MIBR eliminated; Liquid, Renegades to fight for survival on final day of New Legends stage
The fourth day of the StarLadder Major Berlin New Legends stage has come to an end, with Natus Vincere seeing to the elimination of MIBR early on while Renegades and Liquid fought for survival against FaZe and North, respectively.
MIBR were first up to bat in one of the opening matchups of the day, kicking things off against Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and co. on their own pick of Mirage. An early 5-1 lead on the defense for Na`Vi gave way to a small comeback effort from MIBR, with the Brazilians managing to claw back six rounds in the half. A back-and-forth battle following the side swap allowed for MIBR to further close the gap to 10-11, but an impressive individual performance from Denis "electronic" Sharipov only allowed MIBR one additional round before Na`Vi closed out the opening map 16-11.
electronic's incredible form continued on the second map of Inferno, helping Na`Vi muster an 11-4 T-side half. Once they swapped over to the defense, the CIS side were unrelenting, swiftly closing out their own pick 16-4. electronic ended the series with a 2.01 rating, averaging 120 damage per round over the two maps for a +39 K-D.
Renegades were next up as they went head-to-head against FaZe, with both teams fighting for their tournament lives. An opening salvo of rounds on the T-side of Mirage allowed for Renegades to take a controlling lead at the start of the map, with FaZe only managing two to their name for an 8-2 scoreline.
The European roster managed to fight their way back into the half by taking four of the remaining five rounds in the half for a 6-9 scoreline, which they quickly equalized following a pistol round victory in the second half. Renegades found themselves on the backfoot as, for every round they won, FaZe responded with multiple rounds of their own, leading to a close brawl between the sides that ran into overtime.
A heroic effort from Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer saw the battle continue into a second overtime, where an ace by Jay "Liazz" Tregillgas helped Renegades stabilized and take control. Just one final round went the way of FaZe before the Australians took home a 22-19 victory to take the series to FaZe's pick of Nuke.
A stark departure from the narrow scorelines of the previous map saw FaZe completely obliterate Renegades on Nuke, mustering 13 rounds on the T-side of the map before cruising to a 16-3 victory.
The decider map of the series, Vertigo, saw a return to the narrow margins of the first map. This time it was FaZe who got off to a solid start, managing a streak of seven rounds to kick off the map before Renegades finally notched a round win of their own. A resurgence from Renegades, powered in part by a 1vs4 clutch by Liazz, saw the team redeem themselves towards the end of the half, reducing the deficit to 5-10 as they looked to make a comeback following the side swap.
A comeback is exactly what was in the cards for Liazz and company, with the team immediately equalizing the score following a five-round spree. FaZe replied by taking four of the ensuing five rounds to sit one round away from match point, but Renegades remained resilient as they fought for five final rounds to steal away the series with a 16-14 victory.
The final match for the Americas saw Liquid also fighting for survival as they went up against North. A 6-0 lead on the T-side of Mirage for the North Americans was quickly left by the wayside as North rallied back, giving up just a single additional round in the half to edge out a one-round lead. That lead did not last for long however, with Liquid swinging the momentum into their favor following the side swap to give up just four rounds on the road to a 16-12 finish.
Liquid once again took early control of the proceedings on Dust2 opening up the map with a 7-1 lead. North once again pushed back towards the latter portion of the half for a 9-6 scoreline, but were unable to notch a single round win on the T-side as Liquid cruised to a 16-6 finish.
With the conclusion of today's matches, just six teams are left standing in the New Legends stage. Only three of those teams will advance, with the final round of matchups looking as follows (with times in EDT):
2-2 Round | |
Renegades -vs- G2 | 6:00 AM |
Liquid -vs- mousesports | 9:15 AM |
Natus Vincere -vs- CR4ZY | 12:30 PM |