Americas teams clear lower bracket on day four of IEM Cologne
Fans of Americas teams had a particularly good day, seeing both FURIA and Liquid achieve victory in their opening series before the two clashed in an exciting do-or-die battle with a sole playoff spot on the line. The series proved to be as riveting as anticipated, with both maps reaching at least thirty rounds, with overtime needed to decide the series on the second map.
Liquid capitalize on Cloud9 crisis
The North American squad took no time taking advantage of a rather sluggish Cloud9 squad that dropped their series against Astralis in the upper bracket in a surprising fashion the day prior. Almost immediately, it was noticeable that Liquid was in a superior form compared to their CIS foes. That difference in form resulted in an 11-4 half for Liquid on their pick of Dust2. Cloud9 did their best to fight back, but Liquid suppressed the comeback on their map pick, locking it down 16-11.
Things were tighter in the first half of Vertigo, but it was more of the same once Liquid went back on the T-side. After the half switch, Liquid took their 9-6 lead and ran away with it, winning seven of ten rounds played on T-side to win the second map in an even more dominant fashion. Despite the Cologne slump, Cloud9 is a very strong team, and a decisive 2-0 by Liquid is something to celebrate.
LiquidCloud9| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
48 - 36 | +12 | 93.5 | 82.7% | 1.47 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
40 - 27 | +13 | 89.8 | 78.8% | 1.33 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
39 - 23 | +16 | 77.0 | 82.7% | 1.32 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
40 - 28 | +12 | 87.1 | 75.0% | 1.24 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
27 - 34 | -7 | 51.2 | 69.2% | 0.80 |
| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov |
42 - 35 | +7 | 80.2 | 82.7% | 1.20 |
| Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov |
35 - 38 | -3 | 83.8 | 67.3% | 1.11 |
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
27 - 41 | -14 | 67.5 | 61.5% | 0.81 |
| Timofey 'interz' Yakushin |
20 - 37 | -17 | 45.3 | 63.5% | 0.69 |
| Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov |
24 - 43 | -19 | 54.1 | 51.9% | 0.60 |
FURIA get their revenge
The Brazilians had Spirit in their sights, with the intention of enacting revenge over their CIS foes. FURIA found their form against a strong opponent in Sprit, surviving the three-map grind to get back on the right foot in the lower bracket.
After a sketchy Nuke performance, rifling star Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato showed up on Mirage and Overpass to serve as a major catalyst for FURIA's reverse sweep. Especially Mirage, where he answered the call in a huge way for the team to carry them in the 30-round war. When it came time for Overpass as a decider, FURIA was firing on all cylinders.
Spirit was no match for the red hot FURIA lineup, all of whom were mechanically on point at this stage in the series. FURIA overwhelmed Spirit on their T-side on Overpass, scoring ten rounds in the first half. The two were neck and neck in the second half, but FURIA gave their opposition no room for error, grinding their opponents out to earn the revenge 2-1 victory.
FURIASpirit| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
59 - 45 | +14 | 84.5 | 76.2% | 1.25 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
60 - 52 | +8 | 82.8 | 69.0% | 1.11 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
56 - 57 | -1 | 67.9 | 64.3% | 1.00 |
| André 'drop' Abreu |
46 - 54 | -8 | 61.8 | 72.6% | 0.98 |
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
51 - 49 | +2 | 64.5 | 69.0% | 0.97 |
| Spirit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov |
54 - 57 | -3 | 78.2 | 61.9% | 1.01 |
| Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev |
48 - 47 | +1 | 62.6 | 73.8% | 1.00 |
 Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov |
49 - 49 | +0 | 66.5 | 73.8% | 0.98 |
| Robert 'Patsi' Isyanov |
56 - 63 | -7 | 72.7 | 59.5% | 0.96 |
| Pavel 's1ren' Ogloblin |
47 - 57 | -10 | 59.4 | 67.9% | 0.85 |
Liquid survives the battle of the Americas
FURIA and Liquid met in the lower bracket in a domestic war with the playoffs on the line. Needless to say, the match lived up to expectations. The two teams needed 30 rounds to decide a winner on Liquid's pick of Ancient, but a massive performance from AWPer Josh "oSee" Ohm helped carry the team through to victory.
On Mirage, the teams needed overtime to decide a winner. With everything on the line, star talent Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski came alive on nearly every round for his team, ending the map with over 40 kills to lift the team up when it mattered most to secure the 2-0 win over their domestic foes.
LiquidFURIA| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
57 - 38 | +19 | 102.2 | 77.3% | 1.45 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
43 - 41 | +2 | 76.1 | 69.7% | 1.04 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
46 - 43 | +3 | 64.1 | 62.1% | 0.97 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
40 - 43 | -3 | 59.9 | 69.7% | 0.96 |
| Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
38 - 46 | -8 | 66.3 | 62.1% | 0.87 |
| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
55 - 42 | +13 | 84.1 | 69.7% | 1.22 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
48 - 45 | +3 | 81.7 | 66.7% | 1.06 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
41 - 52 | -11 | 67.4 | 62.1% | 0.88 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
36 - 43 | -7 | 65.0 | 66.7% | 0.86 |
| André 'drop' Abreu |
31 - 45 | -14 | 67.0 | 57.6% | 0.83 |
With their lower bracket run complete, Liquid have some time before they begin their arena adventures. Liquid are set to square off against Movistar Riders in the quarterfinals on Friday the 15th, at 01:00PM
