Dota 2 ESL One Kuala Lumpur: Liquid, BetBoom shine despite surprise 7.35 patch drop in opening day of main event

The opening day of ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023's main event on Friday (15 December) featured some must-watch Dota 2. The eight remaining teams have been forced to figure out the freshly-released 7.35 update as they fight for the lion's share of a US$1 million prize pool, even if some players have bristled on the timing of the patch's release.

Three teams had their run in Kuala Lumpur ended today in three chaotic lower bracket elimination matches.

Western European powerhouse Team Liquid are through to the lower bracket semifinals after taking down both Team Secret and Team Falcons. Eastern Europe's BetBoom Team also defeated Tundra Esports to advance to the other lower bracket quarterfinal match.

Here's how all the action in day one of the ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 main event went down:

Team Liquid 2-0 Team Secret

The day kicked off with Team Liquid and Team Secret facing off despite only having a few hours to process the new 7.35 update before they had to play an elimination match. It seemed like Liquid were able to figure out the patch faster though, as they soundly swept Secret, 2-0, to knock them out of the tournament.

Liquid's core players showed out in a comfortable 46-minute win in game one, combining for 43 out of the team's 47 total kills. Michael "miCKe" Vu on Monkey King led the way with 17 kills and 14 assists on four deaths, stand-in offlaner Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek on Visage pitched in with 16 kills and 17 assists on three death, while Michał "Nisha" Jankowski on Pangolier had 10 kills and 23 assists on four deaths.

Game two was a team effort for Liquid as they closed out the sweep in 49 minutes. MiCKe on Slark paced his team's 36-19 kill lead with 11 kills and 10 assists on just one death while Nisha on Invoker, SabeRLight on Slardar, and Samuel "Boxi" Svahn on a support Muerta added eight kills apiece.

Liquid couldn't rest on their laurels, however, as their victory over Secret set them up for another elimination match against Team Falcons to close out the day.

BetBoom Team 2-0 Tundra Esports

The second match of the day saw BetBoom also extend their stay in Kuala Lumpur at the expense of Tundra in another 2-0 sweep.

In game one, BetBoom came out swinging after a close laning stage to dominate from the midgame onwards. While Tundra were able to draw things out to 57 minutes, they couldn't prevent BetBoom from taking their first win of the series with a 28-12 kill lead.

Danil "gpk" Skutin on Storm Spirit fueled BetBoom's aggression and racked up 12 kills and 15 assists on only one death in the process. Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko on Terrorblade and Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko on Magnus also had five kills each on two and five deaths, respectively.

Game two was a similar story, as BetBoom took the lead from the laning stage and never looked back en route to securing the series sweep in 49 minutes.

The Eastern European squad's core players notably had standout performances to close things out, with Pure on an offlane Windranger leading the way with 16 kills on four deaths, gpk on Storm Spirit once again having 15 kills on one death, and Nightfall on a carry Slardar putting up a clean 11 kills.

Team Liquid 2-1 Team Falcons

The day closed with Team Liquid taking on Team Falcons, with the former emerging victorious after a hard-fought three-game series to secure at least a Top 4 placement.

With Liquid coming off their previous victory against Secret, Falcons were determined not to let them get any momentum by putting on a dominant showing to kick off the series. Oliver "skiter" Lepko had a masterful 12-kill, 10-assist, zero-death performance on Naga Siren out of his team's 27-19 kill lead to give Falcons the opening win in 44 minutes.

Liquid were quick to bounce back in game two as Nisha put on an excellent showing of his own on Windranger, pacing his team's 46-23 kill lead in 42 minutes with 17 kills and 18 assists on four deaths. MiCKe on a position 1 Leshrac also had 11 kills and 25 assists on four deaths while SabeRLight showed out on a surprise offlane Omniknight pick with eight kills and 15 assists against five deaths.

Despite Falcons' best attempt to prevent Liquid from gaining momentum, they could not stop their opponents from snowballing to another quick win in game three. MiCKe had a perfect 14-kill, five-assist outing on Bloodseeker as Liquid routed Falcons to the tune of a 25-10 kill lead in 33 minutes to close out the series.

With today's results, Team Liquid have guaranteed themselves a fourth place finish and US$85,000 in winnings. BetBoom Team are also guaranteed at least a 5th-6th place finish and a US$57,500 prize.

Meanwhile, Team Falcons bow out in 5th-6th place with US$57,500 in consolation. Team Secret and Tundra Esports also exit in 7th-8th place and will take home US$47,500.

The ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 main event is being hosted at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre from 15 to 17 December, where the champions will walk away with the grand prize of US$300,000 out of the tournament's US$1 million prize pool.

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