Liquid win the battle of attrition against SK to claim a Finals spot

Liquid kicked off the game with Inferno, a map they were yet to lose on at ESL One New York. They immediately showed off why they wanted to start with it, starting their CT side with a solid four rounds without losing, albeit taking it close when coldzera nearly executed a 1v5. SK secured the round after but a risky forcebuy, kicked off with jdm executing two SK players in apartments, managed to keep Liquid ahead of the game. Liquid kept looking out of reach, before SK took the final rounds as the half ended 11-4 in favour of the Americans.

A close pistol round saw SK put their first foot forward on their CT side as they picked up the pistol and their traditional follow-on rounds. SK then kept with their SMGs in the following round, much to their detriment as a fully-bought Liquid exploded onto the B-site to claim their eighth round. The following round saw coldzera put the sword to Liquid, claiming an ace. SK managed to bring themselves into double digits with strong performances, but dogged rounds put Liquid very close to bringing themselves to match point. As SK finally managed to tie the map at 14-14, Liquid finally bring themselves after many close rounds to match point. With Liquid tantalisingly close to putting themselves on a winning position, FalleN pulls his finest work out just in time to secure overtime.

Liquid kicked off the overtime with a surgical strike into the A bombsite after teasing SK down banana, winning the first round. SK force themselves through on the next round to make sure Liquid weren't out of reach, before the American side manage to take the round afterwards, secured by a strong partnership of jdm64 and stanislaw. SK see themselves in a reversed position in the second half of the overtime, as Liquid were ahead 18-17 going into the final round. With SK nearly securing another overtime, coldzera saw himself in a 1v2 on low hp and coming up clutch with his AWP to secure a second set of games.

Liquid once again kicked off an overtime with a win, this time as CT by securing a close retake on A. Twistzz and jdm match up together to avoid a repeat of the first overtime by taking the second and saw a repeat in the third as Liquid secure the 3-0 half. With Liquid just needing one round to take that map, they perform a strong take of the B bombsite and seeing a strong jdm performance, including a collateral kill to take Inferno 22-18.

Overpass was up next, as SK took their pick with a strong pistol round, only dropping the two players after they planted the bomb. With SK predictably picking up the following two rounds, Twistzz pops up with a glorious 3k to come straight onto the map. SK manage to pick themselves up to 8-1 before Liquid secure their next round until SK smack them down in the round afterwards. Liquid then brought out one of their dodgy forcebuys to secure a third round just for SK to reassert their dominance shortly after, until Liquid won once again at the final round of the half, which SK led 11:4.

SK once again kicked off with the pistol round, as well as taking the following two rounds on the stronger CT side. With the first buy round, Liquid managed to stave off SK's spot at match point until SK hold off any hope of a comeback, taking the next two rounds to secure the second map 16-5.

Cobblestone would be the decider, and it kicked off with Liquid smashing through to the pistol round, with stanislaw placing a knife into FalleN's back. A game more akin to ping-pong followed up as the two sides swapped rounds through forcebuys until Liquid took themselves to 4-2 on the CT side. After being taken to an eco, SK came up and picked up a full arsenal to start another match of ping-pong, going from 5-2 to 6-5 where SK finally took two rounds in a row. The two trade rounds once again, which is ended by SK equalling the game at 7-7, before Liquid sent the half off on a forcebuy with the Americans remaining ahead 8-7, where nitr0 picked up two with his CZ.

The pistol round saw SK take the round that evened up the game on their CT side, before Twistzz nearly took the following round that'd possibly started the pingpong once again. With SK now holding a two round advantage, Liquid brought the next round to it's extremes ensuring they manage to get back within a round of the Brazilians, before shutting down SK's force to bring them equal once again. From there Liquid were on a roll, with ELiGE dropping a 3k bringing the Americans to a fourtenth round. SK managed to bring one back but Liquid instantly returned to get to match point, where Liquid just needed to beat an eco to become the first ESL One New York finalist, which they did not. Liquid bringing their traditional, er, suspense to this match as they had three rounds left to avoid another overtime. SK picked the next two rounds up as we somehow ended up once again at the 30th round. Liquid needing one round to secure the match, and SK needing it to keep their hopes alive.

Liquid managed it through a magnificent flank from stanislaw followed up by two kills from Twistzz and ELiGE putting the final nail in SK's coffin. Liquid finally took the map 16-14 and a 2-1 series win.

ESL One New York 2017

Bo3

1 - 2

Liquid

All maps

SK	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.0
Marcelo 'coldzera' David	85 - 54	+31	86.5	81.3%	1.37
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo	73 - 57	+16	82.4	75.8%	1.29
Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga	70 - 63	+7	89.9	78.0%	1.24
João 'felps' Vasconcellos	49 - 64	-15	65.6	63.7%	0.86
Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo	43 - 57	-14	49.9	65.9%	0.83

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.0
Josh 'jdm64' Marzano	66 - 57	+9	68.1	68.1%	1.07
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken	62 - 60	+2	73.3	74.7%	1.07
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski	62 - 66	-4	74.1	64.8%	0.97
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz	53 - 70	-17	77.6	61.5%	0.94
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella	52 - 67	-15	66.5	71.4%	0.90