The five-week-long Carbon Series finally came to close this weekend with Immortals taking a 3-1 victory over once untouchable LG Evil, who themselves dominated the double round robin of the Carbon Series. They started the series winning their first nine matches before finally falling to Team Liquid, a team that had already been eliminated from playoff contention.

However, by the time the playoffs started, expectations for LG Evil began shifting. The loss to Liquid (which may or may not have come as a result of Evil saving their best for the playoffs), plus early struggles in the Alienware Monthly Melee, had Evil looking very mortal. Immortals, on the other hand, appeared to be returning to form after getting off to a rough start in the Carbon Series. Including their semifinal win, Immortals entered the grand final on a five-match Carbon win streak.

Both Evil and Immortals took care of their semifinal matches in the playoff of four without dropping a map. The finals looked like it would be an exciting back-and-forth series after the first two maps, however that would not last. Immortals took advantage of LG Evil's bad offense to win the first map, although with only 20 seconds remaining after Evil seemed to find life on their Hollywood defense. The momentum appeared to be turning after LG Evil dominated Immortals on Temple of Anubis, although this was not the case. After winning a back-and-forth set on Nepal, Immortals were able to close out the series on Dorado.

The other major story line to come out of the Carbon Series was the repeated use of trials throughout the five-week tournament. The finalists were the only two teams in the tournament to keep the same roster throughout, while the rest used varying degrees of trials and swaps.

While Liquid and LG Loyal each only had one major change, the third and fourth place teams, Renegades and compLexity, were the worst offenders. Renegades used Sypeh on the role of Genji and Zarya for the first several weeks before beginning to try new players. compLexity tried out several different pairs of players on main tank and flex before settling on Meza as main tank. They continued to try out new players on flex, even into the playoffs. Recently, in large part because of this tournament, debates have flared up as to whether teams should or shouldn't be allowed to continually try out different players throughout a tournament.

Final Standings

1. Immortals $7,500 (6-4)
2. LG Evil $5,000 (9-1)
3. Renegades $4,000 (5-5)
4. compLexity $3,000 (5-5)
5. Team Liquid $3,000 (4-6)
6. LG Loyal $3,000 (1-9)