Liquid and NRG to SuperNova Malta grand finals
NRG and Liquid have claimed spots in the grand finals of SuperNova CS:GO Malta with 2-0 wins over HellRaisers and BIG, respectively. The two losing sides will still meet in a third place decider match tomorrow, with the winner taking home an extra $10,000 over their fourth place counterparts.
The day began with NRG picking apart HellRaisers. Ethan "nahtE" Arnold and Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte shined for their team to allow NRG to pick up a quick 2-0 win (16-4 Overpass, 16-9 Mirage).
Overpass began with NRG on the CT side, securing the first four rounds with three retakes before HellRaisers battled back to put two on the board themselves. The international team weren't able to maintain their momentum for long however, and quickly found themselves reset as NRG grabbed another quartet of rounds to take an 8-2 lead.
Although HellRaisers once again gave themselves a chance with another two rounds, NRG won out the remaining rounds of the half for a dominant 11-4 scoreline as they swapped sides. Taking the second pistol round for themselves, NRG ensured HellRaisers had no chance to comeback, and promptly brought the map to a 16-4 finish.
HellRaisers got off to a far better start on their own map pick of Mirage, mirroring NRG's scoreline on Overpass by going up 4-0 on their T side. NRG battled back for a round, but found themselves reset by HellRaisers in the ensuing round. Despite their poor economy, NRG persevered and took an additional trio of rounds before HellRaisers began trading rounds back and forth, with NRG eventually coming out on top with the final three to edge out the lead 8-7 at the half.
NRG took their third pistol round of the series in the second half, moving up to an 11-7 scoreline off the back of the economic win. HellRaisers managed to edge out another round, but were reset by NRG as the North American side put themselves on match point by taking four rounds straight. A last ditch effort by HellRaisers saw the international team find just one last round before NRG brought the map to a close 16-9 to secure themselves a spot in the grand finals.
HellRaisersNRG| HellRaisers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Özgür 'woxic' Eker |
31 - 36 | -5 | 77.2 | 66.7% | 0.97 |
 Issa 'ISSAA' Murad |
30 - 35 | -5 | 63.1 | 62.2% | 0.91 |
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
26 - 35 | -9 | 65.1 | 60.0% | 0.78 |
 Kirill 'ANGE1' Karasiow |
19 - 36 | -17 | 52.4 | 51.1% | 0.64 |
 Bence 'DeadFox' Böröcz |
15 - 37 | -22 | 56.0 | 55.6% | 0.63 |
| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
44 - 21 | +23 | 99.0 | 75.6% | 1.58 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
40 - 24 | +16 | 100.7 | 86.7% | 1.52 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
35 - 23 | +12 | 76.9 | 77.8% | 1.23 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
34 - 28 | +6 | 76.3 | 80.0% | 1.23 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
26 - 25 | +1 | 72.6 | 84.4% | 1.16 |
Shortly after NRG's win, Liquid went up against BIG, taking down the German-English mix 2-0 (16-14 Inferno, 16-10 Overpass).
BIG took the lead on Liquid's pick of Inferno, securing the first pistol round on their CT side to go up 2-0. Liquid evened the score to 2-2 once they had rifles, but BIG were swift to reclaim the lead with two rounds of their own as Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz stepped up to bat for his team. Liquid managed to battle back for another round, but BIG replied with four of their own to take a firm 8-3 lead before the North Americans could do anything else. The final four rounds were evenly split between the sides, giving BIG a 10-5 scoreline going into the second half.
Another pistol round win allowed for BIG to extend their lead to 12-5, but Liquid weren't ready to cave just yet. Varying between a double AWP setup between Nick "nitr0" Cannella and Epitacio "TACO" de Melo and a single AWP on nitr0, Liquid ground their way back into the game, taking a trio of rounds before BIG put up one of their own.
A reset followed, forcing BIG onto a double eco, and allowing for Liquid to take another three rounds to sit just shy of BIG's lead at 11-13. Owen "smooya" Butterfield helped his team to 14 rounds, but Liquid went on a five round run to close out the first map 16-14 in their favor.
A similar start kicked off Overpass, this time with Liquid taking the first two rounds on their T side. BIG battled back for the lead with three rounds of their own, but Liquid were quick to reply and mirrored BIG's results by securing a trio of rounds for a 5-3 lead. Again, BIG fought back for a round, but were reset by Liquid as the North Americans took another three rounds to extend their lead to 8-4. BIG managed one more round in the half, but it was Liquid who came out on top with the final two rounds of the half for a 10-5 lead of their own.
The second pistol round of the map also went the way of Liquid, allowing for them to extend their lead to 13-5. BIG put up a fight once they had guns once again, demolishing Liquid's economy to take five rounds straight and narrow the scoreline to 13-10. Once their economy stabilized, Liquid were quick to put a stop to BIG's comeback, securing the final three rounds of the map to claim a spot in the grand finals with a 16-10 win.
LiquidBIG| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
45 - 34 | +11 | 94.3 | 80.4% | 1.42 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
41 - 29 | +12 | 72.1 | 78.6% | 1.23 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
38 - 28 | +10 | 68.9 | 82.1% | 1.21 |
 Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
41 - 33 | +8 | 75.9 | 67.9% | 1.11 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
37 - 32 | +5 | 72.0 | 69.6% | 1.06 |
| BIG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz |
42 - 38 | +4 | 79.2 | 60.7% | 1.06 |
| Johannes 'nex' Maget |
34 - 42 | -8 | 78.6 | 62.5% | 0.90 |
| Fatih 'gob b' Dayik |
32 - 41 | -9 | 66.6 | 58.9% | 0.83 |
 Owen 'smooya' Butterfield |
26 - 40 | -14 | 52.9 | 60.7% | 0.77 |
| Tizian 'tiziaN' Feldbusch |
22 - 41 | -19 | 51.3 | 62.5% | 0.69 |
NRG and Liquid are set to face off in the grand finals of SuperNova CS:GO Malta tomorrow, with the best-of-three kicking off around 2 PM EST, shortly after the third place decider between BIG and HellRaisers.
