Team Liquid vs Team Spirit Dota 2 TI12 Upper Bracket Semifinals highlights

The first Dota 2 TI12 Upper Bracket series saw two titans, Team Liquid locking horns with Team Spirit. The series saw Liquid get relegated to the Lower Bracket Quarterfinal after suffering a 2-1 loss against the TI10 champions. That said, Team Spirit haven't dropped a single series in Dota 2 TI12 and are unstoppable as of now.

Team Liquid entered the tournament as a strong favorite and ended up in the Upper Bracket after defeating Evil Geniuses in the seeding Bo3 playoff round. Team Spirit wiped the North American supergiants, Shopify Rebellion, and went into the Upper Bracket.

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Here are the highlights of the Bo3 Dota 2 TI12 Upper Bracket Semifinals series between Team Spirit and Team Liquid

Game one between Team Spirit and Team Liquid

Team Spirit outdrafted Team Liquid with their last pick, Axe, against two melee cores of the latter. The former outplayed the latter and won the first game within the 40th-minute mark.

Team Spirit (Dire):

• Chaos Knight - Yatoro
• Kunkka - Larl
• Axe - Collapse
• Dark Willow - Mira
• Phoenix - Miposhka

Team Liquid (Radiant):

• Sven - Micke
• Magnus - Nisha
• Tidehunter - Zai
• Muerta - Boxi
• Grimstroke - Insania

Liquid eliminated Dark Willow and Phoenix before the laning stage and started the game with a significant gold lead. After this, both teams engaged in constant fights in the lanes and secured an equal number of kills. Phoenix even ganked mid and killed Magnus with Kunkka.

Collapse obtained a Blink Dagger before the 11-minute mark and began roaming the map. Near Dire's top tier 1 tower, Magnus, armed with a Harpoon, attempted to kill the Axe. Still, with a well-timed Call and assistance from Phoenix's Supernova, Collapse managed to eliminate Liquid's midlaner and hard support. However, Micke joined the fray and swiftly finished off the Phoenix and Axe.

Team Spirit was all over the map and were hunting down Radiant's heroes left, right, and center. That being said, Axe's perfect blink initiations with Call helped Team Spirit secure crucial kills throughout the mid-game phase. Nisha's Magnus couldn't do much, as his Reverse Polarity was ineffective against Team Spirit.

Spirit secured the first Aegis and immediately began pushing, leaving Liquid with no time to react. Zai's Ravage failed to make a significant impact since, at this point, Spirit's Sven and Axe were equipped with BKBs. Collapse, boasting Aghanim's Shard, Vanguard, Blink Dagger, Blademail, and Boots of Travel, proved to be an unstoppable force.

They team-wiped Liquid and demolished Radiant's bottom racks at the 33-minute mark. However, Larl's Kunkka had skipped BKB and was picked off by the Radiant side near the top River Rune. This setback didn't waver Spirit's heroes, as they eliminated Magnus and proceeded to destroy two more racks, securing Mega Creeps.

Eventually, Liquid conceded their first game in the Dota 2 Upper Bracket Semifinals because they couldn't defend against the TI10 champions.

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Second game between Team Spirit and Team Liquid

The second Dota 2 game went in the way of Liquid as they defeated Spirit with their damage-based lineup.

Team Spirit (Dire):

• Spectre - Yatoro
• Earth Spirit - Larl
• Tidehunter - Collapse
• Shadow Demon - Mira
• Phoenix - Miposhka

Team Liquid (Radiant):

• Weaver - micke
• Pangolier - Nisha
• Spirit Breaker - Zai
• Muerta - Boxi
• Pugna - Insania

Both the teams got kills and secured some farm for their safelaners. However, Tidehunter and Phoenix were killed in a failed gank by all the five heroes of Liquid in the midlane. Seeing this, Larl and Spectre joined the fight and started killing Radiant's heroes. This fight ended with a triple-kill for Larl's ES as he went on to eliminate Pangolier, Spirit Breaker, and Pugna.

Spirit's luck was quickly overturned as Pangolier and Spirit Breaker were hunting down the Dire's heroes. Zai was actively involved in almost every fight with his charge. After winning a couple of teamfights, the Weaver was fully stacked before 40 minutes and had Linkens, BKB, Satanic, Dragon Lance, Daedalus, and Desolator.

Eventually, Liquid claimed Dire's mid racks and were fully focused on getting done with their objectives. They were held off by the Spirit, who killed the Weaver and Muerta. After Weaver respawned, they pushed again, killed the Spectre, who died without buyback, and won the second Dota 2 TI12 Upper Bracket Semifinals game.

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Final game between Team Spirit and Team Liquid in Dota 2 UB Semifinals

The final TI12 Dota 2 Upper Bracket Semifinals between Liquid and Spirit featured straight-up fighting lineups from both sides.

Team Spirit (Radiant):

• Weaver - Yatoro
• Tiny - Larl
• Night Stalker - Collapse
• Invoker - Mira
• Grimstroke - Miposhka

Team Liquid (Dire):

• Spectre - micke
• Riki - Nisha
• Brewmaster - Zai
• Dark Willow - Boxi
• Disruptor - Insania

Liquid drew first blood on Yatoro's Weaver before the laning stage began. Collapse and Mira made Spectre's life difficult as they dominated the top lane. Spirit and Liquid traded back-to-back kills, making it seem like the game could go either way.

Zai skipped BKB and instead opted for Hand of Midas, Pipe of Insight, and Octarine Core, leaving him vulnerable to NS's silence. Additionally, Micke's decision to purchase Butterfly against Yatoro's Weaver, who had MKB, ultimately helped Spirit defeat Liquid. Later, Zai bought a BKB and Assault Cuirass, but it was somewhat late, as they had lost their mid-game momentum.

The Night Stalker was a menace, as all he did was hunt down Liquid's supports and the Riki. Collapse became increasingly annoying with items like Gem of True Sight, Nullifier, BKB, Blink, and Echo Sabre. Liquid couldn't kill the Night Stalker as he roamed the map with Dark Ascension.

Weaver secured the Aegis and began chipping away at Dire's bottom racks while Night Stalker kept Liquid occupied. After securing the racks, they retreated as the Invoker, Tiny, and Night Stalker got eliminated. Zai started pushing the Radiant's bot lane but quickly went back as the Invoker and Tiny respawned.

Eventually, a team fight broke out near Dire's Secret Shop, where Riki was quickly eliminated, and Liquid gradually fell apart against Spirit. Spectre died without buyback, and Spirit went on to end the final game, relegating Liquid to the Dota 2 Lower Bracket Quarterfinals.

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