Liquid narrowly move past Swedes
The Americans were pitted against the Swedes following NIP's victory yesterday over Evil Geniuses. Looking to avenge their fallen countrymen, Liquid certainly appeared dominant throughout the match, despite some missteps. NIP and Liquid decided to pick their battles on Overpass and Mirage, respectively, with Vertigo as the final map if needed (Spoiler: it wasn't).
The match started off on NIP's pick of Overpass, where the game began quietly, with NIP winning the first gun round after Liquid's opening pistol round win. After trading back and forth, it soon became clear that Liquid was on another level in the first half. The Americans would go on to win the subsequent nine rounds to secure the half 13-2. While it was looking like this would be wrapped up quickly as Nick "nitr0" Canella's men started their offense, it wasn't anything like that. Liquid failed to get anything going in the attack and it was shaping up to be a classic Liquid choke. With the lead slowly dwindling from 13-2 to 14-13, they were in trouble. However, thanks to some mistakes from NIP, Josh "oSee" Ohm was able to power his team through and secure the map 16-13.
A huge sigh of relief for every North American fan was exhaled as they thanked the stars Liquid did not let an incredibly comfortable lead slip away. With the momentum on the side of Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis and company, Mirage was poised to be where Liquid would wrap up the match in an easy 2-0. Starting off the match, the American T-side was back and forth against the Swedes. After conceding the pistol they were able to rally back and turn the scoreline 3-2 in their favor, but they didn't have that lead for long. Before they knew it, NIP rallied back to make it 6-3 before closing it out 9-6 at the half. With Liquid securing the second half pistol, they quickly tied it up 9-9 before losing control and falling back down 14-11. With backs against the wall, huge plays by Keith "NAF" Markovic led the Americans to rally back to eventually tie the game up at 15-15.
Heading into overtime, Liquid clearly had their pedal to the metal as they won the first half of overtime after crucial defensive plays. Switching over to their offensive side, the first round gave worry that they would not be able to close it out, but Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski was not about to let this game go the way of the Swedes and powered his team to a 19-17 win.
LiquidNinjas in Pyjamas| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
54 - 37 | +17 | 96.7 | 80.0% | 1.39 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
60 - 44 | +16 | 99.0 | 75.4% | 1.37 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
48 - 36 | +12 | 72.2 | 76.9% | 1.16 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
41 - 32 | +9 | 66.5 | 73.8% | 1.09 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
23 - 42 | -19 | 45.9 | 64.6% | 0.70 |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora |
52 - 46 | +6 | 85.3 | 66.2% | 1.13 |
| Hampus 'hampus' Poser |
40 - 46 | -6 | 74.5 | 63.1% | 0.96 |
| Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner |
38 - 45 | -7 | 68.5 | 67.7% | 0.93 |
| Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin |
37 - 48 | -11 | 65.7 | 60.0% | 0.85 |
 Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen |
23 - 41 | -18 | 39.0 | 56.9% | 0.66 |
Liquid, victorious, will now face off against Heroic on Saturday at 10:30AM.
