The flop has been stopped: Liquid beat Complexity to stay alive
The North American derby has drawn to a close, with Liquid stepping past Complexity after a two-map affair. Despite the heroic efforts of Ricky "floppy" Kemery, who posted a 1.31 series rating despite the loss, there was little he could do to stop Liquid, who were firing on all cylinders.
The tragic meeting began on Liquid's pick of Ancient, where Liquid took a nice 5-2 lead to start their pick on the T-side. Complexity rallied back thanks to a 1.78 CT-side rating from Johnny "JT" Theodosiou, narrowly grabbing hold of the lead at the half 8-7. Liquid snatched the second pistol, but Complexity immediately answered back with three rounds of their own to widen their lead 11-8. However, this didn't last long as Richard "shox" Papillon and Keith "NAF" Markovic powered Liquid to victory, with the team winning eight of the next nine rounds to secure their pick 16-12.
While Complexity's pick of Vertigo started a bit back-and-forth, Liquid ultimately pulled away with the lead thanks to NAF's 2.10 CT-side rating, seeing Liquid go on a tear to take a 12-3 lead at the half. Complexity snagged the second pistol round and the subsequent round, but Liquid answered with the next three rounds to put themselves on match point. Down 15-5, floppy and Michael "Grim" Wince put up stellar numbers to keep Complexity alive, with 1.93 and 1.58 CT-side ratings respectively. With the duo's performance, Complexity was able to win seven rounds in a row, but Liquid finally seized the final round they needed to close the map 16-12, keeping them alive at Complexity's expense.
ComplexityLiquid| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
51 - 43 | +8 | 103.9 | 76.8% | 1.31 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
34 - 39 | -5 | 74.6 | 75.0% | 1.05 |
 Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
37 - 38 | -1 | 63.7 | 67.9% | 0.91 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
32 - 41 | -9 | 68.0 | 67.9% | 0.90 |
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
26 - 41 | -15 | 51.0 | 62.5% | 0.70 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
47 - 31 | +16 | 88.4 | 76.8% | 1.35 |
 Richard 'shox' Papillon |
47 - 37 | +10 | 80.6 | 75.0% | 1.27 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
44 - 37 | +7 | 80.7 | 76.8% | 1.17 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
37 - 40 | -3 | 71.5 | 76.8% | 1.05 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
27 - 38 | -11 | 62.4 | 78.6% | 0.96 |
Also read: nitr0: "Tomorrow, it's a Major, it's the biggest tournament, the better team's gonna win"This game is exactly what Liquid needed to rejuvenate their players. After a slow start to the event, NAF found his footing versus Complexity with a 1.35 series rating. Additionally, French veteran shox was able to contribute heavily to his team's success as well, with a 1.27 rating. Josh "oSee" Ohm posted a respectable 1.17 rating, while Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski is still struggling to reach his star potential with a 1.05 series rating. If NAF and shox can keep up these performances into tomorrow, with some help from oSee or EliGE Liquid certainly are capable of pushing themselves over the line.
With this showing, Liquid now find themselves in the 2-2 group, where they could face a wide variety of opponents depending on the results of today's remaining matches. Depending on how the games pan out, Liquid could play any of ENCE, Astralis, Bad News Eagles, or forZe. While some opponents would undoubtedly be preferable to others, Liquid will have to bring their A-game no matter who they face if they want to move on to the Legends stage.
