North American outfit, Tribe Gaming has been crowned champions of the Razer 2017 Vainglory World Championship. The wildcard entry secured a 4-1 win over South Korean team ACE Gaming in the best-of-seven final.
Few would have considered Tribe as a tournament favourite, having secured an entry via wildcard. But the team gained momentum after defeating 2016 champions Rox Armada in the group stages, contributing to the defending champions’ early exit.
In the final, Tribe demonstrated impressive plays in the first two games, with ACE unable to find a way to contain tournament MVP DNZio. Game 2 even saw ACE losing thanks to a bold backdoor move from Tribe just as the South Korean team looked to have turned the tide. At the end, ACE Gaming’s inability to deal with DNZio’s outstanding carry play proved their downfall, despite taking Game 3.
BACKDOOR! @TribeGaming gives @acegamingclub a taste of their own medicine. #VaingloryWorlds pic.twitter.com/S0HBoE2MNa
— Vainglory Esports (@vaingloryesport) December 17, 2017
As tournament champions, Tribe walked away with $70,000 (about RM286,000) from the $140,000 (about RM571,000) prize pool. ACE went home with $30,000 (about RM122,000), while Singaporean outfit Team Impunity – who fell apart at the semi-finals against ACE, and subsequently lost the third-place match – celebrated their best-ever finish with $9,000 (about RM36,700).
The Razer 2017 Vainglory World Championship is the last to feature the 3v3 “Halcyon Fold” map. Before the final, developers Super Evil Megacorp unveiled the new 5v5 “Sovereign’s Rise” map to the world, which future world tournaments will use.
