The floodgates seem to have opened for Team Liquid. They did not seem to be able to win an event after a run of five second place finishes in prestigious events last year. In the space of several weeks, they made it two in a row: the North Americans won IEM Sydney and DreamHack Masters Dallas (against ENCE in the final).
They are now half way to winning the Intel Grand Slam with two more trophies needed out of eight events ahead of them. Assuming they keep up their pace, they could win the $1,000,000 by this summer.
Astralis, the winners of the first ever Intel Grand Slam and the winners of the first event in the new IGS season, are now second through absence. They did not attend the events Liquid won and lost the lead and the #1 spot in both the ESL and the HLTV rankings.
They will, however, attend the next two IGS-eligible events at the ESL Pro League in Occitanie and ESL One Cologne where they will no doubt contest Liquid's claim to being the world's best team. A few weeks from now the race could be level. From that point on, both teams will be desperate for trophies.
Expect the summer to be thrilling indeed!
