Liquid survive NAVI comeback
Liquid vs NAVI has been one of this year's more interesting rivalries, the teams have met each other four times, with NAVI winning the first two of the year and Liquid taking bringing it level by winning their latest two matchups. With the BLAST Finals being the last tournament of the year, not only would the winner take themselves through to the Semi's they would also hold the bragging rights for the year.
The first map in the series would be Overpass with Liquid choosing to start on the Terrorist side, something that has begun to be a trademark of this lineup. Things got off to a rocky start for the NA side despite winning the pistol they found themselves 1-4 down, but the NA boys would prove their decision was the right one as they closed the half 9-6. Liquid closed out Overpass comfortably with a 16-10 scoreline with Jonathan "ELiGE" Jablonowski posting a 107 ADR performance on the opening map.
Map two would be Ancient, the map Liquid and NAVI dueled on at the Rio Major, where Liquid made a massive comeback on the CT side to overthrow the CIS squad. After just Four rounds Liquid already had more T rounds than they managed in the entire T half at Rio, with the score 4-1 in their favor, from their Liquid steamrolled culminating in an 11-4 half.
Liquid racked up two more rounds before NAVI got their first of the half. From there it looked like it might be NAVI's turn to convert a comeback on Ancient as the NA side struggled to establish their defense. A big clutch from Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy in the 26th round closed the gap to just two rounds, 14-12, and all the momentum was with the CIS side. NAVI would convert the comeback 16-14 to force a final map.
Josh "oSee" Ohm had been incredibly underwhelming so far in the series but the young AWPer was finally finding some groove as he was instrumental in securing 2/3 of Liquid's first rounds to take a slim 4-2 lead on Mirage. It would be more impact from the previously subdued AWPer that caused NAVI all the problems in the opening half as they took a 10-5 lead.
Things began to get sketchy once again as NAVI clawed some rounds back but at 13-9 but a big double kill from YEKINDAR finally gave Liquid a way past the defense. Another double kill from the Latvian rifler allowed the NA team to close the match 2-1 and move onto the Semi-Final.
LiquidNatus Vincere| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
73 - 52 | +21 | 92.4 | 79.0% | 1.38 |
 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
57 - 50 | +7 | 77.7 | 76.5% | 1.13 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
53 - 50 | +3 | 76.6 | 77.8% | 1.11 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
51 - 46 | +5 | 63.3 | 74.1% | 1.10 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
49 - 44 | +5 | 75.9 | 79.0% | 1.08 |
| Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev |
36 - 36 | +0 | 75.3 | 75.0% | 1.09 |
| Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev |
63 - 50 | +13 | 76.6 | 72.8% | 1.08 |
| Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy |
55 - 57 | -2 | 71.6 | 69.1% | 1.02 |
 Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov |
45 - 67 | -22 | 67.7 | 65.4% | 0.88 |
| Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy |
37 - 54 | -17 | 58.2 | 71.6% | 0.84 |
| Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi |
5 - 21 | -16 | 20.6 | 36.0% | 0.30 |
