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French team Sigma.int would best American squad Team Liquid to take third in the inagural season of the Dota 2 Championship League. Sigma.int would go on to pocket $7,000 for their effort while Team Liquid would grab $3,000.
Yeah! http://t.co/IsbvImJbqN won the match and secure the 3rd position of #d2cl
— D2CL (@d2cleague) December 16, 2013
Sigma International Bans: Elder Titan, Nature's Prophet, Io, Bat Rider, Shadow Demon
Sigma International Picks: Crystal Maiden, Chen, Juggernaut, Pugna, Tidehunter
Team Liquid Bans: Bane, Venomancer, Timbersaw, Outworld Devourer, Clockwerk
Team Liquid Picks: Slark, Alchemist, Visage, Mirana, Rubick
Game one was a slobberknocker all the way through. The match would start with Sigma.int drawing first blood, slaying Peter 'wayto' Nguyen by bottom rune in the first minute of the game. Both teams ran lineups suited for team fighting, and the game would go on to largely be team fight after team fight.
Team Liquid's sheer ability to simply live was what stood out most this game. Max 'qojqva' Broecker would regularly escape fights with a minuscule amount of health left.
Team Liquid would win the first game.
Sigma International Bans: Nature's Prophet, Alchemist, Crystal Maiden, Venomancer, Shadow Demon
Sigma International Picks: Elder Titan, Visage, Timbersaw, Windranger, Kunkka
Team Liquid Bans: Bane, Slark, Necrolyte, Outworld Devourer, Gyrocopter
Team Liquid Picks: Chen, Bristleback, Dragon Knight, Pugna, Skywrath Mage
Team Liquid would ban out the Slark that had done so well for them in the last game, favoring putting Qojva on Bristleback instead. Sigma.int play a relatively straight forward lineup, building their squad around popular heroes. One thing of note is that they were keen on getting rid of the Alchemist.
Sigma.int would go on to take game two.
Sigma International Bans: Alchemist, Slark, Enchantress, Lich, Luna
Sigma International Picks: Io, Crystal Maiden, Nyx Assassin, Chaos Knight, Beastmaster
Team Liquid Bans: Bane, Elder Titan, Tiny, Batrider, Outworld Devourer
Team Liquid Picks: Nature's Prophet, Visage, Night Stalker, Windranger, Clockwerk
The draft for game three is live. The series is tied 1-1 and we've got Nature's Prophet. http://t.co/TrAi9kMAZF
— TeamLiquidPRO (@TeamLiquidPro) December 16, 2013
Team Liquid would indeed get Nature's Prophet, but Sigma.int would get the Io/Chaos Knight combo. Sigma.int's global presence with relocate, paired with setups from the Nyx Assassin would go on to be just too much.
Despite Team Liquid getting kills early, and even almost wiping the entire Sigma.int team once, they would concede the game as their second mid tower was going down.
Sigma International Bans: Alchemist, Storm Spirit, Clockwerk, Shadow Demon, Outworld Devourer
Sigma International Picks: Crystal Maiden, Bane, Nature's Prophet, Puck, Centaur Warrunner
Team Liquid Bans: Elder Titan, Slark, Timbersaw, Lifestealer, Gyrocopter
Team Liquid Picks: Visage, Mirana, Sand King, Beastmaster, Doom Bringer
Team Liquid must have made an impression with that Alchemist in the first game, because Sigma.int banned him in every game this series after that. Without the Alchemist, Team Liquid would still find themselves with a comfortable lineup. They got Visage and Mirana, though Visage was played by Fluff this game.
Unfortunately for the Americans Sigma.int would take the game and the series.