Team Liquid triumph in 1win Essence II finals earning the momentum heading into TI15

Michael Hassall Published 06/08/2026

Team Liquid have defeated Team Falcons in the grand finals of 1win Essence II (Aug. 5) after a dominant 3-0 series. Liquid avenged their 2-0 defeat in the upper bracket final a day before (Aug. 4) with a remarkable turn-around win.

Team Liquid figured out in their second clash with Team Falcons that there was a really easy trick to beating the green birds: Don’t let Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf have Timbersaw. After watching the opposing Offlaner put up record numbers on Rizzrack the previous day, Liquid simply chose to pick it or ban it in two of their three winning games. Here’s how it all went down:

Image credit: 1win/BASED Esports

Team Liquid defeat Falcons in 1win Essence II grand finals

Liquid had been in unusually good form at this event, perhaps showcasing their pre-International bootcamp form. A top of the group stage finish and an upper bracket run, however, ended in a 2-0 defeat to the equally top-form Falcons on the penultimate day of the playoffs.

With the defeat, TL went back to the drawing board against a scrappy 1win side that had battled through the lower bracket for the entire playoffs to face them. Returning to more of their comfort heroes, Liquid eventually earned their spot in the grand finals thanks to a near hour-long matchup that ended only thanks to an exemplary performance on Underlord by Marcus “Ace” Christensen.

Headed into the grand finals, Team Liquid, as mentioned, remembered to pick or ban out one of ATF’s signature heroes. However, the formidable offlaner still managed to be scary, especially with Falcons picking up Razor and Ursa in game one – two more nightmare picks to let Falcon’s offlaner play with.

Ultimately, though, this was a series where the Team Liquid we’ve been hoping to manifest for months finally reared its head. The team has not quite regained its TI13-winning form since the retirement of Insania, and the pick up of Ace and Erik “tOfu” Engel, formerly of Gaimin Gladiators.

On paper, the combined former two-time TI finalists Gaimin roster and TI-winning TL should be a top team. In reality, they’ve struggled to find the kind of success we saw in this event. With a 3-0 win over Falcons, the vision seems to have finally come together, and just in time for TI15.

With the victory at 1win Essence II, Team Liquid takes home $100,000 and the momentum headed into TI. But does this online tournament really show why this event . Falcons pick up $50,000, and further questions about whether this team can repeat its TI14 success in Shanghai later this month

Image Credit: GotF

Meanwhile at Games of the Future

On the same day as 1win Essence reached its climax, Games of the Future also concluded in Astana, Kazakhstan. PlayTime, who just last month had been enraptured in a match-fixing scandal, picked up the win, minus the accused players and with a pair of stand-ins.

PlayTime defeated Yakult Brothers 3-0 in a confident fashion, although their win is tempered with yet more controversy: GotF has been criticized highly for its connection to Russian state funding amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The event has been widely boycotted almost every year it has happened, and multiple teams have withdrawn from it, both this year and previously.

Still, it remains the final LAN event prior to TI15 in Shanghai later this month. And PlayTime will have some of the most LAN experience of the last two months compared to many teams competing. Could this lead to a deeper run at The International 2026? We’ll find out soon.

Michael Hassall

About Michael Hassall

Michael is a eight-year veteran of the games writing space, but has being playing them for as long as he can remember. With bylines across the internet, he’s used his expertise to cover esports, prediction markets, mainstream gaming, streamers, and more besides.

View full profile