Disneyland Qualifier: All three European titans prevail

Disneyland Qualifier: All three European titans prevail
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Team Secret, Team Liquid, and OG have all successfully survived the MDL Disneyland Paris Major Europe Qualifier to make the tournament in Paris.

Secret are looking very, very good



So maybe they fell out a bit early at DreamLeague Season 11—it does not seemed to have bothered them at all. Team Secret is back to looking dominant. They did not drop a single game in all of their qualifying matches, going 4-0 in the Group Stage and then beating Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 to qualify.

In their match against the Ninjas they never truly looked tested in either game. Game One was a stomp, while in Game Two the teams were only even for 20 minutes before Secret snowballed out of control. Their trusted combination of Yeik Nai 'MidOne' Zheng making space, Michał 'Nisha' Jankowski farming on a hard core, while the remaining members helping control the map, rarely falters. Secret is a cohesive unit, which will again make them a frontrunner when May comes.





Team Liquid is regaining their form



If you did not get a chance to watch Team Liquid's qualifying match versus OG, do yourself a favour and go watch it. As we reported a few days ago: It was absolutely bonkers.



However, the fact that Team Liquid were taken to the brink by a team that many would consider worse than them is telling. Liquid has been slowly performing better as the year has progressed; however, against top tier teams, or even top tier players, they have struggled. They had a very respectable Group Stage for the Qualifier, going 4-2, and then were able to eke out a 2-1 win in the aformentioned match against OG.

But Team Liquid has had moments where they remind everyone they are a TI winner. Amer 'Miracle-' Al-Barkawi is starting to play reminscent of when he was unanimously considered the best in the world, Lasse 'Matumbaman' Urpalainen is performing with more consistency on his specialty cores, and Liquid's backline is making more of the tempo-setting plays we are used to. Time will tell if their TI-winning form can crystallize by May.





Ana is carrying OG on his shoulders



If we are all being honest, the only reason anyone can say the words: "OG is back" is because of a very simple fact: Anathan 'ana' Pham is back. The young midlaner has well and truly propelled OG to another level after months of struggle (the months in between his tenure on the team). Despite their success, though, it was a long and sometimes messy road to qualify.

OG went 4-3 in the Group Stage and were knocked into the Lower Bracket by Liquid. Once in the Lower Bracket, however, Ana in particular was a force, and OG was able to easily beat both Alliance and The Final Tribe in two 2-0 series. While we also cannot neglect Topias 'Topson' Taavitsainen (who went 17-0-1 on Ember Spirit in the final game against TFT), OG's win condition really does depend on Ana, as often his good play enables the entire team. The real question for OG will be if a whole tournament can be saddled on the shoulders of one player—time will tell.







Is Ana enough to make OG competitive at the Disneyland Major?



Photo Credit - Valve

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