Credit: Stephanie Lindgren, Joao Ferreira
Both Team Empire and Evil Geniuses (EG) approached coming into this tournament from a position of strength. Team Empire had just finished in 1st place in Europe, and Evil Geniuses had done likewise in North America. However, the decision to swap Shockwave for Dan had put them on the back foot. EG, on the other hand, had moved into their team apartments, and their chemistry could not have been higher.
Empire saw off a stern challenge from DarkZero Esports (2-0), while in the semi-finals, Fnatic gave them a tougher test (2-1). Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, haven't conceded a single map before the Grand Final, beating Immortals on the quarter-finals and FaZe Clan on the next day.
The stage was then set -- it would be North America’s best, searching for a long awaited return to winning ways, going up against the Eastern European upstarts, themselves looking for their first Pro League crown.
With Bank, Oregon, and Clubhouse as the three maps, it seemed that no one team in particular had won the ban phase outright. Evil Geniuses started brightly on the first map, drawing first blood, but Team Empire made sure to keep pace with them. However, the North Americans took three important rounds out of the next four to put themselves in pole position -- just one map away from the title.2-Day Standard Pass: ¥3 500 (approximately 28 €*)
On Empire’s map pick of Oregon, it seemed that EG had their number. Sweeping to a 4-1 lead, the North Americans conceded some ground to see their lead trimmed to 4-3, but two round wins meant that they stood on series point -- one round away from their first title in over two years. Unfortunately for them, the Europeans suddenly started firing on all cylinders and pulled things back with nerve-wracking clutch after clutch. Despite going down in man count multiple times, Empire won an incredible five rounds on the trot to push proceedings to the third and final map.
Unfortunately, Evil Geniuses seemed to have had the fire in them extinguished with the excruciating loss on Oregon. The Eastern Europeans pulled off pixel-perfect peeks and confident, aggressive plays. Up against the wall, Scyther -- and the newest member Dan, pulled things back man by man. However, at 2 vs 2 with the plant going down, Scyther fell. It was all up to the rookie, and was Dan absolutely the man of the moment. With ice in his veins, he peeked wide, took down the covering EG player and then nailed the shot onto the other, thus recovering the round and winning the first-ever Pro League title for Team Empire amidst stunning circumstances.
As far as Pro League Finals go, this has been one of the best from start to finish. Saturday kicked off some absolutely electric games, and Sunday absolutely did not disappoint either, leaving us with possibly the best-ever Pro League Grand Final we have ever seen. Now, as the book closes on these Milan Finals, the Pro League takes a break, but it will be back soon for more action with Season X.
