Liquid guarantee NA qualification
Liquid began their game immediately following the success of their countryman Evil Geniuses upsetting Brazilian powerhouse FURIA in a BO1 on Nuke to be the first team to reach the qualification stage. In this matchup, Liquid would also be facing a Brazilian squad in the form of MIBR who sport journeyman Henrique "HEN1" Teles. With both teams choosing to ban down to Ancient, the match was set to be hotly contested.
Liquid began the game on their CT-side, the significantly more favored side on the map, however they did not seem comfortable from the start. After losing the pistol and second gun round, the Americans quickly found themselves in a 6-1 hole. However, a solid string of rounds put them closer to 6-5, before trading blows ended the half at a 6-9 disadvantage.
MIBR looked to pounce in the second half and do just that by winning the pistol and securing a 11-7 lead after the break. Liquid, however seemed to respond early and keep it competitive by taking a 12-11 lead if just for a second. What happened in the subsequent rounds to make it 14-13 cannot be succinctly put into words. It was almost as if each team was trying to gift the other rounds wins as they traded kills, had misplays, and simply made mistakes that were incredibly unlike their own ability.
Besides the point, Liquid was now 14-13 after being down 0-5 and 6-9 at the half after a poor CT side. After a confusing buy from MIBR where they were still buying while Liquid was beginning the round, they somehow come away with the round after a mid-round audible to tie it up at 14-14. With one last failed full by round, Liquid looked like they would lose it all but their final, last ditch-effort proved successful as they forced OT.
Once in OT, it was as if Liquid had a switched flipped on their T-side as they would win two of the three rounds on that side. Despite not a full three round win, they switched to the conventional "easier" side on CT where Liquid simply had to close it all out.
LiquidMIBR| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
30 - 24 | +6 | 92.8 | 77.1% | 1.33 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
21 - 22 | -1 | 76.1 | 74.3% | 1.10 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
22 - 21 | +1 | 76.6 | 80.0% | 1.04 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
23 - 20 | +3 | 59.7 | 65.7% | 1.02 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
23 - 22 | +1 | 63.3 | 68.6% | 0.96 |
| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian |
25 - 24 | +1 | 80.2 | 68.6% | 1.10 |
| Breno 'brnz4n' Poletto |
22 - 28 | -6 | 77.8 | 62.9% | 0.98 |
| Matheus 'Tuurtle' Anhaia |
23 - 26 | -3 | 74.4 | 57.1% | 0.97 |
| Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
19 - 21 | -2 | 55.7 | 74.3% | 0.91 |
| Raphael 'exit' Lacerda |
19 - 21 | -2 | 56.9 | 68.6% | 0.90 |
