Team Liquid consists of "Dota 2" legend Kuro “ KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi, Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen, Amer “Miracle~” Al-Barkawi, Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Borislavov Ivanov, and Maruon “GH” Merhej won The International 2017 bagging in $10 million and the Aegis of Immortal.
The International or TI 2017 is the biggest E-sporting event of the year with a prize pool of over $24 million.
Dominating Start
Team Liquid started out The International 2017 as the favorites to win the tournament all the way. And they did not fail to perform on the biggest stage of the "Dota 2" scene by dominating the group stages and dropped only 3 out of the 16 games they played.
This gave them the advantage to secure a spot in the main event and the opportunity to choose the opponent they desired to face.
Fighting through the lower bracket
Their run to the championship was not perfect. In the main stage, after picking Invitus Gaming to be their opponent, they failed to close out a 3-game series losing to IG 2-1 and placing them in the lower bracket of the tournament.
In their first game in the lower bracket, they won against Team Secret, led by another "Dota 2" legend (and KuroKy’s former captain), Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, with a score of 2-1. They then stomped Team Empire by sweeping them 2-0. Liquid then advanced and faced Virtus.pro in an epic showdown. Liquid managed to come away with the win by a score of 2-1.
Team Liquid then defeated LGD gaming 2-0. With only one series remaining until the Grand Finals, Team Liquid managed to squeek out a win in a highly contested series against LGD.FY with a score of 2-1.
The Grand Finals
Team Liquid swept the best-of-5-series against Newbee 3-0, which was the first ever “sweep” in TI Grand finals history.
This series showed how good, dominant and composed their team was, cementing their claim as the best team in the world.
Team Liquid looked really great in the recently concluded TI. But they were also on the verge of elimination a handful of times, and every time they overcame it and looked like flat-out the best team in the world.
In their interview after the game, Team Liquid thanked their fans who believed in them and stuck with them through thick and thin.
While walking the red carpet, MinD_ContRoL and MATUMBAMAN said that they still can’t believe that they won the finals and being number one feels great.
Prize for a true legend
Team Liquid’s captain KuroKy has been in all 7 TIs but still has not won until this one. He is one of the main reasons for Team Liquid's success, with all his sacrifices and guidance. This championship is truly a great prize for him.
In conclusion, no one has ever won TI twice; will KuroKy be the one to break the so called “TI curse”? I guess we’ll have to wait again next year to get an answer to that question.
