Team Liquid finally defeated Astralis in a grand final, ending the streak of five grand final losses to their Danish kryptonite and took home the trophy at the iBP Masters IV.

Liquid played with new addition Jake “Stewie2k” Yip as well a new coach in former TL IGL Eric “adren” Hoag, and beat Astralis 2-1 in the best of three grand final. After an absolute thrashing at the hands of Astralis on Inferno (4:16), Liquid’s map pick, the NA roster rebounded and took both Dust 2 and the decider map of Overpass 16:11. This marks the first time that Liquid has beaten Astralis in either a best of three or best of five in 2018. Before the iBP win, Astralis held a 10-0 record against Team Liquid for the year.

TL performs well despite new additions

Newcomer Stewie2k performed well for Liquid, posting a 1.17 HLTV rating over the best of three and a team-leading 85.7 ADR, while new head coach “adreN” looked comfortable in his new position. Although viewers did not see Team Liquid employ any groundbreaking strategies, Liquid looked calm and collected, and adreN clearly has an idea of how he wants to use Stewie2k in this current lineup. Keith “NAF” Markovic was awarded the MVP, owning a 1.23 HLTV rating and a +14 kill differential. After the Final, Stewie2k took to twitter to celebrate his triumphant return to a North American team after his short-lived stint in MiBR.

Champions of iBuyPower after the scrappy 2-1 against @astralisgg ! Thanks for all the support and love for my debut in @TeamLiquid ?? pic.twitter.com/HVcGK8iMLo

— Jake (@Stewie) January 21, 2019

The tournament itself had its fair share of problems, including severe audio and visual problems, delays, inadequate equipment, competitive advantage problems, and inadequate security that led some teams to threaten to pull out of the tournament if they were not fixed. Additionally, iBP announced they would refund all tickets for Day 1 attendees after forcing the crowd to watch the matches on what looked like two, large TVs placed on the stage because the players positions allowed them to see the large main screen behind them.

Both of these teams will be vying for the Major Championship trophy at the IEM Katowice Major which will run from February 20^th to the 24^th and February 28^th to March 3^rd.

Image VIA: Team Liquid