Team Liquid has been going through rough water, as they went from being the dominating team in Europe (EU), to not qualifying for the Road to Blizzcon. Whilst the worlds top teams battled it out at Blizzcon, it seems that Team Liquid has gone through some vital roster changes. Not one, not two, but three of their players were removed. In their place, Team Liquid signs Lowell, Cris, and Gerdamherd.
The Fragbite Masters had featured some of the top teams in Europe, including the world number two Dignitas. However, it seems that Dignitas had exhausted themselves at Blizzcon as they couldn't make it to the finals here. Select members from Na'Vi had played in Dignitas as 'stand-ins' however Na'Vi as a team had dropped out.
The finals between Team Liquid and Fnatic was a very hard fought match. It was a best of five and ended as a 3-2, with Liquid as the victors. Fnatic had shown dominance over Liquid in the first two matches and it seemed that Fnatic would win the finals. But Team Liquid worked with blood, sweat and tears as they managed to win three games in a row to seal in their victory. Thus making them the first champions of the Fragbite Masters.
The games were truly impressive as we got to see Team Liquids sheer determination to win. Overall, it was the little things that made big differences in the game, such as rotations, engagements and the shotcalling.
Cris had played very well, particularly with Falstad and Sylvanas. One great instance was his ability to escape what seemed like an inevitable death from a gank by using Falstads trait to fly away. With Sylvanas, there were many instances of him pushing at the right timings and gaining experience for the team. VortiX and LucifroN were no different. They are, after all, very seasoned players in e-sports. Their ability to bring the team together despite the pressure they were under was essential to their victory. For Lowell, the ending was quite poetic, as he beat his former team despite him always wanting to beat Liquid when he was in Fnatic. Gerdamherd was an excellent healer, he definitely has some high expectations due to the void left by Granpkt, but he seems to be coping very well.
In terms of team composition, nothing was really out of the ordinary apart from Liquids obvious tendency to pick ETC. Out of the five games, Team Liquid chose ETC three times. Even Fnatic picked him up for one of their games. So it seems that ETC was a valuable asset for these matches. Another interesting thing to point out was Lowell playing an offensive Kharazim. Furthermore, it was successfully played as Kharazim effectively became a melee assassin. Lastly, three of the five games had Brightwing as a support. It seems Brightwing is getting picked up more and more often.
Kudos to Team Liquid for their victory and applause to Fnatic for putting up a tough fight!
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