The M.L.G. T.K.O. American Division Championship has finished, with Evil Geniuses taking down their rivals Team Liquid in a best of five series for the grand prize of $14,000. It took three games for Fear's boys to take down Team Liquid, with a score of 3-1.
The grand final of MLG TKO took place today, with Evil Geniuses battling against Team Liquid in a best-of-five series. Having finished first during the previous round, EG entered the match with a game advantage, and despite their natural leader's absence (Mason was standing in for Fear), they were able to knock out Liquid with a score of 3-1. With their victory they earn $14,000, while Liquid will be taking home $8,500, and Cloud9 will receive $4,500. Team eHug and Revenge will also receive $1,500 for their fourth and fifth place finishes. For more information on MLG T.K.O., visit our page here.
Game 1 [Winner - EG]
This game was not played due to EG having a one game advantage.
Game 2 [Winner - EG]
Early in the game Universe was caught out by the river and killed by DeMoN's Naga Siren for the first blood. Unfortunately, Demon's following rotation was unsuccessful due to Treant Protector shielding Storm Spirit. In the meantime, Liquid's bottom trilane carry (TC on Gyrocopter) bagged another kill on the Beastmaster. EG responded with a successful Smoke Gank by the tenth minute, regaining some of their lost momentum.
Several skirmishes later, a massive teamfight broke out in the top lane. With 22 minutes on the clock, EG managed to destroy Team Liquid for a full teamwipe. Only two minutes later, there was another four-man wipe at middle lane, with Liquid only killing Treant Protector, and Dazzle narrowly escaping with his life. EG continued to move forward, pushing down the tier three by minute 25.
Ember Spirit continued to turn up the heat, applying pressure to all lanes with his Remnants. With over a 15,000 gold lead at 25 minutes and the Storm Spirit snowballing out of control, Liquid was imprisoned inside their base, and could only enter their own jungle with five people under Smoke of Deceit. PPD, playing the living Observer ward, strolled around Liquid's jungle buying time for lane pushes on the other side of the map.
33 minutes into the game, EG successfully took down an uncontested Roshan and almost immediately tracked down and assassinated the whole roster of Team Liquid. The GG call came seconds later.
Game 3 [Winner - Liquid]
Before the clock struck zero, all ten players met up in the Dire jungle amd EG grabbed first blood for Mirana. Both teams placed their aggresive trilanes at top lane, with EG having the upper hand, and almost immediately gaining another kill on Ember Spirit.
Meanwhile, Lycanthrope and Naga Siren were having a middle-lane duel and Nyx Assassin sat in the solo lane for Team Liquid against Troll Warlord. However, things went from bad to worse for Liquid as Universe scored a solo kill against BuLba, while the top trilane was getting wiped out. A rotation by Nyx Assassin resulted in a kill against Lycan. Eight minutes in, Mirana had Phase Boots, Hand of Midas, with Liquid completely giving up on their tower and trilane. EG began to completely demolish towers using the Howl plus Battle Trance combo, with Liquid's only advantage being the Song of the Siren that managed to get them to get kills on supports before retreating.
However, Liquid managed to regain their lost momentum via several successful pick-offs and a 18-minute Radiance by Qojqva. Not willing to give their enemies more space, EG responded by destroying all of Liquid's outer towers by minute 23. With Liquid getting close to staging a comeback with the overfarmed Naga Siren, EG had to resort to intense five-man pushes, trading heroes for barracks. 37 minutes into the game, a massive teamfight in Liquid's jungle turned into genocide for EG, who decided to call the GG.
Game 4 [Winner - EG]
Game three got off to a great start for Liquid, with a fight in the Radiant jungle that saw three EG heroes going down. Confronted with an early game disadvantage, EG was forced to adapt their strategy and place Witch Doctor in a solo offlane and Lycan in the jungle. A kill on the Nyx Assassin at top lane got EG on the board.
Five minutes into the game, Liquid already had a 3,000 gold lead. Pressing their advantage, they extended their lead by finding picks all over the map while Qojqva's Naga Siren farmed a quick Sacred Relic. However, EG showed signs of life and managed to gain three kills in a gank-gone-wrong for Liquid by the top lane. Soon after, EG again found more kills near the mid tier-one tower.
With Naga completing the Radiance, Liquid began to play the split push game. Both teams traded evenly for a large portion of the midgame, but EG was racing against the clock due to Naga Siren's overwhelmingly high farm speed.
All of a sudden, with 27 minute on the clock, EG barreled down middle lane, ignoring Naga's split-pushing pressure. It became a game of chicken and TL was forced to fall back and defend. In the end, Evil Geniuses lost two heroes, but they forced a buyback from the Naga Siren and dealt critical damage on the barracks, allowing them to finish them off soon after.
Roughly ten minutes later, Naga used Song of the Siren to steal the Aegis from EG, but was thwarted by Zai's sneaky Witch Doctor, who grabbed Aegis before Naga could steal it. Without a way to escape, Naga and two other TL heroes went down. With Naga lacking the ability to buyback, it was all over for Team Liquid as EG marched inside the base to finish the job.
