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G-1 'fresh' post-elimination thoughts:
If there's anything to be taken from this tournament, it's that teams in the Eastern scene are about as volatile as Western teams. It would be unfair to say that any team in this tournament besides Alliance and LGD showed their potential. Alliance's opening game against DK was absolutely brilliant, and despite it being their shakiest (as told by [A] themselves to me) it set the tempo and struck fear in the Eastern teams (Eastern teams asking us for advice against Alliance/taking notes on our game vs. them). IMHO Alliance has been on their 'A-game' (hehehe) this whole time and it has shown that they would be a favorite for the title if TI3 were to be held right now. What a lot of people don't realize is that TI3 is in August and there's still a couple months AS WELL AS a balance patch in the works. I believe this LAN was a huge wake up call for the Eastern teams as well as a crucial learning experience for us. Without sounding arrogant, I think that we could have beat Orange, Alliance, and DK with better preparation (1 week of real practice) and given LGD a decent game/win instead of the thrashing that occurred. To address all the doubters who think TI2 will be like TI3: there is absolutely no way the top 8 split will be that heavily Eastern favored with teams of Alliance’s caliber in the Western scene. Anything can happen between now and TI3 and I would not be surprised to see another team rise to their status. And I can't stress this enough: the balance patch as well as teams practicing/bootcamping to be in their top shape will have TI3 as the most amazing tournament to date.
The tournament: The staff was incredibly helpful and accommodating. To the viewers/fans: The communication barrier was probably the biggest reason for the Allstar game's mishaps. However, every game breaking complaint we informed them about afterwards was fixed for the first game (Alliance vs DK) and thankfully it allowed Alliance to pull off their magnificent Rosh strat. (The issues: booths weren't completely sound proof, and with no noise cancelling headphones it was easy to hear the cast/in-game sounds. These were both addressed by turning down the in-game sounds/sound in general in the stadium as well as having the casters show hero movement/item progression rather than say it out loud.) Any delays that occurred were due to technical difficulties, such as Dota 2 crashing, hardware bugging out, etc. and were not the fault of the organization.
Teamliquid and Chinese teams: I believe we were our own worst enemy this tournament. The performances of yesterday/today do not accurately display our potential. For example, and I’m sure this is obvious by the results, Wisp+CK was our only strategy that we were confident in. In these online tournaments we either played a back and forth game with different unpracticed strategies, or we picked naix and destroyed most teams. Personally, I felt that I had a lot of holes in my gameplay and I have to attribute it to both bad plays (which I believe can be fixed) and to a certain degree—nerves. Although, I don’t think nerves affected me as much as others. We had no naix games this tournament. For our first LAN together, I don’t think it went as bad as it could’ve. There are huge internal issues within iG, and minor ones within the other teams.
Fun!: This tournament has been extremely fun and a vital experience for all of us on TL. Ixmike is definitely the most charismatic guy on our team and I think he has the biggest fan base in China out of us now. I want to give a special shoutout to G-1’s Carson for being the nicest and most helpful guy ever. Seriously, if we ever meet outside of China I’ll buy you dinner every night. Other shoutouts to Kellymilkies, LGD’s Helen, TL’s Flamewheel, LGD.int (they came and watched/supported!), the few foreigners who came out and chatted with us, and Alliance for being helpful and supportive as well as great company in a foreign place. Also a shoutout to that one cute ‘booth girl’ for being the only person this week who wanted to take a picture with me individually (according to fw, she thought I was cute. I don’t have a pic of her, but fw managed to creep one from the side.) Also: obligatory shoutouts to Razer, Twitch, Barracuda, Shiny Things, and pizza.gg.
Please excuse any mistakes/incorrect statements, as I can’t guarantee that these are free of them. I will be rooting for Team USA (kidding, Sweden’s Alliance) tomorrow in the G-1 finals.
TL will see you guys in Sweden for Dreamhack in a couple weeks. We’ll be bootcamping for TI3 in July.
Thanks for reading,
Korok
 
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0hWy8Ow.jpg)
Thanks for the blog korok.
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Flamewheel provide pic pls
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I wonder whats up in iG o_O
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Thanks for the blog! Props to the amazing Rosh&aegis snipe against DK.
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You showed great potential and with DreamHack Summer and possibly DreamHack Valencia there is still plenty of time to get your LAN flow going for TI3. I look forward to that 
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Great performance from you guys and 1-4 doesn't tell the whole story, wouldn't have a required a miracle for it to be 4-1 instead.
Won't forget your Aegis snatch vs DK anytime soon either!
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On May 26 2013 05:50 Gosi wrote:
I wonder whats up in iG o_O
i´d like to know that too, hear a 1st hand opinion.
I almost cant shake the feeling that they are just sandbagging, then again, that would be sacrificing still alot of money months before TI3
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Yeah iG has some big problems going on. Its obvious.
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Well the same thing happened last G-1 and they came back strong.
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It could very well turn out like the 7-1 split that happened at TI2, not sure what makes you think otherwise. Teamliquid's performance relative to coL's is better, but other than Alliance, there isn't really a team that's gonna be able to stand up there come TI2 time with all the G-1 teams + teams like Tongfu. TI2 was a bit more on the fluky side for the Eastern teams though. Even though they got top 8 the bottom 2 or so asian teams could have lost to some western teams on another day. LGD, LGD.int, DK, Orange, iG, Tongfu, VG, Zenith (when they're not bad)? That's a pretty fearsome eastern lineup and you can basically guarantee a lot of those teams in the top 8.
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Thank you for the blog, I think having a lan under your belt will help a lot for dreamhack/ ti3.
Itsmedude don't forget lgd int and the fact that navi always turns it on for the big lans. Those 4 could all be in the top 8 with out surprising me in the least
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Thanks for the blog. It was great watching you guys play a LAN and it seems like you guys enjoyed China as well.
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Thanks for blogging this Korok. Just make sure to take your new found experience LAN experience to sweden and win dreamhack.
Ixmike is definitely the most charismatic guy on our team and I think he has the biggest fan base in China out of us now. No one can resist the stache.
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It is a good idea to keep calm and find own mistake and try to improve it now. It is still long way to TI3. I think at that time, IG and Team Liquid will improve a lot!!! Keep the hard work!!! Love Liquid and IG!!!!
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Hope TL can play to their potential in future events 
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Thanks for the information Korok, we NEED this statements always from a player in the tournaments. Says a lot of you. Thank you again and i wish you the best for the upcoming events!
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Best individual move of the tournament when you sniped that Rosh+ aegis steal, too bad it didn't result in a win. Great games from TL this tournament. Really close games that with minor tweaks should've been wins.
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Thanks for writting this blog. I hope that you guys have learned more about what is needed to win in the future
I look forward to seeing TL improve in the next few months :D
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Great blog, very interesting read!
Waiting for the booth girl pic though
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Nice blog, hope you'll post these more often. As a Liquid fan hearing about your perspective makes the losses hurt less 
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I'm glad to hear that you guys had fun. I'm always worried that teams I like are no longer having fun at the game, and it's a happy thing to read otherwise. I'm sure it's good for team morale/cohesion.
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Great games Korok, Very exciting.. bounce back from those hard losses.. I think some of the opponents could have been wins if you were playing best of 3's as well.
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Thanks for the insights!
Still no explanation what happened on that rosh scene?
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Nice to see the blogs from TL's dota team. You're living up to the excellent TeamLiquid standards regarding community interaction.
I'm sure that it's just a healthy dose of confidence but I must say I view your statements that you could beat Alliance, DK and Orange with just more training as, what you yourself said, arrogant. Dude... All of you at this level have the talent to succeed, what seperates the winners from the rest is the dedication and training.
Buuut then again Im a swede and rooting for Alliance so maybe the statement just rubbed me the wrong way.
Also it sounds as if Valves rule about roster changes is all that is keeping iG from replacing 430. It doesn't sound like a recipe for success.
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Thanks for the write up korok :D
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good read korok.. i didnt know u did these blogs.. hope to see ur blogs more often
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Enjoyed very much, thanks for sharing
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Aw yeah Steven blogging on TL.
Good luck at Dreamhack.
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Sanya12364 Posts
Teamliquid and Chinese teams: I believe we were our own worst enemy this tournament. The performances of yesterday/today do not accurately display our potential. For example, and I’m sure this is obvious by the results, Wisp+CK was our only strategy that we were confident in. In these online tournaments we either played a back and forth game with different unpracticed strategies, or we picked naix and destroyed most teams. Personally, I felt that I had a lot of holes in my gameplay and I have to attribute it to both bad plays (which I believe can be fixed) and to a certain degree—nerves. Although, I don’t think nerves affected me as much as others. We had no naix games this tournament. For our first LAN together, I don’t think it went as bad as it could’ve. There are huge internal issues within iG, and minor ones within the other teams.
Overall, to be improved are: Strategy vision, game planning, and drafting.
Also you have to play against higher caliber teams to improve. The team isn't going to get to the next level playing against the average EU/NA team.
On May 26 2013 08:20 NB wrote:
FW pic or gtfo
![[image loading]](http://img.sgamer.com/dota2_sgamer_com/images/20130524/588c4902bfbc5f8ab5cacb701a718b0a.JPG)
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On May 26 2013 08:39 TanGeng wrote:
Also you have to play against higher caliber teams to improve. The team isn't going to get to the next level playing against the average EU/NA team.
Maybe true but it does beg the question, how did Alliance get so good playing average EU/NA teams?
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Netherlands45349 Posts
The experience alone that you got was invaluable, I am proud of you guys even though you went 1-4. There are lots of holes and mistakes but this experience will teach you a lot about it. You can't play heroes against this caliber of teams, you have to play lineups. Every mistake is punished, every move is calculated, that is the beauty of Dota and with this under your belt I hope that we can see better strategic vision and improvement.
Dreamhack Summer is the tournament that I am looking forward to.
On May 26 2013 08:47 Sparvy wrote:Show nested quote +On May 26 2013 08:39 TanGeng wrote:
Also you have to play against higher caliber teams to improve. The team isn't going to get to the next level playing against the average EU/NA team.
Maybe true but it does beg the question, how did Alliance get so good playing average EU/NA teams?
The average skill in EU/NA is a lot worse then Asia, Alliance is the exception, not the rule. At the top of average teams can stand a great one. But in 3 months from now, will the environment of Europe/NA or Asia be more resourcefull for practice, I would argue the latter.
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Besides that game with LGD, I thought TL did pretty decent for their first outing. It goes to show that you cannot depend on a couple hero strats to get you across the line. I'm very sure TL will work hard in making sure they are more versatile.
I thought that this was one of the strengths of the alliance. The chinese teams could not specifically ban out heroes in order to shut them down. Loda's carry play was exceptional in the sense that he made it work. Each time he picked a different carry, the team worked around that.
TI3 is going to be epic with teams bootcamping heavy, they are sure to iron out all their shortcomings. Can't wait!
GL TL. You guys did pretty good and dat stomp on iG was epic. More out of the blue carries for the win next time!
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Sanya12364 Posts
On May 26 2013 08:53 Kipsate wrote:
The average skill in EU/NA is a lot worse then Asia, Alliance is the exception, not the rule. At the top of average teams can stand a great one. But in 3 months from now, will the environment of Europe/NA or Asia be more resourcefull for practice, I would argue the latter.
I would agree with Kipsate. In my opinion, the failure wasn't really on an individual level but at a team level. So Korok shouldn't be lay the blame completely himself even when he is the one that is directly making the mistakes. The more glaring mistakes are on a strategic level.
As for practicing with EU/NA teams, either you have to always play the best or spot lesser teams with a handicap so that you can pretend that you are playing the best.
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Seems like you all choked a lot and weren't confident.
Practice and GL next time.
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On May 26 2013 09:26 innociv wrote:
Seems like you all choked a lot and weren't confident.
Practice and GL next time.
Did you even read the blog?
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Well thought piece, Korok, and I agree with most of it. I think you need to prove you can beat [A] though, even though one should always believe they can beat someone. Keep letting them get Chen against you, seems weird though. Is that what you have learned? Fantastic how you elevated yourselves against iG, even though, you couldn't have had the best of confidence at that point, while iG were fresh off a clear win. That shows promise of mental fortitude, much needed, perhaps guided by less pressure. I think you can learn a bit looking at [A] in their fantastic team play.
Sorry, if i come off as negative.
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Sparvy wrote:Show nested quote +On May 26 2013 08:39 TanGeng wrote:
Also you have to play against higher caliber teams to improve. The team isn't going to get to the next level playing against the average EU/NA team.
Maybe true but it does beg the question, how did Alliance get so good playing average EU/NA teams?
Loda. 5 swedish. Infinite Lan expirence on Akke and Loda. Balls and imagination in strats, and skills to back it up. You Don't knmow what to expect when facing alliance, and LAN does not scare them. Being a top or weak team won't take that away from you, and they have been playing lots of games against the top EU
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I cant wait to see what you guys take away from this and how much you will improve in Vegas
Also I look forward to seeing you guys play in DHS and in TI3
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United States6736 Posts
You showed us your team's brilliance against IG, I believe you guys can do it again at TI3!
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Nice to know how players reflect on a tourney right after its over for them, you get a real sense of how the team is doing and how the results will affect them.
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Great read, glad you had a great time .
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On May 26 2013 08:53 Kipsate wrote:The experience alone that you got was invaluable, I am proud of you guys even though you went 1-4. There are lots of holes and mistakes but this experience will teach you a lot about it. You can't play heroes against this caliber of teams, you have to play lineups. Every mistake is punished, every move is calculated, that is the beauty of Dota and with this under your belt I hope that we can see better strategic vision and improvement. Dreamhack Summer is the tournament that I am looking forward to. Show nested quote +On May 26 2013 08:47 Sparvy wrote:On May 26 2013 08:39 TanGeng wrote:
Also you have to play against higher caliber teams to improve. The team isn't going to get to the next level playing against the average EU/NA team.
Maybe true but it does beg the question, how did Alliance get so good playing average EU/NA teams? The average skill in EU/NA is a lot worse then Asia, Alliance is the exception, not the rule. At the top of average teams can stand a great one. But in 3 months from now, will the environment of Europe/NA or Asia be more resourcefull for practice, I would argue the latter. And before that Na'vi was the exception, not the rule, right?
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Great write-up. I look forward to seeing how you guys play in the next few months leading up to TI3. GL HF!
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Very cool blog, answered a lot of questions I had. And also glad that you covered the disparities of results/gameplay from G-1 to TI3, and what people should expect of them.
Humble as always, hope to see more of your blogs!
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awaiting the pic with the booth girl
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I know it sucks to see TL go out before playoffs, but they still showed great potential. They arguably could have beat Orange, and should have beat Alliance. The LGD game was a stomp but LGD stomped most everyone. TL was extremely close to making playoffs and overall showed good games.
I think with more preparation and better decision making they could do extremely well. In the end they came close to making it through but fell a bit short. I hope with some intense training over the summer they can make a big splash at ti3.
GOGO TL! <3
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nice read
keen in mind that ti3 is a long way to go you guys still have time
cheer up TL
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Nice blog Korok. Your Aegis steal in the game vs DK was one of the clutchest plays I've ever seen. Simply brilliant
Although getting eliminated early, Team Liquid still played great this tournament. I have no doubt that with this valuable experience and heavy bootcamping, you guys will be able to rock Dreamhack and TI3. Fighting
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Beautiful games though Liquid! I really love you guys and even if u fall u can count on people like me to always support U.
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Good blog. This is exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping for when TL said they were making a dota team. Feels a lot more personal than articles.
Flamewheel has to come through with the Korok + booth girl pic.
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Sanya12364 Posts
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
Nice blog Korok, I was really happy I managed to catch you guys' CK/Wisp game!
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Rated 5, love you guys and it was a good run for sure (i know...even it was the 'bad iG') so just keep the spirit up!! I absolutely love the attitudes and truly see the TL spirit in your guys, you will improve better for TI3 for sure!!!
My only concern is that maybe it is better for you guys to bootcamp outside of US, i know it is tough to make that happen but maybe give that a thought.
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GL! Hope you are right about TL*s potential!
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On May 26 2013 08:00 SuperCarl wrote:
Nice to see the blogs from TL's dota team. You're living up to the excellent TeamLiquid standards regarding community interaction.
I'm sure that it's just a healthy dose of confidence but I must say I view your statements that you could beat Alliance, DK and Orange with just more training as, what you yourself said, arrogant. Dude... All of you at this level have the talent to succeed, what seperates the winners from the rest is the dedication and training.
Buuut then again Im a swede and rooting for Alliance so maybe the statement just rubbed me the wrong way.
Also it sounds as if Valves rule about roster changes is all that is keeping iG from replacing 430. It doesn't sound like a recipe for success.
Did you even see the Alliance game.... zzz
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I am always a little baffled at the "with X more amount of training we would have achieved XX." That pretty much goes without saying, doesn't it? It should, at least. That is essentially why eastern dota is up and above the western scene: they take the game more seriously, the top teams are living in teamhouses where they are together 24/7 whereas some players in the western teams are attending schools and/or have jobs or other obligations. If you had similar culture in the west and east, and thus a matching approach to dota as a _real profession_, I doubt one side would emerge as the supremely dominant one.
In the end, you can always 'excuse' your performance with "one more week of practice and we would've won X and X."
Was fun watching you play at the G-1 League lan finals and I am sure you guys will be a force to be reckoned with at Dreamhack and TI3, as long as you practice 'well'
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On May 26 2013 05:59 Baerinho wrote:i´d like to know that too, hear a 1st hand opinion. I almost cant shake the feeling that they are just sandbagging, then again, that would be sacrificing still alot of money months before TI3
i feel like they and na'vi will show their top form in ti3 and alliance will either have already peaked here or still be about the same form they have atm with at least na'vi / IG/LGD in top shape
tldr: ti3 is gonna be awesome
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Awesome post. Update after the grand finals?
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GG Liquid! Always a big fan of team liquid. That game with Alliance was damn close!! I felt Liquid was the only team that came close to beating them.
Your games coming into the LAN finals were really good, think if you could play like those games + have additional hero pick versatility, I could really see you guys make it to the top 3 at TI3.
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I have been a Team Liquid fan since the very beginning. Obviously, I hoped that you all could take G-1. But realistically, I felt that just qualifying for the LAN finals was a very big deal, and that since this would be your first LAN together on such a big foreign stage, the more honest hope was that you would show the world your potential win-or-lose and likewise, not get embarrassed by looking like a fish out of water.
I want Liquid to win everything they compete in, but I think you accomplished the more realistic goals with flying colors.
You might not have made the playoffs, but:
1. You absolutely pub-stomped the defending TI champions. Sure, IG apparently has some serious internal problems and did not live up to their usual standards this tournament. But this game still MEANT something. IG is stacked with talent, internal issues or not. On talent alone they will still beat an average to above-average team. And you guys WRECKED them.
2. Outside of the LGD game --and let's be honest, other than Alliance, LGD pretty much clowned on every other team in the tournament (and really Alliance too in group stage until they inexplicably left Phantom Lancer alone) -- you were VERY much in every game. Just a few minor changes of fate and you would have at least beaten Orange and DK. You showed the Chinese scene that you are VERY MUCH a team that is talented and capable of beating anybody in the world.
3. In the same vein, outside of maybe LGD in the group stage, you came MUCH closer to beating Alliance than any other team in the tournament. Is it partly because you have experience against them? Yes, but now you have experience against IG, LGD, Orange, and DK too!
I hope you all use this experience to grow as a team and feel more confident with a big LAN under your belt. The boys in blue are still very much a force to be reckoned with leading up to TI3. Until then, I'll be cheering you on in Dreamhack and elsewhere -- Liquid Fighting!
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FREEAGLELAND26781 Posts
Photos are uploaded
So have the Korok one
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/UjU04pf.jpg)
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Why did you go back home Korok!!
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wtf. Those biceps should be illegal in the Dota community!
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Great post, was cheering for TL the most!
And I'm so happy I got too see DR.Korok in action, that aegis steal was insane!
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eyyyy.
sick pic, hahaha.
Wish I could have gone, gg!
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Thanks for the blog. Am really curious to know what is going on with IG.
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nothing like getting stomped to get your mind straight
gl
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EPT
