Liquid are going to Rio de Janeiro
The end of the first day of the Americas RMR saw three NA teams with a 2-0 record, meaning two of them would face each other in a qualification match today. Complexity and Liquid were the chosen ones. The new names on the top tiers of Counter-Strike against major and Intel Grand Slam winners.
The IEM Road to Rio RMR system determines that any qualification and elimination match is played in a best-of-three series, and this series would see Inferno and Overpass being played for sure. If the series is tied after two maps, Ancient is the decider.
Inferno started well for Complexity, with the cowboys winning the CT-side pistol and the following two rounds. But then Liquid snapped and got 11 in a row, leaving the Complexity squad perplexed. The half ended with an 11-4 score before Liquid went to defend the bombsites.
The second half saw Liquid taking the pistol this time. With the economic advantage, Captain America and company took the game to match point straight away. The score was 15-4 before Complexity got their first T-side round win. Right after that, Justin "FaNg" Coakley and Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli managed to win a round with both players only having 9HP in a 2v2 situation against healthy opponents. Complexity seemed to be on a good run, but it was too much for them, as Liquid closed the map 16-9.
Overpass started off with Liquid winning the CT-side pistol and the next round. Complexity then put three straight on the board, thanks to two big rounds from Ricky "floppy" Kemery and one from hallzerk. The teams then started exchanging rounds before Liquid managed to win five in a row. With the 8-5 score favoring Liquid, Complexity tried to shorten the deficit before the half and managed to do so. 8-7 for Liquid was the result as teams switched sides.
The second half welcomed a new Liquid, some levels ahead of the Complexity squad. After winning the pistol and on the back of an amazing performance from Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, Liquid got six in a row to create a seven round cushion. Then floppy continued to be the defibrillator for his team, keeping them alive. After an incredible nine round comeback, Complexity managed to win the map 16-14, taking things to Ancient.
Ancient kicked off with Liquid winning the T-side pistol, but losing six in a round with floppy once again leading the charge. After that it was only Liquid. The team managed to tie the game up 6-6 and run away with it. The first half ended with a 8-7 score in favor of Liquid, who were now going to the CT-side of Ancient.
The second half saw Liquid rolling over Complexity. Liquid won the pistol and then seven more rounds, closing the game 16-7 and not losing a single round in the second half
ComplexityLiquid| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
73 - 50 | +23 | 93.7 | 64.1% | 1.28 |
 Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
46 - 55 | -9 | 67.4 | 65.4% | 0.86 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
41 - 63 | -22 | 66.4 | 62.8% | 0.77 |
 Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli |
39 - 60 | -21 | 53.2 | 60.3% | 0.73 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
42 - 67 | -25 | 60.3 | 64.1% | 0.72 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
75 - 50 | +25 | 95.9 | 76.9% | 1.41 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
62 - 42 | +20 | 80.1 | 80.8% | 1.38 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
58 - 44 | +14 | 76.6 | 83.3% | 1.20 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
56 - 56 | +0 | 81.1 | 71.8% | 1.17 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
44 - 51 | -7 | 71.9 | 75.6% | 1.00 |
With this result, Liquid will play EG to decide who goes directly through to the Legends stage and who has to play the Challengers stage beforehand. Complexity will face 00NATION tomorrow in another qualification match. If NA wins that match, the Complexity boys achieve Challenger status and the region gets one Legends spot and two Challengers spots, with the possibility of getting two Contenders spots if ATK and Nouns win their games tomorrow. Today was a good day for NA Counter-Strike.
