Team Liquid vs Top Esports MSI 2024 Bracket Stage Recap

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Team Liquid vs Top Esports MSI 2024 Bracket Stage Recap

Team Liquid enters the best-of-five stage as the fan-favorite underdogs, but do they have enough map presence to outsmart an LPL powerhouse?


The MSI 2024 bracket stage saw the strongest League of Legends pro teams in the running take the stage at Chengdu for the final leg of the tournament.

The strongest bot lane duos from the LCS and the LPL went head-to-head in the first series of MSI 2024. While most were betting on a 3-0 TES stomp, all eyes were still on Team Liquid's support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, who was tasked to find a confident lead in the lane-swap meta.

Eventually, the LPL #2 seed dominantly found every advantage that they needed to force Team Liquid into playing defensively. The Top Esports brand of macroplay — along with Meiko and Creme strategically peeling for their star ADC — put them in the lead of every match.

Read everything that went down in our complete Team Liquid vs Top Esports MSI 2024 Bracket Stage Recap below!

Team Liquid vs Top Esports MSI 2024 Recap

Game 1

team liquid vs top esports tl vs tes

Top Esports hit the ground running with a bottom-heavy team composition and a self-sufficient Urgot. However, the low synergy with Tian's Sejuani pick meant that CoreJJ and co. had more potential at topside.

A relatively safe laning phase put things at a standstill. TL's botlane rotated all the way to top for a three-man push, and TES did the same for botlane, giving them more space to take first drake.

From there, TES had the opportunity to gain more control on bot side, which predictably led to JackeyLove gaining a dangerous two-kill lead. While Team Liquid had enough staying power to avoid a snowball, 369 and his team were able to secure the second drake and reach their power spike.

It was an uphill battle from there as TL scrambled for picks. Two more drakes gave TES Soul point & made the LPL roster unstoppable, resulting in two more jungle skirmishes which opened up Liquid's Nexus. Top Esports takes first blood in game one.

Quick Stats:

  • Teams: Team Liquid 0 – 1 Top Esports
  • Game Time: 27:22
  • Gold: 41.4k – 54.8k
  • Kills: 4 – 15 (First Blood)
  • Turrets: 1 – 8 (First Turret)
  • Dragons: 0 – 4
  • Barons: 0 – 1

Game 2

team liquid vs top esports tl vs tes

While TES' bot lane comp looked more solid, Yeon and APA were betting on lategame supremacy with a double-dragon AP assault that could only be tamed by Tian's Xiao.

Surprisingly, Top Esports found more success at toplane while the LPL team controlled bottom-side. After an Infernal Drake takedown, the Chinese roster had the advantage, prompting a swift response. What followed was an intense skirmish in the bot lane that — while it put TES in the lead — lessened the gap in the score and fed APA's Aurelion Sol.

The objective shutdown made Team Liquid more confident in extended skirmishes. However, they couldn't muster enough damage to close out the teamfight, letting TES regroup and turn the tables. After a good three-man tower dive from Meiko and co., the score gap was the widest it had been in the bo5.

At that point, Yeon could only do so much with just two items built. TL did their best to stall another siege, but after Tian scored a Hextech drake, Creme went all out to bring his team another dominant match win. Top Esports takes control of game two.

Quick Stats:

  • Teams: Top Esports 2 – 0 Team Liquid
  • Game Time: 24:08
  • Gold: 55.2k – 36.7k
  • Kills: (First Blood) 23 – 7
  • Turrets: (First Turret) 10 – 0
  • Dragons: 3 – 1
  • Barons: 0 – 0

Game 3

team liquid vs top esports tl vs tes

TES' sidelanes were relatively safe, which meant that 369 would keep Impact from building his wave and using Demolish on his turrets. That said, Umti, APA and Yeon had enough follow-up to take JackeyLove out of play.

TES had the mana advantage during the laning phase, so both teams played respectfully. More aggressive plays from TES meant better set-ups for Drakes. And by the 16-minute mark, the boys in white had already gotten two dragons.

Later on, Creme built Sundered Sky and Malmortius, giving him two crucial things: crazy amounts of Ability Power and enough threat to take TL's eyes off JackeyLove. From then on, TL's focus was split, making it impossible to win a single team skirmish. As a result, the LPL #2 seed achieved an insurmountable lead by minute 23.

From there, TES had both Nashor and Dragon Soul in the palm of their hands. And after a short baron buff siege, Tien and co. opened mid and bot lane, and surgically removed all resistance between them and the final nexus of the series. Match point goes to Top Esports in a clean 3-0.

Quick Stats:

  • Teams: Top Esports 0 – 3 Team Liquid
  • Game Time: 25:51
  • Gold: 53.7k – 40.5k
  • Kills:  17 – 5 (First Blood)
  • Turrets: 9 – 2 (First Turret)
  • Dragons: 4 – 0
  • Barons: 1 – 0

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Paul G
Paul started writing game guides and match predictions for ESTNN's editorial team in 2022. Since then, he's covered big-ticket esports events and the latest news on tech and AI.