An ascendant Team Liquid dominated Natus Vincere (Na’Vi), 3-1, in the grand finals of ESL One Germany 2020 Online to take their first championship of the season.
Liquid’s run to the championship was nothing short of impressive, as they came back from being dropped to the Lower Bracket in the first round of the playoffs to bag the trophy. In their Lower Bracket run, Liquid defeated Team Nigma, Vikin.gg, Mudgolems, and, most impressively, the nigh-unbeatable Team Secret.
With their win, Liquid take home the grand prize of US$150,000 and cement themselves among the top teams in Europe. Team captain Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi also won the tournament MVP award, taking home a brand-new Mercedes Benz car for his troubles.
Here’s a breakdown of the grand finals:
Liquid got off to a blazing start in the finals behind a strong midgame tri-core of Faceless Void for Michael “miCKe” Vu, Viper for Maximilian “qojqva” Bröcker, and Slardar for Samuel “Boxi” Svahn.
MiCKe and Boxi both notched a game-high 11 kills, against just one death apiece, as Liquid easily won game one in just 30 minutes and with a lopsided 31-5 kill score.
Liquid dominated again in game two, this time behind a strong teamfight lineup with miCKe on Sven, qojqva on Storm Spirit, Boxi on an offlane Tusk, and Tommy “Taiga” Le on Enigma.
Qojqva led the way with 11 kills against just one death, with miCKe pitching in with a clean 10/0/11 KDA, as they took a commanding 2-0 series lead in another 30-minute affair.
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Na’Vi turned things around in game three, as they built up to a huge lead by the midgame behind Alik “V-Tune” Vorobey’s Lifestealer and Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko’s mid Nature’s Prophet.
Liquid formed a formidable defense behind miCKe’s Spectre, however, forcing Na’Vi to continually throw their bodies at them to slowly chip away at their base. Despite Liquid’s best efforts to defend, Na’Vi was able to secure Mega Creeps at the 41-minute mark to eventually force the GG call from Liquid after a 45-minute slugfest.
V-Tune led the way with a 14/3/11 KDA, with Iceberg managing to get 11 kills despite 10 deaths. MiCKe also notched 11 kills of his own despite his team’s loss.
Na’Vi once again enjoyed a midgame lead in game four thanks to V-Tune’s Antimage, who scored a Triple Kill in a huge fight at the 22-minute mark. However, V-Tune threw away his life and his team’s advantage just two minutes later, allowing Liquid to turn the game around.
Liquid continued to hunt for V-Tune in the ensuing fights with their highly-mobile, burst-heavy tri-core of Juggernaut for miCKe, Storm Spirit for qojqva, and Legion Commander for Boxi.
With their sole carry neutralized, Na’Vi was unable to stop Liquid from taking the game and the series after 34 minutes. MiCKe led the way for his team with a 11/1/11 KDA in the championship clincher.
