ESL One Manila Grand Finals: Wings Gaming fly high as champions

Wings Gaming are the ESL One Manila champions. The Chinese team made a clean sweep over Team Liquid, 3:0, in the ESL One Manila Grand Finals. After qualifying for the event, Wings will walk away with their first championship title as a team and the $100,000 first place prize. Team Liquid will take another runner-up place and the $50,000 prize.

WHAT A PERFORMANCE! #WingsGaming go from the qualifier to Grand Final Champions of #ESLOne Manila! GGWP https://t.co/4yV3LbP11g

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) April 24, 2016

In the heat of the Philippines, the teams were on fire and the plays were hot. ESL One Manila gave fans an incredible showing with several upsets, new roster debuts and spectacular pocket strategies put to the test.

Wings Gaming came into the event as the qualifying team for China. They had previously flown under the radar throughout the year. They started out the event strong with compelling performances and displays of talent, cohesion and brilliance.

Team Liquid had been undefeated going into the Grand Finals but dropped the first two matches against the Chinese rising stars immediately. They tried to put up a fight, but were unable to stage a comeback and ended up dropping the third game, as well. The European squad had taken the runner-up spot at Shanghai Major and have taken it once again in the ESL One Manila Grand Finals.

Wings Gaming soared above the competition earlier today in the ESL One Manila semifinals, eliminating Fnatic, 2:1, and advancing to the Grand Finals.

Without dropping a single match in the entire event, Team Liquid eliminated Team Empire, 2:0, to advanced into the ESL One Manila Grand Finals.

ESL One Manila Grand Finals

Wings Gaming vs. Team Liquid

Team Liquid at ESL One Manila

Team Wings picked up a KOTL for the draft in the first game and Team Liquid went back to a Lone Druid mid for Adrian “FATA-“ Trinks. Wings opened the game with the first blood, courier snipe and a great start for Zhang “bian” Ruida on Batrider. Wings dominated the first game all the way to their first win of the series.

They baited @teamliquidpro into commiting on that one! #ESLOne
https://t.co/JokowaEcDi

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) April 24, 2016

The second game gave Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka his signature Earthshaker and Zhou “bLink” Yang his Invoker. Wings were setting the pace of the game, and Team Liquid tried to match their game but usually at high costs. Wings continued to be exceptional in their positioning and communication, finding openings, capitalizing well on mistakes and taking advantage of key moments. Although Team Liquid did their best to catch up, they were unable to turn the tides and take a win.

Goldmine of amazing plays! #WingsGaming vs @teamLiquidpro game 2 is going out of control! #ESLOne
https://t.co/tJy2SW3pKL

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) April 24, 2016

Wings started the third game with a two-game advantage. Taking an Alchemist in the draft, they went ahead with confidence. bLink was so rich he was able to “gift” items to his teammates. Things were incredibly even for the two teams for most of the game, until Alchemist came online with his items.

#Wings Alchemist just mauling everyone without regard to humanity nor structures! #ESLOne
https://t.co/02PjCDmJAI

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) April 24, 2016

ESL One Manila Grand Finals: Wings Gaming 3:0 Team Liquid. Wings Gaming are the ESL One Manila champions.

ESL One Manila playoffs format

• The group stage was played in a classic GSL format.
• The eight participating teams were split up into two groups of four.

  In each group, the teams played best-of-three matches, as shown below:

  Match one: Team A vs. Team B
  Match two: Team C vs. Team D
  Winners’ match (WM): Winner of match one vs. winner of match two – winner advances to semifinals
  Elimination match (EM): Loser of match one vs. loser of match two – loser drops out
  Decider match: Loser of WM vs. winner of EM – winner advances to semifinals and loser drops out

• Four teams – Team Secret, compLexity Gaming, EHOME, and Mineski, were eliminated in the group stage.
• Four teams – Fnatic, Wings Gaming, Team Empire, and Team Liquid – have advanced into the playoffs.
• During the playoffs, the four remaining teams played a single-elimination bracket.
• The Grand Finals were best-of-five series, with no winners’ advantage.

ESL One Manila playoffs prize pool

The base prize pool for this tournament is $250,000.

• 1st place – $100,000 – Wings Gaming
• 2nd place – $50,000 – Team Liquid
• 3rd-4th place – $25,000 – Fnatic and Team Empire