Team Liquid have been crowned champions at this year's DotA 2 The International competition, taking home the Aegis of Champions and a prize pool of more than $10 million, transforming the players' lives over night. But it wasn't a smooth road for the champions, who had to fight back from diversity to take their place in the history of top-level esports.
Team Liquid dominated their group stage league, but lost a close-fought best of three game against Invictus Gaming in the first round of the main event. That placed it back in the losing bracket, which meant it would need to win a lot more games to make it through to the championships. But do so they did.
Next up was Team Secret, which Team Liquid beat in a conservative 2-1 victory. Next up it dominated Team Empire, followed by Virtus Pro, a tough matchup for any pro team. Going even further though, Team liquid then beat out top Chinese ranked teams LGD gaming and semi-finalist loser LGD ForeverYoung to head into the grand finals against Newbee, who had dominated all the competition thrown their way in the winners' bracket.
But it was TeamLiquid who would ultimately walk away the victors in the first 3-0 washout of The International's history.
There were a number of exciting moments in DotA 2 top-level competition throughout The International. What were some of your highlights?
Image Source: International/Valve