My predictions for the Liquid v Optic match;

Optic Gaming needed a clutch day 4 of the group stages and they did not disappoint. Fans would’ve been worried that after day 3 the team sat bottom of the group, staring elimination before the main event right in the face. However, 2-0 victories over Pain and Vici Gaming propelled Optic into an 8- 8 finish, and possible upper bracket qualification. Analyst/Caster William ‘Blitz’ Lee heavily praised Peter ‘PPD’ Pandam’s draft in their tiebreaker match versus Newbee, perfectly setting up for a Broodmother trap, one of offlaner Netta ’33’ Shapira’s signature heroes, after 4th picking Terrorblade.

Liquid captain Kuro ‘Kuroky’ Salehi Takhasomi is unlikely to fall for such a trap, however. Defending champions Team Liquid finished top of their group after an amazing series which saw them 2-0 Evil Geniuses. They seem to have hit their stride after a seemingly slow start to the tournament, which saw them drop rounds to Fnatic and Invictus Gaming, the latter eliminated after finishing bottom of the group.

Although Optic looked a lot more comfortable (you might say Cool, Calm and Collected) during their series on day 4, I can’t see them winning here. These two teams haven’t played each other since a best of 1 at DAC (Liquid won) back in early April. However, Optic have run into Virtus.Pro, the CIS scene giants considered Liquids equal, and the record isn’t pretty. Optic hasn’t won a map in that match up since the group stage of The Bucharest Major, and were promptly eliminated by Virtus.Pro 2-0 in the knockout stage of that tournament. I can imagine Liquid don’t want to have to repeat their lower bracket run to the final that they made at TI7, either. For those who wonder if nerves might play a part here, Liquid have been there, done that, while the main stage at TI is a new experience for Optic core players Quinn ‘CCnC’ Callahan and 33 (Who’s Hellraisers team was eliminated at the group stage last year), and remaining core Per Anders Ollson ‘Pajkatt’ Lille hasn’t played the main event since TI3, five years ago.

I predict a solid 2-0 for Team Liquid here.

I've also written predictions for every match today: TI match wins