EPICENTER Moscow LAN crowns Team Liquid as champions

EPICENTER Moscow LAN playoffs have crowned Team Liquid as champions. The European team edged out Newbee 3:2 in an intense and dramatic series. Team Liquid walks away with the title, trophy and $250,000 prize. The European team has finally broken their second place curse. Newbee claim the second spot on the podium and $100,000 reward for their hard work.

EPICENTER Moscow LAN playoffs were incredibly exciting and stunning from the first moment it started, climaxing into a riveting five game Grand Finals.

In a spectacular event and in front of over 3.5 million viewers, Team Liquid overpowered and outplayed Newbee 3:2. After taking the first game of the series, they lost the following two but didn’t lose their morale or their fighting spirit. The team rebounded to take the remaining two games and the final victory – breaking their second place curse. The European team had taken second place in Shanghai Major and then in ESL One Manila during the last two months. This is their first premier championship title.

EPICENTER Moscow LAN playoffs results:

Lower Bracket match: Lower Bracket finals match: Newbee vs OG

The first match of the game highlighted Amer “Miracle-” al-Barqawi’s incredibly individual talent and mechanical skills. About 25 minutes into the game, Miracle- on Invoker went to the top lane while the rest of OG were on bottom, losing a fight. By himself, he managed to take out two heroes and the top barracks. Although Newbee had the slight lead for the laning phase and early game, OG took the control and easily pushed towards victory.

The second game was a constant swing of the pendulum of back and forth leads and advantage. Chen “Hao” Zhihao’s spectre continues to be unmatched as he closes out the game with a double rampage and Newbee take the victory. Their win force the deciding third game.

The last game of the series Newbee absolutely shellacked OG after 15 minutes into the game. Although they started out relatively even, 15 minutes in Newbee just steamrolled the Europeans over and 14 minutes later claimed the victory with a 30:5 score. Hao had another outstanding and flawless match on Spectre. In a fantastic fight at the Roshan Pit, Newbee trapped OG in and took four kills. The win for Newbee advanced them into the Grand Finals.

EPICENTER Moscow LAN playoffs results Lower Bracket match:Newbee 2:1 OG. Newbee advance to the Grand Finals. OG have been eliminated.

>EPICENTER Moscow LAN playoffs: Grand finals match: Team Liquid vs Newbee

Team Liquid drafted Riki as a last pick while Newbee went with a Phantom Lancer. The game started out strong for Newbee and they held on to their lead for the most part well. However, a fight midlane about 22 minutes in would turn the tids. Team Liquid managed to execute properly and played to the strength of their lineup, running over Newbee all the way to the victory.

The second match saw Team Liquid go with the Bristle Back-Io combo and an Earth Spirit for Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka. Newbee’s lineup looked super dangerous for the late game. Zhang “Mu” Pan’s Alchemist got completely out of control and Newbee easily overpowered the Europeans.

The third game of the series Team Liquid went with a Life Stealer pick, which they didn’t seem to be very comfortable playing around. About 11 minutes into the game Newbee seized control and changed the pace, tempo and advantage to their favor. Another perfect game by Hao and fantastic game by Mu fueled another victory for the Chinese team.

The fourth game Team Liquid picked up an Alchemist and gave Jerax his signature Earth Spirit. Newbee picked up support Nyx and support Doom, in an unusual strategy. Team Liquid had the lead for the game even tho it was fluctuating in amounts, they were always able to keep a firm grasp on it. Team Liquid clinched the game and forced a deciding fifth game.

The last game of the series was just as intense and exciting as would be expected from a series that was forced to five games. Team Liquid went with a standard draft while Newbee took a venomancer carry. The Chinese strategy didn’t work as well as they expected with Team Liquid applying pressure all over the map and maintaining control. About 11 minutes into the game Team Liquid took the lead and surged towards the end to claim the victory and the championship title.

EPICENTER Moscow LAN playoffs results Grand Finals match:Team Liquid 3:2 Newbee. Team Liquid are the championship team.

EPICENTER Moscow main event

EPICENTER Moscow main event teams

• Team Secret
• Alliance
• Team Liquid
• OG
• Evil Geniuses
• Virtus.Pro
• Newbee by WildCard phase
• compLexity by WildCard phase

EPICENTER Moscow prize pool distribution

• 1st place – $250,000 – Team Liquid
• 2nd place – $100,000 – Newbee
• 3rd place – $60,000 – OG
• 4th place – $30,000 – compLexity Gaming
• 5th-6th place – $20,000 – Alliance/Evil Geniuses
• 7th-8th place -$10,000 – Team Secret/Virtus.Pro