NAVI destroy Liquid to top Group B
For the final matchup coming out of Group B, Liquid succeeded through the upper bracket while NAVI fought through the lower bracket after an initial hurdle due to a loss to Complexity. Playing without their star AWPer, NAVI had a long trek in front of them if they wanted to unseat Liquid from their upper bracket cruise.
The teams agreed upon Dust2, a favorite on this site, for their duel. NAVI were challenged to attack first, but came out of the gates swinging, securing the pistol round. Some scout shots from Liquid, though, turned the second round in their favor as Josh "oSee" Ohm and Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis cut down their CIS opposition. The force buy wars weren't over as NAVI turned the game back in their favor with an eco of their own.
The rounds went back and forth once more, and NAVi secured the first back-to-back rounds in the fifth and sixth rounds of the game. However, they weren't satisfied with just two as the Ukrainian train continued up to a 7-2 advantage until a Nick "nitr0" Cannella three-piece saved the A site and put NAVI on an eco of their own.
Unfortunately, Liquid's CT success was short-lived. Although they won that anti-eco to cut NAVI's advantage to three rounds, a few quick jabs on the A site proved decisive for NAVI which then steamrolled the rest of the half. While NAVI held the most dangerous lead, 11-4, Liquid would need some incredible strategies to break through the bulwark of NAVI's defense.
Unfortunately for the Americans, their path became even harder with a NAVI crunch on the A site post-plant, eradicating the North American squad and putting NAVI only four rounds away from victory. Despite good attacks from Liquid, they never managed to make a round stick as NAVI took the map 16-4, absolutely wringing out both NA representatives in short notice.
LiquidNatus Vincere| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
13 - 14 | -1 | 69.8 | 65.0% | 0.98 |
 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
15 - 16 | -1 | 72.0 | 55.0% | 0.92 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
12 - 13 | -1 | 69.7 | 80.0% | 0.91 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
12 - 17 | -5 | 79.8 | 60.0% | 0.87 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
10 - 17 | -7 | 84.6 | 65.0% | 0.82 |
| Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy |
20 - 14 | +6 | 108.5 | 85.0% | 1.66 |
 Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy |
21 - 11 | +10 | 99.5 | 90.0% | 1.65 |
| Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev |
15 - 11 | +4 | 75.5 | 75.0% | 1.20 |
| Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov |
12 - 15 | -3 | 73.0 | 65.0% | 1.00 |
| Daniil 'headtr1ck' Valitov |
8 - 11 | -3 | 44.1 | 70.0% | 0.85 |
Although this initial bracket only served a seeding purpose for the knockout stage, this still puts a nice pecking order on Group B, with NAVI on top followed by Liquid, Complexity, and finally, G2 all the way at the bottom. With Group C yet to play their matches, the knockout stage picture isn't complete, but we can say for certainty that Complexity will be playing OG Thursday at 07:00AM. Liquid's match is yet undetermined, but they will play the victor between NIP and the worst performer in Group C.
