Team Liquid reverse-sweeps DotaPit finals for Dota Minor victory

At this weekend’s DotaPit Valve Minor, Team Liquid continued their 2017 tournament dominance—this time, by the skin of their teeth. After falling the first two matches of the best-of-five, the European team won three games straight against Chinese squad Vici Gaming to earn their victory. This weekend brings them their second Pro Circuit championship, with players winning 150 Qualifier Points and an unknown share of $300,000 USD.

When the two teams first met in the event, Team Liquid had a much cleaner affair, taking down VG 2-0. This upper bracket final sent VG down to the lower bracket, where they instantly went into the lower bracket finals. They proved themselves against regional opponents Newbee, who earned third place as a result, and encountered Liquid once again the grand finals.

Liquid started off the series looking much weaker than their usual fare, with VG taking on much stronger drafts to pull ahead 2-0. However, Liquid mixed up their picks, ending off with 23 heroes chosen out of 25 possible picks, and eventually proved to be too much for VG in this test of endurance and ingenuity.

Many other teams had to suffer through the turmoil of a brutal lower bracket—most of which consisted of best-of-one matches. A mild took place in the first day of eliminations, when SG e-sports, the South American team, took down Korean/American Immortals.

Meanwhile, fresh from a Major victory at ESL One Hamburg, Virtus Pro fell in their second round of Semifinals, later to be eliminated by Newbee in the best-of-one round. Still, they finished in fourth place the team takes home 5 Qualifying Points per player.

The Qualifying Point distributions for this event are as follows, per the Pro Circuit standards:

1. Team Liquid — 150 Points/player
2. Vici Gaming — 90 Points/player
3. Newbee — 15 Points/Player
4. Virtus Pro — 5 Points/Player