Shanghai Major Grand Finals: Team Secret edges Team Liquid 3:1 to take championship title

Team Secret have won the Shanghai Major Grand Finals, as they edged out Team Liquid, 3:1. The event has come to a dramatic end with spectacular matches between the two European teams. After a whirlwind of almost two weeks, with action taking place into the wee hours of the night in Shanghai, China, Team Secret walk away with the staggering $1.1 million prize, as over 1 million viewers watched with baited breath.

The thrilling adventure of the Shanghai Major has come to an end, as Secret were able to outplay, outdraft and outmaneuver some of the best teams in the world to claim their championship title.

The Shanghai Major Grand Finals were extraordinary and ignited passion and fervor from fans across the world.

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Team Liquid was able to rise up from the Lower Bracket finals Team Secret had originally sent them to after wiping through Evil Geniuses, 2:0. They put up an incredible display of talent and skill, as well as great coordination, as they sought revenge in the Shanghai Major Grand Finals.

In the end, Team Secret came up on top in front of 15,000 people in the audience and more than one million online viewers. The viewership peaked at 1,042,173 during the fourth and final game of the Shanghai Major Grand Finals.

Shanghai Major Grand Finals

Team Secret vs. Team Liquid

Team Secret got off to the first game of the Shanghai Major Grand Finals series with an unbelievable start. Everything seemed to be going wrong for Team Liquid, as they were not able to farm, were getting picked off all over the map and taking poor fights. Clement “Puppey” Ivanov’s Enchantress was fantastic, controlling both runes at once, using heal and creeps, and giving full map and fight control. The support duo of Puppey and Johan “pieliedie” Åström had significant impact on the team, allowing for Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen to land fantastic ravages. Team Liquid got outplayed with a stellar performance by Secret who ended up taking the first win.

The second game of the series saw Team Liquid strike back, taking full control in the early game and putting a lot of pressure on Team Secret. While Team Liquid was dictating the pace early on, Team Secret was able to pull it out from under them temporarily. Puppey’s Winter Wyvern was brilliant in a team fight that changed the tides a bit, at around minute 25. Team Liquid was able to recover and moved on to take the victory, tying up the series, 1:1.

During the third game of the Shanghai Major Grand Finals, Team Secret had so much farm early on, which made it hard for Team Liquid to leave their base. Omar “w33” Aliwi – who was later voted MVP of the game – had a phenomenal game on Invoker, going 14:0:11 by the end. Again, team coordination and synchronizing of spells have been integral in Secret’s success. Team Secret took the lead, 2:1.

What would turn out to be the last game of the series was a complete stomp from Team Secret. In only 25 minutes, they were able to cruise to the victory, having dominated Team Liquid from the very first minutes. Jacky “Eternal Envy” Mao was MVP of the game with a perfect performance on Slark. Doom as a support gave a huge boost to the team fights, disabling one person each time to help win the fights convincingly.

Shanghai Major Grand Finals results: Team Secret 3:1 Team Liquid

The Shanghai Major main event

The Shanghai Major main event took place between March 2nd-6th, at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, in Shanghai, China. Viewers and visitors enjoyed dawn to dusk action. The Grand Finals took place on Sunday, March 6th.

Shanghai Major brackets

Format

Sixteen teams played a double-elimination bracket.

Eight teams (top two teams of each of the four groups) started in the main event in the Upper Bracket. Eight teams (bottom two teams of each of the four groups) started in the main event in the Lower Bracket.

All the Upper Bracket match-ups were best-of-three series.

The first two rounds of the Lower Bracket matches were best-of-one elimination series. The following rounds were best-of-three elimination series.

The Shanghai Major Grand Finals were best-of-five series, with no winners’ advantage.

Shanghai Major prize pool

• 1st place – $1,110,000 – Team Secret
• 2nd place – $405,000 – Team Liquid
• 3rd place – $315,000 – Evil Geniuses
• 4th place – $255,000 – MVP Phoenix
• 5th-6th place – $202,000 – compLexity Gaming/ Fnatic
• 7th-8th place – $105,000 – Alliance/OG
• 9th-12th place – $45,000 – EHOME/LGD Gaming/Virtus.Pro/Newbee
• 13th-16th place – $30,000 – Team Archon/Team Spirit/ViCi Gaming/CDEC