Team Liquid take the spoils at The International 7
Last Updated: 21/08/17 4:42pm
For the uninitiated, The International is the pinnacle of the DOTA 2 calendar - DOTA being a 5v5 team game where the goal is to destroy the opposition's base - and it holds the grandest cash prize in all of esports.
This past weekend, the European-based Team Liquid fought their way out of a 'losers' bracket and battled past two leading Chinese teams to win TI7. The reward for their efforts? An amazing $10.9m (£8.46m), the biggest pay day in esports history and watched by an audience of over 4.7m online viewers.
As the final three squared off, Liquid first had to get past LFY and with the first game in the series lasting almost one hour, the Chinese team took victory giving the Europeans all the work to do. They were up to the task and took the second and deciding game giving to earn a 2-1 win, setting up an exciting final against Newbee.
In stark contrast to the 58-minute slog in game one against LFY, Liquid smashed Newbee in half that time to claim the opener.
With Seattle's Key Arena ringing to chants for both teams, game two got started well for Newbee as they comfortably led in kills, but once again it was Liquid who bought down the hammer and took game two thanks to Miracle's seriously well farmed Alchemist.
From there, looking like a team already beaten, Newbee went on to lose the third round handing Liquid victory and the Aegis Trophy along with the enormous cheque that came with it.
To put their almost £8.46m win into context, the World Series of Poker main prize in 2017 was £6.33m and winning Wimbledon would net you £2.2m.
And it's not just those in the top spot who enjoy one heck of a pay off - all that hard work throughout the season also pays dividends down the rankings. The 2nd placed team, Newbee, walked away with $3.9m and 3rd place LFY.Forever Young received $2.6m.
With more and more brands opening their eyes to the world of esports and it's huge audiences, a win at The International, as with traditional sports, could pave the way to some heady times ahead for Team Liquid.
