With a dominant 3-1 victory over Evil Geniuses (EG) in the grand finals of MDL Macau 2019, Team Liquid takes home the US$135,000 grand prize and their second LAN tournament trophy this season.
The International 2017 (TI7) champions were unstoppable throughout the tournament, as they topped the group stage, 5-2, and swept all their opponents — including EG in the Upper Bracket Finals — on their way to the final series.
After EG stopped a surging Virtus Pro in the Lower Bracket Finals to force a rematch for the championship — all with Quinn “CC&C” Callahan in place of Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan, who could not attend because of visa issues — it seemed as if Liquid would have their work cut out for them.
Their superstar midlaner, Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi, thought otherwise, as he led Liquid to easy victories in the first two games without logging a single death. That was part of an unreal streak of four games without a single death — all against EG.
The North American powerhouse finally caught a break in Game 3, where they ran off with an early 9-0 kill advantage against a Drow-centric lineup to notch a win after 27 minutes.
Looking to tie up the series, EG ran with a high damage core duo of Ember Spirit for CC&C and Phantom Assassin for Artour “Arteezy” Babaev. However, Liquid had other plans, as they took the lead early and never lifted a foot off the gas pedal. With Miracle- on Troll Warlord even going on a Godlike streak, EG were eventually forced to concede in just under 29 minutes.
For his stellar play throughout the event, Miracle- took home the Tournament MVP award.
Even if this year’s MDL Macau does not help Liquid in securing a direct invite to TI9, as the event did not award any Dota Pro Circuit points, it was still a statement win for them. After all, Liquid still went up against the likes of EG and Virtus Pro, who are both still considered contenders.
