Team Liquid takes first Valve Minor at Starladder i-League Season 3

Team Liquid concluded their post-championship break by taking the top prize at the StarLadder i-League Invitational this weekend.

The European Champions of The International 7 showed no signs of losing power at the first-ever Pro Circuit Minor, where they beat Southeast Asia’s Mineski 3-1 in the grand finals. Their victory rewarded them with $135,000 USD and 150 of Valve’s Pro Circuit Qualifying Points per player.

As the co-finalists, Mineski didn’t go down without a fight. They took the first game and sailed easily into the second game, which remained close for much of the duration. However, Team Liquid’s drafts became too much for the Southeast Asian power squad in their three winning matches, and the championship team pulled ahead.

Each team’s battle through the group stages showed that neither Liquid nor Mineski was a force to be reckoned with. Of course, Team Liquid are The International 7’s champions, and they are playing on the same patch as the event, making their presence that much more intimidating.

Meanwhile, Mineski, CompLexity and others played against regional expectations.

Most notably, America’s CompLexity, in their group stages, were able to defeat TI7 Grand Finalists Newbee from China with a clean 2-0. Mineski only lost in group stages to Team Liquid; they 2-0’d SG e-Sports and Vici Gaming on their way up. These two teams met in the semifinals, with Mineski taking the series 2-1.

Brazil’s SG e-Sports also proved their worth by taking down China’s Vici Gaming 2-0 in their group. Still, the only others in their group were both finalists, Liquid and Mineski, which left SG in the dust at the end of the stages.

The four teams that made it into the playoffs were given the first rewards of the Pro Circuit: Qualifying Points for TI8, respective of their finishing position, and a piece of a $300,000 prize pool. The teams won QPs for each player as follows:

1. Team Liquid — 150 Points/player
2. Mineski — 90 Points/player
3. CompLexity/Team Secret* — 30 Points/Player

(*The teams shared an equal third-place position at the event, thus they receive the same number of points.)