posted by Malystryx.GDS,
Another glorious victory over Team Liquid crowns them Major champions.


EPICENTER turned the stage gold for the Grand Finals of the EPICENTER XL Major




The Grand Finals was the third encounter between Team Liquid and PSG.LGD at the EPICENTER XL, with the score one a piece before the bo5 showdown. The last meeting between the two was only last night, and LGD pulled out a world class performance to win 2-0 to qualify for the Grand Finals. The question was whether Team Liquid would have an answer.

The truth was that they did, but they did not close the games fast enough, and ultimately were responsible for their own demise. For the second day in a row PSG.LGD came out on top, and deservingly so.

Final Standings


1. PSG.LGD
2. Team Liquid
3. Winstrike
4. Virtus.pro
5-6. OG
5-6. Mineski
7-8. paiN Gaming*
7-8. Team Secret

Ame's Morphling turned Game 1 by using Morph to gain Gyro's Flak Cannon


Ame's Morph into Gyro turns game 1


It was a thunderous start to the Grand Finals with over 25 kills in the first 15 minutes. With plenty of blood and both teams not giving away too much of a lead, the crowd inside the Ice Palace quickly forgot about the lack of a CIS team in the Grand Finals.



As the game progressed, LGD gave Liquid enough openings to take a mid rax, but once Ame's Morphling came online it was trouble. Especially after Ame morphed into Gyrocopter to get flak cannon and used it to wipe out Team Liquid.

From then on, LGD were in control and snowballed back to close out the first game and take a 1-0 lead. However, as impressive as the Morphling was, Kuroky's cheeky kill on LGD's carry got a fair few laughs.



Have mercy! Twenty minute Rampage for Miracle "against all odds"



The draft for game 1 ended with an Invoker pick for Miracle. That is great against Morphling and can buff the damage of Matumbaman's Drow Ranger. It was an unusual draft for Liquid, especially with a core Bane for Mind_Control which appeared to be aimed at reducing the damage output of LGD's Windranger.

Once the game got underway Matumbaman's Drow Ranger fell behind in networth. It left too much on Miracle's shoulders, especially with Mind_Control's Bane keeping up on networth but suffering several deaths.

By 15 minutes it looked like the game was slipping away for Team Liquid. Even getting Roshan after a favourable fight for them ended with LGD coming to hunt them down. However, a moment of sublime skill and teamwork led to the fight that would turn the game on its head. At the center of it all was Miracle's Invoker who after killing 4 of LGD, saw his team-mates block Ame's Morphling to give Miracle the fifth and final kill for a TWENTY minute Rampage.



The team wipe by Miracle had clearly gotten to LGD. They decided to go all in on killing Miracle in the bot lane just minutes later, much to the dismay of AdmiralBulldog. The TI3 winner said it was tunnel-vision by the Chinese team, and they paid the price.

Miracle survived and LGD lost three. LGD's lead now officially had biten the dust and Liquid ran with the momentum to create an adrenaline filled finale to game 2 to draw level.



"That was a throw, they should not have lost that game like that," said AdmiralBulldog. "The bottom fight where they go on the Invoker ignoring everyone else, you can't do that."



In the third game Team Liquid were reminded the hard way the dangers of pushing rax late game without buybacks. It looked like a fait accompli that Liquid were going to win. Ame's Phantom Lancer had a dieback and Liquid were left with 100 seconds to take out mid rax and then go for a second.

With Phantom Lancer just about to respawn it seemed like it was the moment to withdraw, but Liquid did not. Instead they tried to see if they can kill a range rax, but they got caught and destroyed.

Phantom Lancer respawned and cleaned Liquid out. With no buyback on Miracle's Invoker or Matumbaman's Lifestealer, LGD went straight for Liquid's base and forced a "GG". Game 3 was Liquid's to win, but instead they fell behind 2-1 in the bo5 Grand Finals.

The fourth game would also slip through their fingers as Slark was left unchecked. No matter how well Miracle's Kunkka had done early on, no matter how great calls Mind_Control made on Axe, Liquid could not stop Slark, and as the game dragged on their hopes of victory grew slimmer and slimmer. Another phenomenal game by Ame, who has been so consistently good for the Chinese team throughout the Major. PSG.LGD are the EPICENTER XL Major champions!






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