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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Esports devider Team Liquid falters vs Alter Ego, bids goodbye to Golden Road

Team Liquid falters vs Alter Ego, bids goodbye to Golden Road

Published Jan 24, 2026 08:04 pm

At A Glance

  • Team Liquid squandered a 2-1 series lead and totally collapsed in the last two games to absorb a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat at the hands of Alter Ego and bow out of the M7 World Championship at the Tennis Indoor Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday, Jan. 24.

The road to the golden feat hit a huge roadblock.

Team Liquid squandered a 2-1 series lead and totally collapsed in the last two games to absorb a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat at the hands of Alter Ego and bow out of the M7 World Championship at the Tennis Indoor Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday, Jan. 24.

With one win away from advancing to the lower bracket finals, the Filipinos faltered against the relentless assault from the Indonesian representative on their way to ending their bid of achieving the rare ‘Golden Road’ feat.

A Golden Road is a feat that an esports team can achieve by winning all four major tournaments in a year span — an accomplishment Team Liquid can no longer attain after getting eliminated in the crowning tournament of MLBB esports.

Team Liquid now has become the fourth team in MLBB history to attempt and fail in completing the feat after RRQ Akira, Onic Indonesia and Selangor Red Giants all fell short in the last three years respectively.

Team Liquid’s bid, though, initially looked safe after moving one win away from the lower bracket finals but Alter Ego had other plans in their mind.

Tagged as the last hope of the host nation, El Familia leaned on the blistering performance from Arifudin “Arfy” Dingarai who tore Team Liquid apart in Games 4 and 5.

He stepped up with a 4-2-6 KDA on the gold lane Freya pick to spearhead a dominant 17-7 win that forced the winner-take-all Game 5.

Team Liquid still had its chances in the decider, even taking a 3k gold lead but just couldn’t keep the pressure against Alter Ego.

With a tanky frontline around a surprising jungle Uranus pick, a Hilda roam and a Cici EXP, Arfy was simply untouchable on the hyper-carry Claude. 

Team Liquid, behind Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno’s Leomord pick, tried to reach Arfy in the backlines but the Filipinos simply had no heroes capable of shredding that tanky frontline of Alter Ego.

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