Virtus.pro takes the second place of the Supermajor
A final worthy of The International.
The grand final of the Supermajor was played in a best-of-5 format. Virtus.pro scored a FB of the first game. Both teams showed back-and-forth battle in the early game. Liquid were able to demolish all of our team's T1 turrets. The first Roshan was claimed by Team Liquid. The Europeans cornered VP inside their base, forcing them to turtle. Liquid claimed the second Roshan and took the midlane barracks. Virtus.pro managed to win a teamfight thanks to the clever usage of Smoke and closed the distance gold-wise. The third Roshan, however, was also claimed by Team Liquid. VP couldn't hold back their opponents any longer and were defeated.
The second game was opened up with a kill in Liquid's favor. Though, Virtus.pro were the ones in the lead in the early game. The majority of the fights ended in favor of CIS representatives. The first Roshan was slain by VP. In a bottom-lane teamfight, the European team were teamwiped without any retaliation. After losing a series of fights in a row, Team Liquid decided to concede.
The third game was an equal battle for both teams. Team Liquid then claimed a gold advantage. The Europeans bolstered their lead after winning a couple of fights, which allowed them to completely demolish VP's lane on the 19th minute. Despite our team's best efforts and Naga Siren's mastery, the first Roshan ended up under Liquid's belt. Virtus.pro's mistake around 28-minute mark allowed Team Liquid to completely seize the lead and claim the victory.
The first kill of the fourth game was scored by VP. The early phase of the game was under complete control of the CIS team. After winning a series of fights VP claimed the first Roshan. Team Liquid were getting completely shut down in teamfights, so they decided to take the match to the game number five.
The deciding game's early game started off with a tense positional warfare. No team claimed a substantial lead during the early game. Virtus.pro grabbed a lead after a back-and-forth series of events around the 10th minute. However, after Team Liquid claimed the first Roshan by sending four VP's heroes respawning, VP were limited to their half of the map only. The teams turned to a cautious gameplay once more. Around the 26th minute, Team Liquid out-edged VP in a teamfight and destroyed a T3 on the bot-lane, but couldn't destroy the barracks in time. Virtus.pro lost the second Roshan and were subsequently defeated in a massive teamfight on their Highground.