TPL Season 4 Finals Recap

After months of gruelling competition, and some of the best series Western Dota has to offer, The Premier League Season 4 has come to an end. In the end Alliance won convincingly over Liquid during the Grand Finals, showing that their spot at 1st place in our May Power Rank will not be given up all too soon, especially if they keep this play up.

So with the tournament coming to and end, we of course recap the great games you might have missed. We take a look at what happened during the finals in our Grand Finals Recap, and look at what is to come for Alliance via an exclusive interview with Alliance's Gustav "s4" Magnusson. Read on to see what he has to say about G-1 League, Ti3, and more!

All in all, The Premier League Season 4 was a great success, and it was our pleasure covering all the games for you. Hope you enjoyed this recap, and we look forward to seeing you again when we start coverage of season 5!

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WB Semifinal: Fnatic.EU vs Alliance

In game 1, Alliance's more early-game oriented lineup dominates Fnatic from the outset, with neither Trixi's Lone Druid nor Era's Anti-Mage able to find farm while Alliance breaks down towers and hunts people with TA/Nature's Prophet. Game 2 sees Fnatic taking a different approach: rather than try to control s4 through the drafting stage, the team expends a massive amount of resources to hold him down in the lane. This succeeds and Fnatic looks very strong early, but can't find either the barracks or a big teamfight win to end the argument. As Fnatic's convincing lead slips away, a mistake seals the loss: Era misses a full Eclipse on s4's now-reequipped Magnus and a game of keep-away that ensues in the Radiant jungle goes dramatically awry.

WB Semifinal: Virtus.pro vs Liquid

Virtus.pro debuts their face-rush strategy for the Premier League playoffs, drafting what looks like Airman's infamous Gyrocopter early only to reveal that it's a high-damage NS support Gyro instead. Liquid is grossly unprepared for the damage output and push capabilities, and TC's typically excellent farming for Anti-Mage is insufficient to drag it back. Game 2 sees the reeling Liquid pick a speculative lineup featuring Warlock mid and a Shadow Fiend carry for Korok bottom, but Virtus.pro doubles down on early ganks with Ars-Art's support Juggernaut and take an even more convincing early lead despite losing first blood. No Fiend's Grip answer for Lifestealer and nothing much coming from Shadow Fiend due to the extreme early pressure spell an expedited trip to the Loser's Bracket for Liquid.

LB Semifinal: Fnatic.EU vs Liquid

Starting in game 1, Fnatic struggles to get the Vengeful Spirit + Alchemist support pair to the effectiveness it needs, especially with a stand-in (Jaakko) playing the latter. Altogether, the team lacks the levels and sheer muscle to prevent Liquid's convincing attempts on the middle and bottom barracks before 30 minutes. Game 2, although looking little better, is cut abruptly short when N0tail's apartment complex loses power, prompting an eventual decision to concede from Fnatic.

WB Final: Alliance vs Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro reveals the first of their promised 'secret strategies' for the latter half of the playoffs with a Zeus pick for TMW's middle lane paired with a more typical Nature's Prophet for a global presence/damage approach. A few early kills do fall VP's way but both Loda and s4 continue farming excellently and Airman's NS doesn't make as much of the first night as is needed to keep the advantage rolling. At around 13 minutes it becomes clear that Virtus.pro have not secured enough of a lasting edge and the Dire carries begin to roll.






At first Alliance tries to put the CK/Io duo against OD, only to be stymied by assistance of Enfeeble Bane. s4 rotates to mid on Puck for a more normal matchup, only for Airman to continue to dominate the lane. Alliance finds trades but not dominance, while Virtus.pro finds a strong timing to siege towards and keep up the midgame pressure. They operate without fear of a counterpush and use this comfort to more and more confidently 5-man Dota to an eventual showdown and wipe of Alliance in the top lane.







This game is where Alliance graduates from looking like favourites to looking like champions. VP repeats the Disruptor/Juggernaut facerush support trick that tore apart Liquid in the previous round, and it earns them a cascading early lead after a gank attempt on Airman's Lifestealer goes horribly wrong for Alliance in bottom lane. What Virtus.pro doesn't have is any sort of pushing capacity, and even as Alliance drops to a 17-4 and then 22-6 kill deficit the team still has outer towers up. A push down the middle turns the tide in a big way when Virtus.pro fail to connect with their Vacuum-into-Static Storm combo for two big fights in a row and Loda's Gyro damage rips them apart. When VP still can't push it becomes clear they are facing a forbidding obstacle to victory and even some inspired teamfight wins at both Alliance's top tier 3 and their own can't quite bring the win back into focus.

LB Final: Liquid vs Virtus.pro

In Game 1 Virtus.pro looks to have the series sewn up; Liquid seems adrift with an uncharacteristic QPAD-esque draft that falls apart completely when the aggressive trilane gives up 2 kills before the one-minute mark. While Ars-Art and NS dominate the top for VP, TMW performs ably mid on OD and KSi wins bottom over Bulba. The beginning of the Relocate regime marks the end of Liquid in this game as the team calls GG at the 11 minute mark to freshen up for game 2.






For the first time in the playoffs, VP's pocket OD pick in games without Nyx falters. Despite total dominance in the early lane over Korok and a theoretically more push-oriented lineup than was brought to bear against Alliance in the WB finals, Virtus.pro's early lead is surprisingly tame, and Liquid reacts to an early deficit of farm and levels across all heroes with more aplomb than was seen from the team earlier in the playoffs. TMW stalls out at Mekansm and Force Staff while Korok, previously bullied, rockets ahead by finding a more aggressive posture with Lifestealer in the cargo hold more often than not. Once Sanity's Eclipse stops dealing any damage to Storm Spirit the problem areas for VP come into sharp focus: a lack of any actual damage as PL is primarily survivability oriented and the OD is underfarmed. The ensuing teamfights all go toward proving the theory.







In what must be the greatest game of TPL season 4, Virtus.pro's wombo combo looks to roll over Liquid early, with the first incursion onto tier 3 coming a scant 11 minutes in. The rest of the game is a study in “not losing.” Despite losing middle barracks in short order, Liquid stops a series of increasingly dangerous incursions by VP by locking down TMW's Warlock to preclude Chaotic Offering and at one point purchasing 5 Blade Mails in an act of desperation to prevent being wiped by Wrath of Nature, all while TC's Luna slowly farms out an increasing and eventually dramatic farm advantage over Weaver. A few pushes later, VP finds themselves 3 barracks and a tier 4 tower up and still without the ability to actually end the game. One final, climactic standoff at Dire's middle barracks is won in an instant of ingenuity when TC successfully baits out Virtus.pro's ultimates only for Test of Faith to take him to the fountain just before his demise. Through a game with teamfights so epic that one Roshan engagement actually crashed the Dota clients of everyone in the lobby, Liquid advances to a Grand Final berth against Alliance.

Grand Final: Liquid vs Alliance

Liquid consistently overreaches into an early deficit, with Korok unable to make plays from the mid other than a couple successful tier 1 tower pushes. While the tower gold advantage dissipates, Liquid has earned more farm on TC's Lifestealer than on Loda's PA and secures a Roshan, so Alliance isn't out of the woods just yet. Through smart midgame aggression and push, Liquid earns the first barracks of the game and deflects the counter-push that follows from Alliance in the same lane. However Alliance completely flips the script a few minutes later by baiting with Akke's KOTL at Radiant tier 2, activating Ghost Scepter, and jumping in with a Double Damage rune PA to take the wind right out of Liquid's sails in an instant that decides the outcome of Game 1.







Both solo lanes are oppressed early on, with the far more notable one being Bulldog's Lone Druid who loses his bear and falls to harassment from a Holy Persuasion Harpy Stormcaller. Liquid once again faces some difficulties in the early-game before exerting some muscle in the Radiant jungle to equalise the game. A long, weird, 2-part standoff at Roshan ends bloodily but inconclusively, and the game still feels like it can tip either way in an instant through the next several engagements, including one at each team's high ground. Finally, Alliance goes for the throat in a big way, combining some excellent Split Earths from EGM with a huge RP on 3 heroes from s4's ever-impressive Magnus to lock Liquid down long enough for Loda's Alchemist to do its work both on the Dire heroes and structures. One final worthy teamfight attempt from Liquid is narrowly tipped to Alliance to conclude the series and crown [A] the Premier League Season 4 Champions.

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