The Bears Can't Be Put Down
Virtus Pro had a particularly troublesome start to the tournament, but it does not seem to have slowed them down at all as they have refused to die in the Lower Bracket. Their series against Newbee showed off some of the fast, aggressive play we all know and love.
Game One was all VP. While both teams drew the laning phase, VP was able to build a lead because of Vladimir 'No[o]ne' Minenko's spacemaking on his Tidehunter. From there, it was all Roman 'RAMZEs' Kushnarev, whose Ursa was a constantly wreaking havoc on Newbee and finished with a 12-1-6 KDA. The match ended at 32 minutes.
In Game Two Newbee refound their footing. They built a 7k new worth advantage by 20 minutes, but after a lost team fight, VP looked to pull the game back in their favour. Ramzes was farming very well on his Terrorblade, but strong performances by Song 'Sccc' Chun on his 13-3-8 Ursa and Xu 'Moogy' Han on 11-2-8 Phantom Assassin helped to stabilize Newbee, retake the lead, and eventually claim victory.
Unfortunately for Newbee, however, Game Three was not much of a contest. Though both teams were even through 20 minutes, a dominating 11-1-7 performance by Vladimir 'No[o]ne' Minenko on Outworld Devourer saw VP hold Newbee to only 10 kills throughout the entire game. After his hero really came online VP were able to place a lot of pressure on Newbee and build a fast, unbeatable lead. The game and the series ended at 37 minutes in favour of the Bears.
Great turn-around fight! #MDLMacau #GOGOVP pic.twitter.com/715cHPb7sC
— Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) February 23, 2019
VP will play EG tomorrow in the Lower Bracket Finals.
Miracle has a Flawless Series Against EG
The highly anticipated Winner's Finals clash between Team Liquid and EG was less of a series and more a showcase of why Amer 'Miracle-' Al-Barkawi is a total beast.
Game One saw both sides stay relatively quiet for 15 minutes, but soon after Team Liquid picked up the tempo and EG simply could not adapt. A flurry of kills by Liquid completely crippled EG for the remainder of the game. Miracle showed no mercy to his opponents, going 15-0-13 on Sven, while Lasse 'Matumbaman' Urpalainen also put in a strong showing on his 11-3-9 Ursa. EG was held to only 9 kills all game and they conceded at 32 minutes.
In Game Two Team Liquid was even more dominant than in the first. They drafted the lategame Anti-Mage for Miracle, but proceeded to control the map and build a lead anyway thanks to a strong all around team dynamic that kept Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev from securing even a single kill on his Phantom Assassin. When Miracle finally did come online EG had no hope. He went 13-0-5 in the match and brutalized EG, who were hesitant to give up, but finally did at 28 minutes.
"Finish them all off @Liquid_Miracle, if they don't wanna call GG you just chase 'em down baby!"
— Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) February 23, 2019
We have punched our ticket to the Grand Final of MDL Macau! #LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/P1POxmn9uz
Team Liquid now await in the Grand Finals for the winner of the VP/EG Lower Bracket Finals.
A Cold Day in Macau
While there were five Chinese sides to start the tournament, not a single one of them as able to make it through to the final three.
Earlier in the day Royal Never Give Up were eliminated by Newbee in a 2-1 series loss thanks in large part to good play by Moogy and Wen 'Wizard' Lipeng; Newbee were subsequnetly eliminated by Virtus Pro. The Bears specifically seem to be getting their traction again despite a shaky start to the tournament, as they were also able to eliminate Vici Gaming 2-1 in an earlier series en route to playing and beating Newbee.
We lost our elimination game against @virtuspro. GGWP! We will come back stronger💪💪💪 https://t.co/MClOqMch3w
— Newbee (@newbeecn) February 23, 2019
Does Evil Geniuses or Virtus Pro have what it takes to defeat Team Liquid in the Grand Finals?
Photo Credit - ESL - Adela Sznajder
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