The International 2017 Grand Finals Newbee versus Team Liquid - the winner
goes the Aegis of Champions to the loser disappointment and muttered
condolences of maybe next year.
For a Miracle - Amer Al-Barqawi that disappointment is all too real. At this time last year he had already been eliminated from the
international
his chance at being the best in the world was cut short by an upset that no
one could have predicted TNC a team that barely scraped by was in the loser
bracket all of a sudden they 2-0 them very definitively and we thought
they had the better trap but I just thought oh gee would be able to pull it
out but at this time things are different Miracle has lost learned and
with a new team by his side has another shot at greatness Miracle's journey to
the internationals grand finals was one that took him through the highs of wins
and two majors and the crushing lows of defeat at TI6
but before all of that there was a time when Miracle had no idea that Dota even
had a pro scene even when I asked him like me to watch TI 1, 2, 3
he's like nope never heard of it in fact a Miracle didn't start playing because
he one day dreamed of hoisting the Aegis No our story starts in a net cafe in
Jordan with one simple thing a guy who loved Dota when he was young Amer was
like most kids his age he played soccer in the streets and spent much of his
time out of the house with his friends one day he became curious about his
older brothers interest and wanted to join them on their lengthy trips to the
local net cafes he thought convincing my Mom I want to go with my brothers I want
to see what they do there we start taking him with us and he started
learning watching only around 12 years old
Amer quickly got hooked on Dota1 and his skills grew the local scene dubbed
him miracle boy that moniker later shortened to just miracle stuck even
after the release of Dota2 Miracle primarily played for fun
solo laddering with intense focus oblivious to Dota's rapidly growing pro
scene miracle skill increased with time but he was still just a pub player who
enjoyed the casual aspects of dota when the official MMR ranking system was
released in late 2013 Miracle had already
achieved an impressive 5.3 K MMR after hitting 7k solo MMR a little while later
Miracle began to realize he could be among the best carries in the world and
set his goal at becoming the highest ranked player of all at first I was like
just playing for fun let's say did I hit 8k and then I was like oh shit like that
there's a small chance some people might talk to me in-game his
reputation as a serious pub star was spreading especially after he became
only the second player to hit 8k MMR behind Aliwi "w33Ha" Omar. Miracle hoped
that a professional team would contact him he was ready to prove that he was
more than just a pub star he had a very brief stint on a smaller team known as
the Balkan Bears but his big chance truly came when Johan “n0tail” Sundstein
added him on skype. At first I actually thought it's like a fake account and I
was I wasn't really responding but then I was like alright I'm gonna talk to him
and it was him and I talked to him on skype and Miracle went from pub star to
playing alongside some of Dota's most respected talent as a founding member of
OG overnight with veterans like n0tail and Tal “Fly” Aizik leading him, Miracle
took his first significant steps into the professional scene though he might
have been ignorant of Dota2's competitive legacy Miracle wasted no
time in making his own mark on the scene right from the get-go miracle proved
that he was a dominant individual talent as well as an incredibly flexible and
versatile player to boot the MLG World Finals was an excellent showcase for Miracle,
as he not only dominated the likes of Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan and Sergey “G” Bragin in lane,
but carried on a massive variety of heroes such as Queen of Pain, his signature Anti-Mage and even a pocket Earthshaker.
by the time the first ever valve major in Frankfurt rolled around
Miracle was impressing thanks to excellent play against top teams
although OG were largely viewed as a dark-horse
going into the event people were excited to see if Miracle would continue to
perform on a massive stage. [Casting]
The tournament started off on the wrong foot, but as the pressure mounted
OG delivered. Going on
one of the most ridiculous lower bracket runs in Dota2 history to claim the title
[Casting}
Miracle in particular was lethal on Shadow Fiend
stunning even when his still unproven back was against the wall just three
months into his tenure on a professional team Miracle had already claimed a valve
title and was undoubtedly one of the best players in the world. His shy
personality contrasted with his flashy in gameplay but fans nevertheless
flocked to the game's newest superstar OG and Miracle continued to be an elite
force in the Dota world for the next half year winning a number of events and
regularly finishing top four against the stiffest of competitions.
A disappointment at the Shanghai major in March of 2016 was quickly remedied by a
second valve title this time at the Manila Major three months later his
usual stellar performances only serve to further the mystique around miracle as
he will see Lee went toe-to-toe against the best from around the world and
emerged the victor his Invoker became a thing of legend and questions as to
whether or not miracle was only a pub star were nothing more than a distant memory.
[Casting]
But even as his professional career was taking off one thing had all still remained the
same Miracle I played Dota with a nearly unmatched dedication grinding away in
game after game day in and day out his level of focus is something on
comparable to any player I've ever seen I've seen a lot of players grow and
become excellent at the game but when he looks at the screen while he plays it's as
if he's in the game as if he's in the battlefield in the months following the
Shanghai major he famously became involved in a race to 9 K MMR with Artour “Arteezy” Babaev, Evil Geniuses’ star player.
Then on may 11th 2016 from the
practice rooms at the epicenter 2016 land Miracle made history.
With the 9K player leading the charge to stellar results in the months before TI6 OG was
touted as a clear favorite to win it all it was the next step for miracle and the
win at TI would take his already growing reputation to the next level
[Casting]
The loss was a crushing blow to Miracle
and a miserable way to cap off his otherwise brilliant first year of
competitive play while he had already come so far and achieved so much bombing
out at TI put a metaphorical asterisks on his career in fact it was
clearly one of Miracles worst performances ever. I wanna know what kind of wizard
you are that he's figured out that OG would just go from winning Frankfurt
major in Manila major and doing pretty well in the group stage like they look
like a really strong team and they just boom out the result called for a change
and on September 16 2016 miracle joined Team Liquid while Liquid started slow
posting mixed results for the rest of the year it turned out to be a perfect
move for Miracle. Once Maroun “GH” Merhej was added to the squad prior to Dream League Season 6
Miracle was surrounded by a group of tremendously talented
players which took some of the burden to carry off his shoulders.
GH and Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen would join Miracle in the ranks of the 9k MMR club
and with Kuro “KuRoKy” Salehi Takhasomi’s savvy drafting making full use of
Miracles incredibly deep hero pool Team Liquid had everything they needed to
start winning big tournaments needless to say liquids run up to TI 7 reflected
their tremendous potential while their results at DAC 2017 and The Kiev Major
were disappointing liquid still entered TI 7 as favourites to win it all. But the fans were still worried.
I wanna say Liquid so bad, but they F@#$%&*! drop the ball at so many TI's.
That's okay you can pick him if you want. Screw it! I'm going with Team Liquid. C'mon boys!
Would Miracle choke under the pressure once again. Could he shake the ghost of TI 6 out of his mind and play at the level he was capable of
when the chips were down thankfully the answer was yes
[Casting]
With a tournament high 21 unique Heroes played and some absolutely
stellar games Miracle answered those questions once and for all these scene
teams down 0 and 1, teams that go from winners to lowers and fall apart under
the pressure Miracle has done the exact opposite Liquid who looked shaky after a
winner's bracket loss to Invictus Gaming were an unstoppable freight train by the
tournament's end and finally it was time Miracle was about to play through
the Aegis of Champions
Newbee versus Team Liquid Grand Finals sleep will have to come from the south
[Casting]
The man who just two years ago yearn to prove that he was more than a
pub star was staring down the biggest games of his life what started out as a
simple love for Dota had turned into something different altogether a chance
to be a part of the game to be immortalized as one of the best to ever
play
who would have thought that the Miracle boy from the net cafes in Jordan who
knew nothing of the International and pro Dota would become a two-time major
winner a TI champion and one of the game's most popular figures it just goes
to show what can happen with dedication focus and the will to be the best at the
end of the day his love of the game isn't going anywhere and neither is
Miracle after all there's majors to win a TI title to defend and of course Dota
to be played and we wouldn't have it any other way
thanks for watching our telling of miracles story
it's an incredible pleasure to share with you the outstanding story of such
an inspiring player is there a story you'd like to see us tell let us know in
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