Team Liquid's TI7 run won the hearts of fans around the world. Since then, four out of five players have remained together through thick and thin.
TI7 was held at the Key Arena in Seattle and would be the last iteration of The International championships to be held there. The prize pool for the tournament, thanks to the TI7 Battle Pass, had gone up to nearly $24.8 million from $20.8 million from the previous year. The winners of TI7 were destined to get the same percentage as the winners of TI6 – 44%, which came out to be a little over $10.8 million.
After dropping to the lower bracket and going through a number of tough series, Team Liquid brought on their best game in the grand finals against Newbee, whom they beat 3-0 to take the title of The International 2017.
What was so special about this run of Team Liquid?
It was the first time in the history of The International that a team came back from the second round of the lower bracket and won the whole thing. Before this, all the teams that have won have been a part of the upper bracket finals. This is also the first time that a team has won with a clean sweep, in not just a TI grand final, but a Valve grand final.
Team Liquid became the first team to win an International with a roster consisting of five different nationalities (six including their coach).
But perhaps more importantly, at least to one particular person, TI7 was where one of Dota 2’s longest-serving and most well-recognized players finally got his name immortalized.
Kuro 'Kuroky' Salehi Takhasomi took home the Aegis.
Team LiquidIn the post-TI5 shuffle, KuroKy was left to create an entirely new team with Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen, Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka, Adrian “FATA-” Trinks, and Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Borislavov that he called 5 Jungz. A strong start to the new season had caught the attention of Team Liquid who picked them up less than 2 months later. TI6 wasn't much to brag about for KuroKy and company, taking a 7-8th place finish.
A few roster and strategy tweaks later, Team Liquid made one final change in January 2017 to their roster, bringing on board Maroun 'GH' Merhej to replace Sam 'BuLba' Sosale.
The change was exactly what the lineup needed to become a championship team, turning everything they touched into gold. Team Liquid quickly became one of the top household names in Dota 2. Claiming title after title, the team went into TI7 on fire and emerged holding the Aegis of Champions.
Team Liquid 2017 The International Championship Roster:
Lasse “Matumbaman” Urpalainen
Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi
Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Borislavov Ivanov
Maroun “GH” Merhej
Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi
The team stuck together after TI7 through The International 2018 and even a bit beyond. In 2019, Team Liquid made a shocking move just days before EPICENTER Major when they parted ways with longtime core player MATUMBAMAN, replacing him with Aliwi “w33” Omar.
A few weeks after TI9 where Team Liquid took second place, narrowly missing out on being the team to make history as two-time TI champions, the organization and Dota 2 players parted ways so that the players could create their own organization for the next season (and ever since) — Nigma esports.
So where are these historic players now?
Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen
In the moments before the last Major of the 2018-2019 DPC season, the famed European team had decided to part ways with longtime core player MATUMBAMAN. He was left to become a free agent at the end of a season where he had worked as part of the team to claim a spot at The International 9.
What certainly appeared to be a devastating turn of events for the Finn, was salvaged as Lasse gained a chance with Chaos E.C to exact his revenge at TI9 — though the end result was a disappointing 17-18th place finish.
Matumbaman joined Team Secret in late 2019 and was one of the key factors in Secret’s stellar 2020 online run that brought them 7 tournament trophies won in a row, all secured with clean 3-0 grand finals sweeps. With him in the carry position, Team Secret dominated the European region during the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit and placed third at The International 10.
In the post-TI10 shuffle, Lasse parted ways with Secret and headed back over to Team Liquid where he would stay for his final year before retiring in 2022.
Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi
Miracle has long been one of the most popular figures in Dota 2 because of his flashy plays and great mechanical skills. In 2016, he became the first player in Dota 2 history to achieve a matchmaking rating of over 9000 and then achieved 10,000 MMR in June 2020.
Since The International 2017, Miracle has remained a part of the roster that turned into Nigma in 2019. He has been a part of Nigma’s quest to make it to The International since the at no avail.
At the start of the 2022-2023 season, the team announced that he would be taking a break to address health issues.
With Nigma missing TI the last few years, fans were still able to catch him in action during the DPC and other events through the years. Other times he could be found standing in for various teams in a pinch.
It has been a while since Miracle has played the mid-role. In the last few iterations of Nigma Galaxy, Miracle has been playing the safe lane carry. But even when he has played from the mid lane, more often than not, Miracle has been the position 1 hero.
Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Borislavov
MinD_ContRoL's professional career started out nearly a decade ago with Vast Cast, in February 2014.
Over the next year he played mostly as a mercenary for other teams until 2015 when he became part of 5Jungz turned Team Liquid turned Nigma.
Despite Nigma's struggle to attain success, Ivan has remained a steadfast part of the lineup and organization.
Maroun 'GH' Merhej
Maroun also started his journey and Dota career in 2014. Although known for his solo mid-play in pubs, he plays support during professional games.
In 2017, his addition to Team Liquid vastly improved their results, culminating in their TI7 win. Committed to the bone, GH has only played for Team Liquid turned Nigma since then.
A loveable and soft-spoken figure on camera, he maintains a low profile overall.
Kuro 'Kuroky' Salehi Takhasomi
One of the greatest captains and legendary players in the Dota 2 world, KuroKy started his career playing DotA 1 and made his first appearance in Dota 2 at The International 1, playing for GosuGamers.net. His first run was unsuccessful as his team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round of the Lower Brackets.
From TI1-TI9 had managed to secure himself a place at each iteration of The International. In 2019 he was one of the last two players who with such an astounding achievement —Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov being the other.
But that was the last time for Kuroky.
Since forming Nigma in late 2019, Kuroky has failed to step foot on The International stage again.
