First Championship Title in 7.07 Secured
Team Liquid secured their first championship in 7.07 after reverse sweeping Vici Gaming at the grand finals of AMD Sapphire Dota PIT League earlier this day in Split, Croatia. The International 2017 grand champions were awarded with 150 Dota Pro Circuit points plus the lion’s share of the $300,000 prize pool.
A huge part of the Dota 2 community thought that the release of the Dueling Fates update would shake up the competitive trend–more specifically how Team Liquid dominates almost every tournament they join in.
However, when the first Dota 2 Minor tournament featuring 7.07 started, Team Liquid played as if there weren’t any changes. The Aegis of Champions bearers were the first to call dibs on the first grand finalist slot and they did so without dropping a single game.
Liquid vs china round 2 lets go
— Lasse Urpalainen (@MATUMBAMAN) November 4, 2017
Taking into consideration Vici Gaming’s disappointing finish at the SL i-League Invitational Season 3 and Team Liquid’s recent accomplishments, it is only right for the panel to vote for the defending world champions as the tournament’s eventual winner.
In the first two games, the Chinese representative did nothing but disprove the panel’s judgments. Vici Gaming won the first two games of the best-of-five grand finals against Team Liquid, ultimately pushing them to a do-or-die best-of-five.
This Kuroky-led squad already has some experience battling in a full best-of-five grand finals. The last time Team Liquid had to do it was during the StarLadder i-League Invitational #2 where they won against TNC Pro Team.
The final games of the AMD Sapphire Dota PIT League grand finals were a solid testament to Team Liquid’s capabilities as a professional Dota 2 team. Despite the pressure coming from being down by 0-2, by playing in an unexplored meta, and by being a world champion, Team Liquid still managed to win three straight 20-minute games.
Last May, Nahaz posted this tweet in response to Noxville‘s prediction regarding the direct invitees for The International 2017. If we’re going to replace the 7.06 with 7.07, negate the first sentence, and the discussion afterwards, everything Nahaz said in this tweet is still accurate.
maybe +Liquid based on SL, but I think that's more a filler pick. I'd be happy if TI were just those 4 invites + epi winner tbh.
— Ben Steenhuisen (@Noxville) May 25, 2017
It took Vici Gaming a total of 89 minutes to put Team Liquid in this kind of scenario, but Team Liquid, proving how they really are the best early game team, only needed 70 minutes to overcome it and claim their first title under the 7.07 meta.
With their win, Team Liquid now sits at the third spot of the Dota Pit Pro Circuit Rankings with a total of 1350 Dota Pro Circuit Points. Vici Gaming, meanwhile, sits at the 6th place with 270 Dota Pro Circuit points.
