Alliance made a staggering run through the whole ESL One Birmingham Online: Europe and CIS division to make sure about the finishing among the top two in the upper bracket.
Coming to the grand finals, Alliance took down Team Secret and VP.Prodigy in the best of three series with their superior team play and drafting style.
GG!
Congratulations to @theAllianceGG who dismantle @virtuspro Prodigy in clean fashion, taking the series 2-0 and advancing to the Grand Final! VP.Prodigy drop down to the lower bracket finals where they will face @teamsecret #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/1omsmKAYgc
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) June 5, 2020
Alliance’s playoff journey
They completed second in Group B, matched up against VP.Prodigy in the overall game’s score, however with one more loss than the young crew of VP.Prodigy. Alliance secured their spot in the season finisher upper bracket with the group play series and they clutched this situation with the victory over Team Secret.
Game two against Team Secret
Alliance struggled in the first game against Team Secret. However, they quickly turned around the events in the second and decider game of the series. Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov went on a god-like mode on Morphling with 15 kills on board. The team sealed off the game under 32 minutes.
Game three against Team Secret
In the decider game, Alliance picked Wraith King for Nikobaby which proved to be an excellent hero choice later on. Although Team Secret did try to hold off the game for a while, it wasn’t enough to stop the mighty base push from Alliance. The decider game finished under 39 minutes.
Game one against VP.Prodigy
In the elimination rounds, Alliance met VP.Prodigy once again and they easily brought them down 2-0. The Swedish squad went on a rogue mode and took the first game within 35 minutes. Simon “Handsken” Haag on his Nature Prophet made a lot of space for the whole team. He also made sure that the cores in the team farmed well. Moreover, Linus “Limmp” Blomdin didn’t have any deaths and went beyond God-like in the game. He was also the highest damage dealer in the game with 27K.
A storm for practice and dedication swept us away and we WASHED UP in a Grand Finals!🏊♀️
GG's @virtuspro.Prodigy, GL further!🙌#LongLiveAlliance #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/fs5MAZySZx
— Alliance @ 🏡🎮 (@theAllianceGG) June 5, 2020
Game two against VP.Prodigy
The second game of the series was even quicker with Alliance firing up VP.Prodigy under 27 minutes. Alliance drafted a quick-paced lineup with Beastmaster offlane, Viper mid-lane, and Wraith King for safe-lane. On the other side, VP.Prodigy drafted Death Prophet for safe-lane, Nature Prophet for mid-lane, and Ember Spirit for off-lane. This time Nikobaby got his Radiance and Blink Dagger under 20 minutes. The team got the Aegis at 23 minutes mark which allowed them to push the high ground and easily break through the barracks.
It's ANOTHER 5 man wipe! @theAllianceGG are looking very strong here, can they finish this game off before VP.prodigy come back? #ESLOnehttps://t.co/JQlhBD71lr pic.twitter.com/JjXM51INFa
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) June 5, 2020
The lower bracket finals and the grand finals
In the post-match interview, Nikobaby said he would like to see Team Secret for a re-match in the grand finals. On 6 June 2020, Team Secret took down VP.Prodigy 2-0 in the best of three series.
The re-match
Alliance will face Team Secret on 7 June 2020 in the best of five grand finals of ESL One Birmingham 2020. With the form and strategies of both teams, it will hard to pick out a clear winner. Alliance on one side would most likely give free space and farm to Nikobaby. On the other hand, Team Secret with its quick-paced drafting strategy would be looking forward to shutdown the squad of Alliance. However, it seems like Alliance will be looking forward to extending their six series winning streak and eventually becoming the champion.
