The Grand Finals of the WePlay! Bukovel Minor featured two of the best squads in the tournament: Chinese powerhouse team, Royal Never Give Up, and TI9 runners-up, Nigma Esports.

The Grand Finals were a rematch of the second Upper Bracket Semifinals, which saw RNG win a 2-1 nailbiter over Nigma.

After losing the first game to RNG, Nigma swept their Chinese rivals 3-1 and recorded their first tournament win of the 2019-2020 DPC season.

The team earned US$72,000 prize money and 140 DPC points for their first-place finish at the Minor. With their win, Nigma is now also qualified for the DreamLeague Season 13 Leipzig Major a few days from now.

Game one

Nigma drafted two amazing team fight heroes with the Abaddon and Omniknight for Kuro “Kuroky” Takhasomi and Ivan “Mind Control” Ivanov.

They then completed their team with Rubick for Maroun “GH” Merhej, Huskar for Aliwi “w33” Omar, and an Alchemist for Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi.

Meanwhile, RNG picked the popular Treant Protector for Xun “September” Zhichuan, along with Centaur Warrunner for Su “Flywin” Lei, Outworld Devourer for Gao “Setsu” Zhenxiong, and Drow Ranger for Du “Monet” Peng.

Nigma controlled the start of the game, with both Omniknight and Abaddon making w33’s Huskar basically unkillable. He was even able to survive a fight against three RNG heroes, escaping with just a sliver of health left.

However, by the mid-game, RNG’s impeccable team synergy started kicking in and they were able to dictate team fights for the rest of the game.

Monet was able to kite both Miracle- and w33, which set up Setsu to help control the rest of Nigma’s heroes while he dealt insane amounts of damage.

Each subsequent team fight looked even more convincing than the previous one, and this led RNG to siege the Radiant base where Nigma had no way to defend, forcing them to call GG.

Game two

For game two, Nigma went with three signature heroes with Miracle- on Phantom Lancer, w33 on Wind Ranger, and GH on Earthshaker.

RNG, on the other hand, decided to go with a tanky lineup with Doom Bringer for September, Underlord for Flywin, and Lifestealer for Monet.

Nigma had another strong start with w33 outperforming Setsu in the middle lane. But RNG’s high health heroes made Nigma struggle to apply enough damage to force their opponents to retreat.

Nigma tried to claim the first set of Barracks, but RNG decided to commit to their defense and takedown the retreating Dire heroes.

Nigma tried to claim the Aegis of the Immortal, but RNG was able to make it in time to disrupt their Roshan attempt. This led to Nigma using their buybacks and dying twice.

Shortly after, RNG sieged the Dire team’s top lane of Barracks, forcing Nigma to retreat to their fountain as RNG ballooned their lead to a massive 27,000 gold.

However, Nigma managed to turn things around after getting key pickoffs on the Radiant squad, forcing Flywin and Setsu’s buybacks, and cutting their gold deficit to 12,000 gold.

Miracle- also managed to pick up a Divine Rapier to deal even more damage against RNG’s tanky heroes.

With the match progressing past the 60-minute mark and with the Aegis of the Immortal, Cheese, and Aghanim’s Blessing advantages, Nigma slowly took the advantage and took down the Radiant base structures.

RNG fought as long as they could, but GH hit a double Echo Slam that kept RNG at bay.

With no way to stop them, Nigma took the Ancient and claimed game two.

Game three

RNG drafted Vengeful Spirit, Drow Ranger, and Storm Spirit– a group of ranged heroes that synergize well together. Next, they drafted a Legion Commander as their front liner, and a Disruptor for team fights.

Meanwhile, Nigma went with the Phantom Lancer again, and a Templar Assassin for w33. They finished the draft with Winter Wyvern and Elder Titan as their supports.

GH’s Elder Titan over in the top lane and w33 in the middle lane had a great start to the game. GH got a quick double kill with his Elder Titan’s Astral Spirit ability. At the same time, w33 was outplaying Setsu’s Storm Spirit.

Throughout the course of the game, Nigma continued to get pickoffs against RNG. Nigma also claimed their first set of Barracks at the 22-minute mark and RNG decided the game was already over, calling GG.

Game four

With their Phantom Lancer banned by RNG, Nigma decided to go with the Drow Ranger and Outworld Devourer tandem for Miracle- and w33. They were also able to pick up GH’s Earthshaker and Kuroky’s Abaddon. Nigma finished their draft with a last picked Dark Seer for Mind Control.

In response, RNG drafted the Queen of Pain for Setsu, and Doom for September. They then picked up the Doom Bringer, Chen, and Spectre to finish out their lineup.

Both teams had an even laning stage, but it was RNG who was able to pull ahead at the 16-minute mark, focusing down w33’s Outworld Destroyer, which forced the rest of Nigma’s heroes to scatter.

Nigma was able to kite RNG’s heroes when they decided to use their ultimates at the same time, but once the European squad tried to put pressure against their opponents on the Radiant side of the map, they were forced to retreat.

Nigma managed to find favorable initiations to their engagements– they even had the high ground advantage and fought near a Dire Shrine — but this wasn’t enough to overpower RNG in a straight-up team fight.

RNG was ready to claim their second set of Barracks at the top lane, and they had a whopping 40,000 gold lead advantage to make it happen.

However, Nigma wouldn’t go down without a fight as Mind Control jumped in and caught all five RNG heroes in a Vacuum-Wall combo. GH immediately followed up with an Echo Slam wombo-combo that ended up team wiping RNG. Monet ended up dying twice after he respawned with his Aegis.

With the momentum suddenly on Nigma’s side, they seized the advantage and rushed down the middle lane into the Radiant base to take down their own objectives.

RNG hung on as long as they could, using their Glyph and Guardian Angel to save their Radiant Ancient, but the damage from Miracle-‘s Drow Ranger was unrelenting and Nigma were able to pull off their second comeback win of the series to take game four, and with it, the tournament.

For their second-place finish, Royal Never Give Up walk away with US$60,000 and 120 DPC points.

READ MORE: Here are all the teams that have qualified for the DreamLeague Season 13 Leipzig Major