Liquid fall to FaZe in EPICENTER semifinal
After Liquid's win over AVANGAR in the Group B winners' match on Thursday, they went straight to the semifinal and avoided playing yesterday. As such, they were afforded a match against FaZe, after the Europeans took a 2-0 victory over NiP in the quarterfinal.
The two teams vetoed down to Mirage, Inferno and Overpass. Mirage began with Liquid taking the pistol and following anti-eco round, but from the third round it was FaZe who had started to take control. Liquid were shut out from claiming too many rounds, with the Europeans bringing out some strong offensive plays, it was not a surprise that they were 9-6 up at the half.
The second half started out in a similar fashion, with Liquid taking the first two rounds before FaZe picked up the third. Unlike the first half, it was FaZe who constantly pushed forward and made their way to map point. Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken was able to secure a clutch to keep their hopes alive, but FaZe finished it up in the following round for a 16-9 win.
Inferno followed, and once again it was Liquid who picked up the pistol round, this time pushing on to the third round as well. With Liquid going 4-1 up, it was FaZe who'd claim the middle of the half for themselves, with Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács being his team's top performer. The end of the half was, like the start, for Liquid, as Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski kicked off a run of rounds that'd see them go into the break as narrow 8-7 leaders.
The second half was not in Liquid's favor. It began with FaZe taking the first three rounds fo the half, and although Liquid were able to take the first gun round, it was instantly reset by the European team. From there, Liquid were only able to secure three more rounds as FaZe went all the way to the end, taking the map in a 16-12 victory.
LiquidFaZe| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
35 - 38 | -3 | 73.5 | 67.9% | 1.05 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
37 - 35 | +2 | 79.2 | 66.0% | 1.04 |
 Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
33 - 39 | -6 | 71.5 | 62.3% | 0.94 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
33 - 35 | -2 | 64.9 | 71.7% | 0.93 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
22 - 41 | -19 | 52.9 | 69.8% | 0.76 |
| FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
43 - 33 | +10 | 88.4 | 79.2% | 1.32 |
 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács |
39 - 28 | +11 | 71.7 | 69.8% | 1.26 |
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
43 - 35 | +8 | 83.3 | 69.8% | 1.12 |
 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard |
35 - 34 | +1 | 69.5 | 75.5% | 1.07 |
 Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer |
28 - 30 | -2 | 61.4 | 79.2% | 0.98 |
This result means Liquid finish the tournament in 3rd/4th, claiming $20,000, with FaZe set to face off against Natus Vincere in the grand final later today.
