Team Spirit defeated Team Liquid 3-1 in the grand final of the Riyadh Masters on Sunday to win the championship and a $5 million first prize.
Team Liquid beat Talon Esports 2-0 in the lower-bracket final earlier in the day to arrange a rematch with Spirit, after Spirit rallied to beat Liquid 2-1 in Saturday’s upper-bracket final.
But after Liquid took another 1-0 lead, Spirit scored three straight wins to clinch the title. Team Liquid settled for a $2.5 million second prize.
The $15 million Riyadh Masters began with 20 teams, and 12 were left standing after the play-in and group stages.
The double-elimination playoff stage ran Tuesday through Sunday. Matches were best-of-three except for the grand final, which was best-of-five.
In Sunday’s lower-bracket final, Liquid swept past Talon in 34 minutes and 23 minutes, playing on green both maps.
Liquid carried that momentum into the grand final and won the opening map in 33 minutes on red. But Spirit earned a 51-minute win on red, took the lead with a 47-minute win on green and clinched the championship with a 42-minute victory on red.
Riyadh Masters prize pool:
1. $5 million — Team Spirit
2. $2.5 million — Team Liquid
3. $1.7 million — Talon Esports
4. $1.2 million — Gaimin Gladiators
5-6. $800,000 — BetBoom Team, 9Pandas
7-8. $500,000 — Quest Esports, Team Aster
9-12. $300,000 — PSG.LGD, Tundra Esports, Evil Geniuses, Team Secret
13-14. $200,000 — OG, TSM
15-16. $100,000 — Xtreme Gaming, Shopify Rebellion
17-20. $50,000 — beastcoast, Entity, Virtus.pro, Execration
–Field Level Media