Photo courtesy of ESL
Newbee are the champions of ESL One Genting 2018 after a thrilling five game series to overthrow Team Liquid 3:2.
Newbee and Team Liquid locked horns for some of the most exciting and best caliber Dota games of the event. Both teams performed in top form, showing they were a notch above most of their peers and not only worthy of their TI7 placements, but certainly contenders for the championship title at TI8 as well.
Game One
Team Liquid picked up a Treant Protector, which was expected to give Newbee a hard time. However, the Chinese titans adjusted well and exuded tremendous confidence in the opening game. Baiting their opponents into a spectacular team fight, into a team wipe Newbee started to accelerate their lead. It was further followed by another team wipe at the roshan pit after an impressive display of patience and persistance. Perfectly executed plays, setups and coordination were the keys to Newbee's first game success.
Game Two
Newbee picked up a Zeus last pick following Team Liquid's ElderTitan but it would be Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi 's Terrorblade that would end up as the MVP hero of the matchup. Newbee were unable to contain Miracle, who would dive without care or fear and was too aggressive for them to hold back. Team Liquid's victory tied up the series going into the third match.
Game Three
Team Liquid swiped Newbee's go-to hero, Naga Siren, and secured an Invoker for Miracle- looking poised for a sure win. The third match started as a slugfest with both team trading blows for the first 13 minutes or so as the game was stuck at dead even. Newbee started to steup up their game and even under Miracle's classic Invoker plays, Newbee remained cool and collected. The Chinese stars made sure to shut down the Invoker early on and at key moments through the game, making a fairly easy victory to gain the series advantage.
Game Four
Team Liquid took the first blood in midlane and continued to to set the pace and tone for the rest of the game. With Liquid shutting down the Queen of Pain in mid, Newbee struggled to find their footing. Getting kills on the back of retreats to get favorable teamfights Newbee hoped to bring the team back into the game, but it was never enough. With controlled, measured aggression from Team Liquid, Newbee was not able to respond adequately enough to do much for themselves even as Team Liquid had a minor slip towards the end with a mild case of overextension. Team Liquid then took another victory and pushed the grand finals to a full five game series.
Game Five
Newbee led off with their Naga Siren as it essentially came down to a best-of-one, do-or-die series. When the draft was done, Newbee would have to dominate in order for them to be able to break highground with their lineup. Despite Team Liquid's best efforts, Newbee put up a formidable wall and blocked the Europeans from gaining any advantage or momentum. About 23 minutes in, Team Liquid finally broke through with a huge turnaround fight and space created for Tinker. Brilliant fights and perfect lockdowns by Newbee followed by a team wipe at the Roshan Pit 33 minutes in gave Newbee serious momentum to then charge forward into the European base.
ESL One Genting Prizpool and DCP distribution:
1st place: $160,000 + 200 DCP Newbee
2nd place: $80,000 + 120 DCP Team Liquid
3rd/4th place: $40,000 + 40 DCP Team Secret/ Evil Geniuses
5th/6th place: $20,000 Vici Gaming/ Virtus.pro
7th/8th place: $8,000 VGJ. Thunder/ Natus Vincere
9th-12th place: $4,000 compLexity Gaming/ Fnatic/ TNC Pro Team/ Mineski
13th-16th place: $2,000 Planet Dog/ SG e-sports/ PENTA Sports/ LGD Forever Young
