The world championship of the "Defense of the Ancients 2," Valve's massive battle arena video game, recently concluded with European group Team Liquid being crowned as champions. The team won The International 7's (TI7) coveted Aegis trophy and over $10.8 million after beating the Chinese competitor Newbee in the finals.
Team Liquid won the final in a dominant 3–0 set in the best of five series. This marks the first time in the history of The International that a team swept an opponent in a final series.
Both teams showed strong performances starting from the beginning of the tournament, with each group nabbing slots in the top four of the upper bracket.
However, in the main event, the European team lost their first matchup against iG, dropping them early into the lower bracket. Following that loss, the team was forced to play and faced elimination for the entire week.
However, Team Liquid made their way through the lower bracket, winning five straight matchups to claw their way into title contention.
In the upper bracket, Newbee continued its strong performance, winning every matchup to get to the final. This put them on the verge of TI history, as no organization has ever claimed two TI titles in the past six renditions since its conception.
Captained by Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi from Germany, who is a seven-time The International competitor, the team rode the momentum to deliver the unexpected sweep. Ivan ""MinD_ContRoL" Borislavov made a number of critical plays early in game one to give his team an early advantage, resulting in a tap out for the Chinese team 27 minutes into the game.
All three games featured solid performances from the entire team, including carry player Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen from Finland, midlaner Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi from Jordan, and support player Maroun "GH" Merhej of Lebanon.
Despite the loss, Newbee took home nearly $4 million as the tournament's second placer.
