đź“ť T1 vs. Team Liquid Full Match Recap
The final match of Day 3 at the Stockholm World Finals delivered one of the most emotionally charged clashes of the lower bracket. North America’s top seed, Team Liquid, faced off against one of Korea’s most dominant teams in the last game of Day 3 at the Stockholm World Finals. Following a strong showing from Team Liquid against last year’s World Champions, Team Falcons, on Day 2, T1 entered the match fully aware of the threat their opponents posed.
Earlier on Day 3, T1 already fought through another NA top seed, Geekay Esports, in the elimination bracket, securing their survival with a hard-fought, but decisive 2-1 victory. Meanwhile, Team Liquid enjoyed a smoother start to Day 3, eliminating EMEA’s bottom seed, Team Peps, with a confident 2-0 and reinforcing their reputation as a team to be feared in the lower bracket.
Map 1: Nepal (Team Liquid pick), Team Liquid ban Sigma, T1 ban Ashe
Both teams opened Village with mirrored compositions: Ramattra, Freja, Echo, Kiriko and Wuyang. T1 secured the first capture after a prolonged poke exchange between both teams. A key pick from Rupal “Rupal” Zaman onto Kim “vigilante” Joon gave TL their window, allowing them to flip with the point at 24%, even as Kim “ZEST” Hyun-woo found his own pick. T1 regain control of the point in a costly fight for Liquid, with Boston “Infekted“Fine and Diego “Vega” Moran committing their ultimates.
Xavier “zeruhh” Zambrano then struck back with a clean pick on ZEST, enabling TL to force the objective at 86%. But Hong “Proud” Suk-jin immediately punished Elliot “TR33” Chu, flipping the point again at 75%. With a surge of ultimates, T1 overwhelmed Liquid’s final approach, claiming the opening round.
On Sanctum, zeruhh switched to Genji and TR33 to Sojourn. Jasm1ne and ZEST took aggressive angles from the start, allowing their team to secure the point first. Liquid responded with a clean pick on ZEST by zeruhh, flipping with Rupal’s Kitsune Rush at 29%.
However, TL’s early Tidal Blast gained no value, and both Rams traded ultimates. T1 reclaimed the point at 49% even after zeruhh’s Dragonblade, claiming two kills. TR33’s Overclock in the next fight failed to get kills, and T1 managed to stagger Liquid. Due to a late touch and less favourable ult exchange on TL’s end, T1 closed out the map to take a 1-0 series lead.
Map 2: New Junk City (Team Liquid pick), Team Liquid ban Zarya, T1 ban Genji
TL opted for a tank-protect ban going into New Junk City. Both teams rolled out mirror compositions consisting of Ramattra, Sojourn, Kiriko, and Lucio, with ZEST playing Symmetra and zeruhh playing Venture.
T1 got the opening pick on Infekted with a high charge Symmetra beam and secured point A. At 99%, both Kirikos committed ultimates, but Proud’s cleanup secured the point uncontested.
T1 reached point C first, shutting down TR33’s ultimate with an aggressive counter-engage, leading to T1 capturing the point. TR33 delivered the opening pick at 57%, allowing TL to flip the point. The tug-of-war between the teams continued as T1 retook at 46%, only for TL to answer again with picks from zeruhh and TR33, followed by a point flip. At 99%, T1 managed to get the point with Kitsune Rush and Overclock. Afterwards, TL failed to touch the point on time, allowing T1 to get up with two points.
However, TL showed a very dominant performance on the 3rd point. T1 started with an aggressive play, getting a pick on TR33 early, but Infekted, seeing an opportunity, unleashed Annihilation, which led to a skewed ajax. This allowed TL to capture point B and go 100% to T1’s 0%.
With vigilante’s early ultimate and a near-clean opener, T1 secured first capture on point D. TL answered once at 71%, but TR33’s failed ultimate attempt doomed their hold. Infekted swapped to Ball to touch the point first, Vega followed, but Jasm1ne hunted down the stallers as T1 closed out the map and went up 2-0, and match point.
Map 3: Shambali Monastery (Team Liquid pick), TL ban D.Va, T1 ban Wuyang
Team Liquid started on defence with Ram, Ashe, Echo, Kiriko, and Lucio composition. T1 mirrored, with ZEST briefly starting on Hanzo before switching to Echo after not getting opening picks. Proud struck first, eliminating zeruhh as T1 won the opening fight and rounded the first corner.
Vigilante built the earliest ultimate and triggered a chain of support ults that broke TL’s hold, giving T1 point one with over four minutes left. Despite TL stabilising briefly through a pick on Proud and an Echo copy from zeruhh, T1 pushed forward again, claiming point two with more than two minutes on the clock.
A late beat from Vega slowed T1 marginally, but the Koreans kited it cleanly. With both Kitsune Rushes traded and Bob deployed, zeruhh dove deep for a last-ditch defence, but T1 reset, regrouped, and ultimately closed Shambali with an overtime full-push.
On defence, both teams used the same composition on T1’s side. Tr33 and zeruhh got the opening kill on Zest, but the rest of T1 managed to eliminate Infekted and halt the cart early. Rupal opened the next sequence by investing his ultimate, and Vega layered beat with Infekted’s Annihilation to secure the first point for TL with more than three minutes on the clock.
T1’s double-DPS ult stopped the next push, but quickly afterwards, TL gained ground when zeruhh eliminated ZEST. A chaotic trade of Kitsune Rush from both teams, Annihilation, and Echo Duplicate followed, allowing TL to claim point two with twenty seconds on the clock. TR33 continued finding key picks, pushing the cart steadily until TL full-pushed with ten seconds to spare.
In the eimebank round, T1 started on attack and had ZEST on Symmetra. With the use of a fake-out teleport, T1 collapsed onto zeruhh for an immediate pick. This allowed T1 to push the cart behind the second corner. On return, TR33’s aggressive Bastion flank found multiple kills and stopped T1's push in overtime.
Liquid had a minute and ten seconds for their push. Rupal opened by picking off skewed from spawn as Zenyatta, then swapped back to Kiriko. But Proud found three kills on Team Liquid and a stagger onto Rupal, which left TL scrambling with ten seconds left. ZEST died attempting a flank, but Jasm1ne’s ult steadied T1’s line, and TL failed their final touch.
With the hold, NA’s last hope in the tournament has ended, and T1 advanced deeper into the lower bracket, where they’ll face either Crazy Raccoon or Al Qadsiah.