advance to the upper bracket finals next.
The second day of DreamLeague Season 9 rounded out with two sets of entertaining semifinal matchups. Fans were treated to some surprises and unexpected games as well as fantastic panel segments and post interview and analysis with players.
Team Liquid 2:1 Fnatic
To the surprise of many, Fnatic had taken the first game by storm. Starting out relatively even for the first 12 minutes, the SEA team started to pull ahead. With a spectacular performance by Abed "Abed" Yusop on Phantom Lancer, the game was over in 25 minutes with a 24:9 score and over 20k gold advantage.
The second match was a 180-degree reversal for Team Liquid. This time the Europeans were the ones in the driving seat and in only 17 minutes they took the game from under Fnatic. Despite Fnatic having picked up a Dark Willow in their draft, Team Liquid went with a Timbersaw on midlane for Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi —a position he never left for the entire game. Fnatic seemed to be out of ideas and steam, giving the Liquid victory to set the score even.
The last match was a thrill a minute game with excessive swings back and forth. Taking almost a full hour to close out, the nailbiting action was a game that belonged to either and both anytime. Stunning clutch plays, impressive fights and high risks colored the landscape of the last match until at the end it would be Maroun "GH" Merhej 's SandKing that would become the key to success and victory.
Team Secret 2:0 Newbee
The first game of this heavily anticipated matchup saw Team Secret go with a very unconventional draft —that shocked most with the ease of which they claimed victory. Giving the Terrorblade to support player Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat and picking up an Arc Warden for Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng, the Europeans were never pressured or punished and they ran amok all over Newbee in only 17 minutes.
The second game Newbee seemed to be out for blood to start, but in the end, it belonged all to Team Secret again in another convincing and overwhelming stomp. The series that most expected to be the closest turned out to be much more one-sided than expected. Newbee seemed to get their comfort picks but Team Secret's team fights and execution were on point, prioritizing their fights and targets perfectly.
The action resumes tomorrow, March 23rd at 13:30 CET with the Lower Bracket Round 2 between OG vs Newbee. Two more teams will be sent packing by the end of the day tomorrow and one team will advance to the Grand Finals.
