MDL Chengdu Major: Day 1 Main Stage Recap

The first day of the MDL Chengdu Dota 2 Major's Main Stage ended today, with three teams being sent back home. All the three matches of the day were best of three lower bracket eliminations and were held in front of a crowd at the New International Convention & Exhibition Center, Chengdu Century City, China.

Series 1 - Team Liquid vs Alliance

The first series of the day saw two Europeans lock horns, with Team Liquid looking to avenge their defeat in the European qualifier for this major. The first game saw Liquid leaving the Morphling-EarthShaker combo to Alliance and instead picking Faceless Void and Razor. From the start of the game, it looked like Liquid had come well prepared as they consistently targeted the supports of Alliance and denied the Morphling any space to farm.

Liquid kept building their lead and never gave Alliance any opportunity of a comeback by playing very safe and closed the game after 54 minutes. With the first games loss probably in their mind, Alliance never looked set in the second game as Liquid, who drafted the Faceless Void again, dominated the game and closed it after 40 minutes, setting up a repeat match against EG later in the day.

Team fight after team fight is @TeamLiquid dominating - it's looking like another rough one for @theAllianceGG. #MDLChengdu📺: https://t.co/VZnt4kO1Z3 pic.twitter.com/CIoiXoRcyf

— Beyond the Summit (@BeyondTheSummit) November 22, 2019

Series 2 - Beastcoast vs Invictus Gamng

The second series saw home team IG taking on Beastcoast, with the Peruvians looking to give the best performance by a South American team in a Major. The first game was very similar to the first game of the previous series, as IG drafted Morpfling-EarthShaker and Beastcoast drafting Chaos Knight. Though IG did look to be in the initial stages of the game by getting pickoffs of the enemy supports, the Chaos Knight was never pressurized as it gained a huge net worth lead, after which the game swung in favor of Beastcoast.

While IG did get some kills at the end, it was too late as they lost after 47 minutes of gameplay. The second game though was different as IG with a TA and Gyrocopter pick, steamrolled Beastcoast within 24 minutes to move the series to a decider. With the win on the second game, IG started the third game strong and looked to be dominating, with the Legion Commander already racking up duel wins, the game looked lost for Beastcoast. At about 20 minutes into the game Beastcoast looked like they were making a comeback, but after a disastrous fight at the half an hour mark, and TA not having a buyback the, IG went directly to the base and ended the game in a thrilling manner.

GAAAA What a game, what an ending! @invgaming was able to use a few missteps from @beastcoast to their advantage and snatch the win. With a 2-1 series win, Invictus is in the Top 6 at #MDLChengdu! pic.twitter.com/cM2HPJiNII

— Beyond the Summit (@BeyondTheSummit) November 22, 2019

Series 3 - Evil Geniuses vs Team Liquid

The last series of the day was between Liquid and EG, who were seeking revenge after losing to the former in the group stages. The first match saw EG draft only for the early game to pressure the late game lineup of Liquid. The plan worked successfully as EG dominated the game with Abed on his Storm Spirit leading the way, as they closed the game by 31 minutes. While the second game did start in a positive note for Liquid, they soon fell behind EG at around the 20 minute mark, as after that it was EG all the way as they closed the game by the 35 minute mark.

"That's big stomp territory right there." @EvilGeniuses take a decisive win in Game 1 over @TeamLiquid - Liquid will need turn the tables in the next game to keep their #MDLChengdu dreams alive.📺: https://t.co/VZnt4kO1Z3 pic.twitter.com/KDp1N43hsB

— Beyond the Summit (@BeyondTheSummit) November 22, 2019

The matches will start tomorrow at 4:00 AM GMT with J Storm taking on IG. That will be followed by the upper bracket finals, with the last match of the day being EG facing the winner of the first match. The action can be caught live on the Twitch channel of Beyond the Summit.