G-1 S5 Retrospective May 30th, 2013 00:08 GMT Text by shostakovich Graphics by HawaiianPig Table of Contents



乱世出英雄

Emerging Champions



天下大乱

A World in Chaos



Liquid on LAN





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Well, G-1 S5 is over. The



Firstly, TL Staff Writer shostakovich



Next, we look at the biggest shock of the tournament - the rapid descent of a team we once called invincible . In his second piece for this review, shostakovich



Finally, our Senior Writer flamewheel writes about his experiences covering the G-1 Finals. Flamewheel was in Shanghai this past weekend, and is here today to give us



All in all, we hope you enjoy this G-1 Retrospective. Check back again soon for more G-1 related content from TL Dota 2!







乱世出英雄: Emerging Champions By Shostakovich





Eastern? Western? What are they? Eastern? Western? What are they?

The best way to explain what Alliance is right now is that they're a synthesis of two known styles.



On one hand, Alliance is able to pull surprise strategies that leaves opponents and spectators speechless - a characteristic often seen in some western teams. A previous example of this in competition is the match between DTS and EHOME at WDC 2010. DTS understood the volatility of the lategame, and thus introduced a push/semi-push strategies to take quick towers, which translated into map control and farm advantage. By taking this idea to heart, DTS was able to defeat EHOME, the strongest team of the year, and send a message to the whole world. Likewise, Alliance, with their 5-man teleport to the middle tower and a rush into the Roshan pit, quickly struck terror in all teams. The ability to run very diverse hero compositions makes it really hard to ban against Alliance; often teams spend four of five bans taking various typical hard-carries away from the game, only to see Alliance pick not-so-popular heroes like Phantom Assassin for Loda. For instance, LGD.cn chose to pick Sven in the last game in an attempt to deny Alliance the Wisp and Sven combination, leaving the Chinese squad with strong heroes but a not-so-strong lineup. Alliance responded by picking Phantom Assassin. As a result, teams were forced to the point of banning Phantom Assassin as well in future games. With a mad genius like s4 picking and very little time to figure out what was going on, no team was able to adapt to or outpick Alliance.





s4's amazing drafts set the stage for Alliance's dance of destruction. s4's amazing drafts set the stage for Alliance's dance of destruction.

On the other hand, Alliance almost never shows the bloodlust that characterises the average European and North American team. The temptation to be constantly fighting often backfires, starving supports of the money to buy key items and preventing them from getting the experience to keep up in levels. This bloodlust never happens with Alliance; instead, in most matches, it is the opponents' pair of supports that are poor and lacking in levels, while Alliance's supports possess levels and items to contribute. Their understanding of item progression and timing attacks are also superior to their peers. Alliance was always directing their actions to reach strategical and tactical objectives, never "just playing Dota" with only a few rare mistakes. Such methodical Dota, often admired in Chinese teams, was seen in Alliance; they never fought without an objective or without being prepared for the fight. What dictated the decision to fight wasn't savage bloodlust, but item progression and strategic objectives. Instead of overextending, Alliance would be happy to force the enemy to fortifying their buildings only to run away, farm a little more and return to destroy the tower later. Alliance displayed a very calm, methodical and thoughtful "Chinese" style of Dota.



So, that leads us to the question: is Alliance a European team being a Chinese team, or a Chinese team being a European team? Or are such generalizations wrong and should we simply call them Alliance?





Those numbers don't lie! Those numbers don't lie!

Whatever the answer is, Alliance is now not only a permanent part of Dota's history, but also esports history. Many Western teams have tried to win big competitions on China but failed: RoX.KIS and ENOTHOME (with Loda, coincidentially) failed to win the Alienware Cup; DTS ended up in third place in WDC 2010; LGD.int was defeated by iG at the G-League finals. Platinum Sports had won HFGL (Hao Fang Golden League) in 2009, but that achievement is nowhere close to the level of winning the G-1 League. Alliance now joins the ranks of the rare Western competitors that went to the East and won.



The future is murky for Alliance because they will now be dealing with a different challenge. Prior to this, they were the unknown, simply visiting China to test themselves against Chinese Dota to see if they were strong. Now they are at the top, and everyone - Chinese, Eastern and Western - will be rushing to look at them for both guidance and weaknesses. iG's downfall and even Na`Vi's slumps should be enough for us to see that staying at the top is really hard, yet that is now Alliance's challenge. Will they be able to repeat such a imperious run of losing only one match in the G-1 Qualifiers and then winning the G-1 LAN Finals undefeated? Will Alliance transform themselves into a dynasty in the coming months? Will they ever become rusty? All eyes will be on them in anticipation of answers to such questions.



Finally, Alliance answers many other questions for both fans and teams. A lot of people have come to assume that this "Chinese" style of Dota is unattainable for non-Chinese teams, thus creating a division between Chinese and rest-of-the-world Dota. But a precise understanding of the game has allowed Alliance to transcend the assumed limits and to access all the minute details of the game. Alliance freed themselves from the trough of copycat mainstream play and reached the open waters of fashioning a Dota based on their own identities, creating their own winning style. If other teams learn what allowed Alliance to win the G-1 League, we may eventually see a story of another "Alliance" in the future.







天下大乱: A World in Chaos By Shostakovich



On the bright side, iG did not get shutout in kills as a result of the hexagon curse. On the bright side, iG did not get shutout in kills as a result of the hexagon curse.

Here's a quick story that should give you some perspective on what's happening with iG right now. On the last days of the G-1 Finals, the organizers had an interview with TC where TC threatened to carry anyone who underestimates him into an abyss of suffering. The interviewers then asked TC which team he thought was the hardest to fight against. TC answered with 'iG', and the entire Chinese audience burst into laughter. They responded that way because in the past few games of the group stages, while Liquid had fought hard against the four other teams and lost, they had crushed iG into a pulp. iG no longer emanated the formidable aura of immortality.



"话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分" opens the first chapter of Romance of Three Kingdoms. It describes the natural order of the world as such: "The world beneath the heaven, after long periods of division will unite; after long periods of union will divide." The rhythm of history has numerous examples of long reigns ending and imperial dominions shattering. More often than not, the dynasties crumble from the inside, all their strength eaten away by festering corruption, leaving a hollow house of cards to be knocked down by rivals and rising powers. For new teams to grasp the game, practice with diligence, and come up with new innovative strategies, winning isn't surprising but is natural. On the contrary, for an established team to continuously fend off new challengers and stay unrivaled for any duration, it is extremely difficult and unnatural. Not only does a top team like iG have to contend with ambitious challengers, they have to deal with balancing player egos, maintaining passion for the game, and finding the motivation to stay ahead of the competition. In spite of the challenge, iG had dominated with few minor lapses since the International of last year. With gravity pulling those at the top down, in a sense, iG's downfall is not a surprise but rather an inevitability. However, the suddenness and the depth of the fall is utterly shocking, and even the foreboding 2-0 loss to Tongfu could not prepare spectators for the losses that they would suffer.



At G-1 LAN finals, iG's bans and picks were completely off the mark. In the first match against LGD.cn, iG made a comedy of errors following LGD.cn's third pick of Spectre. iG should have known that they were dealing with a high mobility hero with a global presence that may immediately join a fight wherever and whenever it is happening. Disregarding that fact, iG chose to pick Tinker while leaving an effective counter, Nyx Assassin, in the hero pool. LGD.cn gobbled up the gift immediately, and iG compounded the problem by going all-in with a splitpush strategy, making the final pick of Nature's Prophet. Needless to say, Spectre and a solo-mid Nyx utterly crushed iG's plans. And if the questionable picks weren't enough, amateur mistakes like Zhou not scouting the runes with Treants and giving first-blood to a hasted Dark Seer further foreshadowed the mistakes and losses to follow.





iG's drafting was not up to the mark at G-1. iG's drafting was not up to the mark at G-1.



If iG's bans and picks were completely off against their local rivals, and words fail to describe the lack of ban/pick preparation against Liquid and Alliance. Korok wrote a blog after Liquid's elimination saying that Liquid had only one strategy that they were confident about. Everyone who had had the chance to watch Liquid knew what it was. iG didn't. Everyone knew that Alliance hugely favors Magnus and Lone Druid. iG didn't. Then when iG eventually tried to use Wisp, they used the hero as a ganker, and did not use Wisp as a key to strengthen their carry and create a pseudo-Spectre. In other words, it became painfully obvious that iG wasn't prepared at all for the tournament.



Other glaring mistakes painfully spotted their play during the group stages. In the game against Orange, YYF constantly missed Clockwerk initiations and closed the game by cogging his own team. ChuaN stole kills from high-priority heroes. Ferrari underperformed in the middle lane and gave signs that he no longer is the same player that acquired the the "Pianist" epithet. Faith got caught out of position in Reverse Polarities while playing Warlock, a hero with a long ranged ultimate. These mistakes and more are obvious examples of horrible form, and iG failed to quickly adapt and fix the problem, leading to their elimination from the tournament in last place.



The G-1 fiasco was followed by a flood of news and rumors that can only feel like bad omens. On one front, iG, LGD.cn, LGD.int, and DK are not playing in ECL2013, leading to rumors that ACE are keeping the big teams from playing in smaller tournaments, possibly leaving them rusty from lack of competition. On another front, quiet rumors of team division and internal conflicts leaves them with big questions on the possibility of ever recovering form again. If they wish to compete at The International and do well, they'll have to compete with this lineup, mend the problems that plague the team, and recover the formula that led to their imperious run. At the highest levels, Dota doesn't tolerate anything less than a team fully united in play.



Whether the rumors are true or not, the results speaks for themselves. iG was crushed. If that is to be just one fluke rather than a continuous patter, something needs to be done. Will iG start joining other tournaments or even going to Western tournaments? Will iG follow LGD and form iG.int? iG must find a way to return to their previous form with a fresh mind. As the poem 46 of the Dao De Jing teaches, "天下有道，却走马以粪。天下无道，戎马生于郊", or in our very liberal translation: "If there's Dao, Zhou is carrying; if there's no Dao, Zhou is playing Nature's Prophet."





Will iG bounce back? Only time will tell. Will iG bounce back? Only time will tell.









Liquid on LAN By Flamewheel



Editor's note: flamewheel in his natural habitat. Editor's note: flamewheel in his natural habitat.

First and foremost I want to say that overall, I am impressed by Liquid's performance at G-1. I admit their overall score in the tournament could have been better, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. Today, I'd like to share with you some of my insight regarding a team that, in the short span of a weekend, managed to develop and improve tremendously across all fronts.



Before going into Shanghai, I had no clue what to expect from Liquid. This was their first LAN event as a team, and it was on foreign ground away from their main fanbase. While 'hostile' is much too strong and certainly much too negative of a word to describe G-1 atmosphere and audience attitude toward the foreign teams, there is no denying that on the whole, the circumstances were definitely stressful for the team. From the language barrier to jet lag to unappealing foreign foods, quite a few issues tested Liquid's mettle. Thankfully, G-1's staff, especially Carson, was immensely helpful; without them I doubt Liquid would be returning from China alive.





Petition Valve to bring this guy to TI3!

The team definitely rose to the challenge to face most of these issues head-on. They weren't stymied by the lack of support, and their level of play definitely improved from the first to the second day. Be it nerves or overeagerness, Liquid's players now have those LAN-impacting feelings under their belts, and that should serve them well at Dreamhack. They also dealt with three days of little sleep and unfamiliar foods, a staple of foreign LAN events.



Unnatural repast and the vegetarian issue

As one G-1 staff member put it, "there are some religious groups in China who don't eat for a few days every year. But for [Bulba] in China, he wouldn't be able to eat any day of the year." While China does have a lot of excellent vegetable dishes, those are not usually considered main courses and aren't so easy to find in the heavily meat-biased courses that modern China loves. Sam mostly subsisted on vegetarian pizza and rice. While a few complaints were uttered, I could definitely tell that he wasn't getting as much out of the food as he'd like. The rest of the players ate the food provided, but you could still tell that it was not what they are accustomed to eating at home. Having good conditions at LAN events is preferable, and the familiarity of foods in affecting one's mental state is definitely a heavily underrated factor.



Foodwise, I think we ended on a good note though with some Shanghai hotpot (HaiDiLao) on the last night. Even ixmike, being the staunch American that he is, highly enjoyed the meal after he got over the initial hurdle.







Fighting uphill on foreign soil

Before this LAN, Liquid was not very well-known in China. We were not a team with 老大 (Laoda, what the Chinese call Loda), nor were we a home team like LGD or even close-neighboring team like Orange. We were probably the team with the least attending fans at the start of the LAN. On the first day, the spectators lined up outside the entrance pointed and said "Liquid!" as we walked in; yet their responses to LGD and iG entering the grounds completely dwarfed their greetings toward us.





In unfamiliar territory.

Yet over the course of the weekend, our boys in blue not only put on an increasingly good show in terms of gameplay, but also interacted with Chinese fans through signatures and photos. We've now got our own monikers, be it "serious young captain" Fluff, Abyss Carrier "Burning of the West" TC, or "Uncle Mario" Mike. Seriously, the crowd absolutely loved Mike.





Unfortunately I have no clue whose photo this is, but e-credit shall be given.

The next time Liquid goes to China, they'll have more foreign fans, and even the Chinese casters, well-known for being brutally honest about poor performances and quick to point out misplays, had extremely favorable things to say about Liquid at the end of the team's G-1 run. As everyone was packing up to go on the last night, Haitao came to us and said that he was impressed with Liquid's play and that experience and dedication would take them far in their future LANs.



Accepting loss and moving forward

Nobody likes losing, but in a competitive setting there is always someone who gets the short end of the stick. While there is room for unhappiness in loss, what matters more is what you make of it. Liquid took their losses in stride, and discussions were mostly constructive. As they played subsequent games, their decision-making and actions improved across the board.





Preparing for the next game.

Even after the tournament was over on Sunday, Bulba was analyzing replays at the net cafe. I'm confident in saying that at future LAN events, Liquid will not make the same mistakes that cost them the close games that they could have won at G-1.



Till the next time

After Liquid's elimination by DK in the do-or-die game, the journey back to the hotel was a quiet one. Amidst the sullen reflection, Mike made an extremely good point. Nicely paraphrased, he said, "If there's anything we should take away from this LAN, it's that those teams are not invincible and are definitely beatable. We just need to keep practicing and play our own game, and we'll get them next time." After watching the matches again, I completely agree with him. Korok's heroes held up well against the top Chinese middle lane solos, Bulba still has a better Clockwerk than the Chinese, our smart support rotation from Fluff and Mike caught the likes of Burning off-guard, and TC farms with extremely stable tempo. There are many areas in which they can improve; this LAN has pinpointed some of the little issues that are holding Liquid back from reaching the next level, but with time and dedication, I believe Liquid will rise even further.





We'll be taking this home in season 6.

In closing, I'd like to thank G-1 and 17173.com for hosting such a fine tournament. It was truly an experience to see Team Liquid compete here in their LAN final. I'm sure the players will be able to take what they have learned and apply it to the upcoming Dreamhack summer, for TI3 further down the road, and if fortune permits, future events in Shanghai. Shoutout (again) to Carson for making the player's lives so much easier.





Writers: Shostakovich, flamewheel

Gfx: Hawaiianpig, Heyoka

Editors: TanGeng, riptide, Firebolt145

Pictures: Sgamer.com, flamewheel, Liquid`ixmike88

Well, G-1 S5 is over. The Alliance prevailed against the mighty Chinese empire , and for the first time ever, a Western team won a LAN in mainland China. In this G-1 Review from TL Dota 2 Coverage, we look back on the biggest news to come out of the LAN.Firstly, TL Staff Writer shostakovich analyses the rise of Alliance . What took them to the championship? What are they doing right? What can we expect from them in the months to come? We look at all these questions and more in Emerging Champions Next, we look at the biggest shock of the tournament - the rapid descent of a team we once called invincible . In his second piece for this review, shostakovich takes a look at iG and what went wrong for them , doing his best to analyse what is now A World in Chaos Finally, our Senior Writer flamewheel writes about his experiences covering the G-1 Finals. Flamewheel was in Shanghai this past weekend, and is here today to give us a personal account of Western Dota's foray into the East All in all, we hope you enjoy this G-1 Retrospective. Check back again soon for more G-1 related content from TL Dota 2!The best way to explain what Alliance is right now is that they're a synthesis of two known styles.On one hand, Alliance is able to pull surprise strategies that leaves opponents and spectators speechless - a characteristic often seen in some western teams. A previous example of this in competition is the match between DTS and EHOME at WDC 2010. DTS understood the volatility of the lategame, and thus introduced a push/semi-push strategies to take quick towers, which translated into map control and farm advantage. By taking this idea to heart, DTS was able to defeat EHOME, the strongest team of the year, and send a message to the whole world. Likewise, Alliance, with their 5-man teleport to the middle tower and a rush into the Roshan pit, quickly struck terror in all teams. The ability to run very diverse hero compositions makes it really hard to ban against Alliance; often teams spend four of five bans taking various typical hard-carries away from the game, only to see Alliance pick not-so-popular heroes like Phantom Assassin for Loda. For instance, LGD.cn chose to pick Sven in the last game in an attempt to deny Alliance the Wisp and Sven combination, leaving the Chinese squad with strong heroes but a not-so-strong lineup. Alliance responded by picking Phantom Assassin. As a result, teams were forced to the point of banning Phantom Assassin as well in future games. With a mad genius like s4 picking and very little time to figure out what was going on, no team was able to adapt to or outpick Alliance.On the other hand, Alliance almost never shows the bloodlust that characterises the average European and North American team. The temptation to be constantly fighting often backfires, starving supports of the money to buy key items and preventing them from getting the experience to keep up in levels. This bloodlust never happens with Alliance; instead, in most matches, it is the opponents' pair of supports that are poor and lacking in levels, while Alliance's supports possess levels and items to contribute. Their understanding of item progression and timing attacks are also superior to their peers. Alliance was always directing their actions to reach strategical and tactical objectives, never "just playing Dota" with only a few rare mistakes. Such methodical Dota, often admired in Chinese teams, was seen in Alliance; they never fought without an objective or without being prepared for the fight. What dictated the decision to fight wasn't savage bloodlust, but item progression and strategic objectives. Instead of overextending, Alliance would be happy to force the enemy to fortifying their buildings only to run away, farm a little more and return to destroy the tower later. Alliance displayed a very calm, methodical and thoughtful "Chinese" style of Dota.So, that leads us to the question: is Alliance a European team being a Chinese team, or a Chinese team being a European team? Or are such generalizations wrong and should we simply call them Alliance?Whatever the answer is, Alliance is now not only a permanent part of Dota's history, but also esports history. Many Western teams have tried to win big competitions on China but failed: RoX.KIS and ENOTHOME (with Loda, coincidentially) failed to win the Alienware Cup; DTS ended up in third place in WDC 2010; LGD.int was defeated by iG at the G-League finals. Platinum Sports had won HFGL (Hao Fang Golden League) in 2009, but that achievement is nowhere close to the level of winning the G-1 League. Alliance now joins the ranks of the rare Western competitors that went to the East and won.The future is murky for Alliance because they will now be dealing with a different challenge. Prior to this, they were the unknown, simply visiting China to test themselves against Chinese Dota to see if they were strong. Now they are at the top, and everyone - Chinese, Eastern and Western - will be rushing to look at them for both guidance and weaknesses. iG's downfall and even Na`Vi's slumps should be enough for us to see that staying at the top is really hard, yet that is now Alliance's challenge. Will they be able to repeat such a imperious run of losing only one match in the G-1 Qualifiers and then winning the G-1 LAN Finals undefeated? Will Alliance transform themselves into a dynasty in the coming months? Will they ever become rusty? All eyes will be on them in anticipation of answers to such questions.Finally, Alliance answers many other questions for both fans and teams. A lot of people have come to assume that this "Chinese" style of Dota is unattainable for non-Chinese teams, thus creating a division between Chinese and rest-of-the-world Dota. But a precise understanding of the game has allowed Alliance to transcend the assumed limits and to access all the minute details of the game. Alliance freed themselves from the trough of copycat mainstream play and reached the open waters of fashioning a Dota based on their own identities, creating their own winning style. If other teams learn what allowed Alliance to win the G-1 League, we may eventually see a story of another "Alliance" in the future.Here's a quick story that should give you some perspective on what's happening with iG right now. On the last days of the G-1 Finals, the organizers had an interview with TC where TC threatened to carry anyone who underestimates him into an abyss of suffering. The interviewers then asked TC which team he thought was the hardest to fight against. TC answered with 'iG', and the entire Chinese audience burst into laughter. They responded that way because in the past few games of the group stages, while Liquid had fought hard against the four other teams and lost, they had crushed iG into a pulp. iG no longer emanated the formidable aura of immortality."话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分" opens the first chapter of Romance of Three Kingdoms. It describes the natural order of the world as such: "The world beneath the heaven, after long periods of division will unite; after long periods of union will divide." The rhythm of history has numerous examples of long reigns ending and imperial dominions shattering. More often than not, the dynasties crumble from the inside, all their strength eaten away by festering corruption, leaving a hollow house of cards to be knocked down by rivals and rising powers. For new teams to grasp the game, practice with diligence, and come up with new innovative strategies, winning isn't surprising but is natural. On the contrary, for an established team to continuously fend off new challengers and stay unrivaled for any duration, it is extremely difficult and unnatural. Not only does a top team like iG have to contend with ambitious challengers, they have to deal with balancing player egos, maintaining passion for the game, and finding the motivation to stay ahead of the competition. In spite of the challenge, iG had dominated with few minor lapses since the International of last year. With gravity pulling those at the top down, in a sense, iG's downfall is not a surprise but rather an inevitability. However, the suddenness and the depth of the fall is utterly shocking, and even the foreboding 2-0 loss to Tongfu could not prepare spectators for the losses that they would suffer.At G-1 LAN finals, iG's bans and picks were completely off the mark. In the first match against LGD.cn, iG made a comedy of errors following LGD.cn's third pick of Spectre. iG should have known that they were dealing with a high mobility hero with a global presence that may immediately join a fight wherever and whenever it is happening. Disregarding that fact, iG chose to pick Tinker while leaving an effective counter, Nyx Assassin, in the hero pool. LGD.cn gobbled up the gift immediately, and iG compounded the problem by going all-in with a splitpush strategy, making the final pick of Nature's Prophet. Needless to say, Spectre and a solo-mid Nyx utterly crushed iG's plans. And if the questionable picks weren't enough, amateur mistakes like Zhou not scouting the runes with Treants and giving first-blood to a hasted Dark Seer further foreshadowed the mistakes and losses to follow.If iG's bans and picks were completely off against their local rivals, and words fail to describe the lack of ban/pick preparation against Liquid and Alliance. Korok wrote a blog after Liquid's elimination saying that Liquid had only one strategy that they were confident about. Everyone who had had the chance to watch Liquid knew what it was. iG didn't. Everyone knew that Alliance hugely favors Magnus and Lone Druid. iG didn't. Then when iG eventually tried to use Wisp, they used the hero as a ganker, and did not use Wisp as a key to strengthen their carry and create a pseudo-Spectre. In other words, it became painfully obvious that iG wasn't prepared at all for the tournament.Other glaring mistakes painfully spotted their play during the group stages. In the game against Orange, YYF constantly missed Clockwerk initiations and closed the game by cogging his own team. ChuaN stole kills from high-priority heroes. Ferrari underperformed in the middle lane and gave signs that he no longer is the same player that acquired the the "Pianist" epithet. Faith got caught out of position in Reverse Polarities while playing Warlock, a hero with a long ranged ultimate. These mistakes and more are obvious examples of horrible form, and iG failed to quickly adapt and fix the problem, leading to their elimination from the tournament in last place.The G-1 fiasco was followed by a flood of news and rumors that can only feel like bad omens. On one front, iG, LGD.cn, LGD.int, and DK are not playing in ECL2013, leading to rumors that ACE are keeping the big teams from playing in smaller tournaments, possibly leaving them rusty from lack of competition. On another front, quiet rumors of team division and internal conflicts leaves them with big questions on the possibility of ever recovering form again. If they wish to compete at The International and do well, they'll have to compete with this lineup, mend the problems that plague the team, and recover the formula that led to their imperious run. At the highest levels, Dota doesn't tolerate anything less than a team fully united in play.Whether the rumors are true or not, the results speaks for themselves. iG was crushed. If that is to be just one fluke rather than a continuous patter, something needs to be done. Will iG start joining other tournaments or even going to Western tournaments? Will iG follow LGD and form iG.int? iG must find a way to return to their previous form with a fresh mind. As the poem 46 of the Dao De Jing teaches, "天下有道，却走马以粪。天下无道，戎马生于郊", or in our very liberal translation: "If there's Dao, Zhou is carrying; if there's no Dao, Zhou is playing Nature's Prophet."First and foremost I want to say that overall, I am impressed by Liquid's performance at G-1. I admit their overall score in the tournament could have been better, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. Today, I'd like to share with you some of my insight regarding a team that, in the short span of a weekend, managed to develop and improve tremendously across all fronts.Before going into Shanghai, I had no clue what to expect from Liquid. This was their first LAN event as a team, and it was on foreign ground away from their main fanbase. While 'hostile' is much too strong and certainly much too negative of a word to describe G-1 atmosphere and audience attitude toward the foreign teams, there is no denying that on the whole, the circumstances were definitely stressful for the team. From the language barrier to jet lag to unappealing foreign foods, quite a few issues tested Liquid's mettle. Thankfully, G-1's staff, especially Carson, was immensely helpful; without them I doubt Liquid would be returning from China alive.The team definitely rose to the challenge to face most of these issues head-on. They weren't stymied by the lack of support, and their level of play definitely improved from the first to the second day. Be it nerves or overeagerness, Liquid's players now have those LAN-impacting feelings under their belts, and that should serve them well at Dreamhack. They also dealt with three days of little sleep and unfamiliar foods, a staple of foreign LAN events.As one G-1 staff member put it, "there are some religious groups in China who don't eat for a few days every year. But for [Bulba] in China, he wouldn't be able to eat any day of the year." While China does have a lot of excellent vegetable dishes, those are not usually considered main courses and aren't so easy to find in the heavily meat-biased courses that modern China loves. Sam mostly subsisted on vegetarian pizza and rice. While a few complaints were uttered, I could definitely tell that he wasn't getting as much out of the food as he'd like. The rest of the players ate the food provided, but you could still tell that it was not what they are accustomed to eating at home. Having good conditions at LAN events is preferable, and the familiarity of foods in affecting one's mental state is definitely a heavily underrated factor.Foodwise, I think we ended on a good note though with some Shanghai hotpot (HaiDiLao) on the last night. Even ixmike, being the staunch American that he is, highly enjoyed the meal after he got over the initial hurdle.Before this LAN, Liquid was not very well-known in China. We were not a team with 老大 (Laoda, what the Chinese call Loda), nor were we a home team like LGD or even close-neighboring team like Orange. We were probably the team with the least attending fans at the start of the LAN. On the first day, the spectators lined up outside the entrance pointed and said "Liquid!" as we walked in; yet their responses to LGD and iG entering the grounds completely dwarfed their greetings toward us.Yet over the course of the weekend, our boys in blue not only put on an increasingly good show in terms of gameplay, but also interacted with Chinese fans through signatures and photos. We've now got our own monikers, be it "serious young captain" Fluff,"Burning of the West" TC, or "Uncle Mario" Mike. Seriously, the crowd absolutely loved Mike.The next time Liquid goes to China, they'll have more foreign fans, and even the Chinese casters, well-known for being brutally honest about poor performances and quick to point out misplays, had extremely favorable things to say about Liquid at the end of the team's G-1 run. As everyone was packing up to go on the last night, Haitao came to us and said that he was impressed with Liquid's play and that experience and dedication would take them far in their future LANs.Nobody likes losing, but in a competitive setting there is always someone who gets the short end of the stick. While there is room for unhappiness in loss, what matters more is what you make of it. Liquid took their losses in stride, and discussions were mostly constructive. As they played subsequent games, their decision-making and actions improved across the board.Even after the tournament was over on Sunday, Bulba was analyzing replays at the net cafe. I'm confident in saying that at future LAN events, Liquid will not make the same mistakes that cost them the close games that they could have won at G-1.After Liquid's elimination by DK in the do-or-die game, the journey back to the hotel was a quiet one. Amidst the sullen reflection, Mike made an extremely good point. Nicely paraphrased, he said, "If there's anything we should take away from this LAN, it's that those teams are not invincible and are definitely beatable. We just need to keep practicing and play our own game, and we'll get them next time." After watching the matches again, I completely agree with him. Korok's heroes held up well against the top Chinese middle lane solos, Bulba still has a better Clockwerk than the Chinese, our smart support rotation from Fluff and Mike caught the likes of Burning off-guard, and TC farms with extremely stable tempo. There are many areas in which they can improve; this LAN has pinpointed some of the little issues that are holding Liquid back from reaching the next level, but with time and dedication, I believe Liquid will rise even further.In closing, I'd like to thank G-1 and 17173.com for hosting such a fine tournament. It was truly an experience to see Team Liquid compete here in their LAN final. I'm sure the players will be able to take what they have learned and apply it to the upcoming Dreamhack summer, for TI3 further down the road, and if fortune permits, future events in Shanghai. Shoutout (again) to Carson for making the player's lives so much easier.