Zero takes yet another set that he had almost not shown up for, defeating Liquid Nairo in the grand finals.

Coming from a monstrous run through Loser's Bracket following a shock Saturday loss to Seagull Joe, TSM Zero met Team Liquid's Nairo in the grand finals. To everyone's surprise, Nairo used the first set as a testing grounds, bringing out a plethora of characters in an attempt to feel out his opponent. However, he opened set two with his trademark Zero Suit Samus against Sheik, who Zero stuck with for the entirety of the grand finals. 

The set opened on Town and City, with Nairo coming out with a strong salvo.  As usual, Zero increased the pace and applied heavy aerial game against Nairo, giving him new breathing room and taking the first set with an U-air finish.

In the second game, Nairo switched to Robin, a questionable albeit recently buffed pick.  The game was closer than many would've imagined, with Nairo landing a key Arcfire to take a stock from Zero.  Nevertheless, Zero came back and juked out Nairo with an Up-B finisher to end that game.

The third game had Nairo running MetaKnight, a pick that would primarily be focused on challenging Zero's neutral game.  The game started off incredibly close, but after a bit of greed in Nairo's mobility, Zero took it with a well executed F-smash.

SET RESET

The first set may have been handed over, but the second set was full tryhard mode from both players.  Nairo opened up with his ZSS yet again, this time taking the first game of the set. Zero was set out for revenge, nearly managing a 0-death in reply, but Nairo was able to get a few hits in before he could pull it off.  Still, Zero ended the game relatively quickly.

Split second decision making and swift execution would give Nairo the edge in game 3, where he made an off-the-ledge play that required 2-frame perfection to kill Zero upon recovery. This spriraled Nairo ahead and gave the game to him.  Zero knew patience would be his friend in the fourth game, so he played it safe by bringing Nairo to 110%, avoiding the rage combo potential of ZSS cautiously, and come out on top.

In the final game of the set, in a somewhat anime-esque finish, the first stock was incredbily close with both players being exactly one strike away from taking each other's first stock. Although Nairo struck first he then slept on the side platform, allowing the favourite to level things immediately before dominating the stock of champions. Despite alleged illness and the comeback from Loser's Bracket (where he went through MVD, Wizzrobe, Ally, Esam, Anti and Dabuz), no player was able to best ZeRo in a tournament finals, allowing him to go home with another major trophy under his belt.

Cover Image courtesy of VGBootcamp.