Frankfurt and Manila Major winners OG picked up their third title after winning the Boston Major over the weekend. Despite this triumph, it was largely an underdog story for Greek team Ad Finem, who fought their way to the finals.
Unfancied Ad Finem challenged and conquered higher ranked teams Newbee, LGD.ForeverYoung, and Digital Chaos in their journey to the finals of their first Major competition. It was especially impressive as the Greeks stopped Digital Chaos’ unbeaten run with a clean 2-0 win.
On the other hand, OG didn’t have much of an easier time in the winner’s bracket; facing off against MVP Phoenix, Malaysian favourites WarriorsGaming.Unity, and Evil Geniuses in the semi-finals.
Ad Finem started game one of the grand finals with an aggressive draft; selecting Drow Ranger and a support Weaver to take an early lead. The Greeks failed to capitalise on this early success and OG delayed long enough for Luna and Earth Spirit to take control.
Game three saw Ad Finem play a strong mid-game with Earthshaker and Legion Commander picks. The game dragged to over an hour, with mega creeps and Divine Rapiers being bought. In the end, it was Ad Finem’s Earthshaker who managed to backdoor the Ancient and take the finals to game four.
every time i listen to this shit it gets better @ODPixel god https://t.co/TzkbbvCNRv
— SirActionSlacks (@SirActionSlacks) December 11, 2016
Ad Finem seemed to be out of ideas by game four, and their draft just wasn’t strong enough to take on OG’s combination of S4 on Legion Commander, ana on Invoker, and N0tail on Sven.
The Major ended 3-1, with Team OG taking the Eaglesong trophy home. Despite the loss, Ad Finem showed that it there is still a chance for smaller teams to break into the top cut, as long as they have the stomach to put up a fight.
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