First day of the main event at Bali Major concluded with two Western European brawls in the upper bracket semifinals.
First to step onto the stage were Team Liquid and Tundra Esports, the latter fighting for a shot at the title with Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling standing in. But although Aui claims he isn’t feeling ready to return to active play and says that he is carried by his team at this major, the series versus Liquid proved the opposite.
Team Liquid
vs
Tundra Esports
Tundra were put to test by Liquid in both games of the series, but despite playing from behind for nearly 35 minutes in the first game, they crawled back with Aui being fourth in networth from his position 5 role on Enchantress. A 37 minute Pipe of Insight from him helped Tundra to stay in the game, survive crucial engagements and, later on, past the 48 minute mark, when Aui was walking with a completed Bloodthorn, Liquid’s Storm-Pugna combo wasn’t a problem anymore.
Game two brought a few more surprises from Tundra, who came with the heavy artillery to take down Liquid 2-0. They drafted a mid lane Meepo along with a carry Broodmother and an Aui special Visage to secure a top 3 finish in Bali.
Gaimin Gladiators
vs
Quest Esports
Liquid were followed in the lower bracket by Quest Esports, who despite fighting tooth and nail with Gaimin Gladiators, they ran out of steam in game three. While for the rest of the teams remaining in the battle for the trophy there is nothing else at stake besides the glory and the track record, for Quest the Bali Major title could mean their secured ticket to TI12.
Quest need a top two finish in order to secure a spot at TI and avoid qualifier matches in the most stacked region, Western Europe. Their journey will resume tomorrow, July 8, at 13:45/08:45 CEST with a battle for survival in the lower bracket against PSG.LGD.
headline image courtesy of Gaimin Gladiators vis Twitter