Really looks like Liquid has GG's number so far in this series (middle of game 2)

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Liquid ended up taking it 2-0 versus C9, but there were moments during the second game where it looked like C9 could almost hold their own. I hope they stay a bit longer in the lower bracket, I still really enjoy their drafts and gameplay.

Liquid though, woof. They look unbelievably good right now and Nisha looks in absolute top form. Is he the best player in the world right now?

I'm happy Liquid won, I think the old HoN trio deserve it, I think Nisha really deserves it and 33 is of course a great player too. I'm glad the Liquid redemption story vs GG gave us at least one memorable story and moment from this TI, which otherwise has felt fairly bland.

I've touched on it before but TI losing its magic is very sad to me. It's been in decline for a few years already, but it's more obvious now than it ever has been that Valve's investment in Dota is just not what it once was. This was the first TI Valve was fully hands-off with - from now on its 100% a PGL product and I think it shows.

I miss True Sight, it's one of the best things related to TI. I miss seeing more of the games in front of a crowd (they even seemed to filter out the crowd noise?). I miss the Lategame with Pyrion Flax aftershow. I miss player profiles and video archive snippets (patience from Zhou!). I miss the All-Star games, despite them being goofy and sometimes terrible.

TI is just another LAN event now, and that's such a shame when you think about the heights of what it once was.

Sad to see Falcons beat C9, I really dislike that team and was rooting for C9 against the odds. I think the games today were similar to yesterday, in that C9 were so close to being able to compete at this level, but again were just outplayed and out-executed in both teamfights and macro play on the map. Also have to say I've not been particularly impressed with DM, feels like he is a weak link on that team. No[o]ne also didn't feel like he was hitting quite the same heights of performance as earlier in this tournament. Watson looked really good again, though.

Falcons are really strong though and I'm not happy about it. But at the end of the day you have to respect their skill if nothing else.

Falcons are out, which makes me happy, but overall this was a fairly disappointing penultimate day of TI. I wish we had more even back and forth matches instead of straight 2-0s. Liquid continue to impress with Nisha playing out of his mind, they have to be favourites at this point. You can never count out GG though - especially in a final against Liquid - so I'm hoping it will be Tundra taking the second spot tomorrow instead .They've looked really good today and Topson pulling out Diffusal Sniper was an instant classic. Also blows my mind that Saksa isn't on any team right now, winning TI as a stand-in would be quite something. Wonder where he ends up.

I also feel like the production is a little... bland? Maybe they're saving everything for tomorrow, but the crowd and arena and action in between games has felt lackluster compared to the halcyon days of KeyArena TIs in Seattle. I miss stuff like The International Archive, Remember When or even the superb Support Support. And matching the energy of the crowd in, outside of and around the arena in Seattle is a tough ask, I suppose. But I miss the amount of signs and costumes and Kaci doing the rounds.

I hope there's at least something in the cards for tomorrow.

Tough for BB team, but Falcons are just a size too big for them. They did put up a better showing in game 2, but even then it felt like there was a gulf of skill between the teams. Falcons demonstrating Centaur's cart as a Doom counter was cool to watch. It's too bad they're this good, as I deeply dislike Saudi sportswashing.