But the immensely-farmed Gyrocopter on Alliance started losing his advantage when Monet farmed up a storm, sometimes literally. Qojqva\u2019s Storm Spirit inevitably fell to the Anti-Mage and the game spiraled out of control for the Swedish squad. RNG took the base, sending Alliance home, making them the third Chinese team to win their matchup on the first day of the main event.<\/p>
TI7 champions Liquid fought the Southeast Asian all-stars in Fnatic, taking Maroun “GH” Merhej\u2019s signature Io and pairing it up with Gyrocopter. Fnatic followed suit with comfort picks, taking Daryl \u201ciceiceice\u201d Koh\u2019s favored Timbersaw and Djardel Jicko B. “DJ” Mampusti\u2019s Enigma.<\/p>
The game was played at a relatively slow pace, considering the frenetic Dota 2<\/em> we\u2019ve seen in the group stage. Both teams focused heavily on farming, with seven heroes over 10,000 net worth in the mid game.<\/p>
But the biggest and hardest carry was Liquid\u2019s Gyrocopter, with GH\u2019s Io willing and ready to serve. Fnatic were over-reliant on DJ\u2019s Enigma since they couldn’t find fights without a Black Hole. The moment Liquid realized that, they spread out well during teamfights, not giving DJ the opportunity to get multiple heroes in his ultimate. Fnatic simply couldn’t stand up to the overwhelming damage output from Liquid\u2019s immense Gyrocopter and now they’ll exit the tournament.<\/p>
This marks the second year in a row Fnatic have been eliminated from the main event in the first round. Alliance and Fnatic will head home with a little over $500,000 in prize money. The victorious RNG and Liquid move on to the second round, setting up their dates with Virtus Pro and TNC Predator, respectively.<\/p>
