Liquid and Renegades advance to New Champions stage
The final day of the StarLadder Major Berlin New Legends stage has come to a thrilling conclusion, with Renegades and Liquid joining NRG in the New Champions stage.
Renegades vs. G2 was the first series to commence today, with the Australians looking to retain their Legends spot against Richard "shox" Papillon and co. Starting on Vertigo, G2 got off to an early lead as after Renegades won the opening pistol G2 found the next three rounds. Following this, Renegades would answer back with three rounds of their own, keeping up the pressure as the two teams traded rounds back-and-forth. Renegades ultimately ended the half on top after winning the last four rounds in a row.
Moving onto their T-side, Renegades further entrenched their lead thanks to a pistol round 3k by Joakim Myrbostad. Following this, Renegades managed to hold strong, keeping their lead throughout the half to claim Vertigo 16-11.
On Dust2, the opening half ended up being incredibly close as although Renegades started their CT-side off by winning the first three rounds, G2 was hot on their heels, quickly following it up with four rounds of their own. The remainder of the half played out in a similar fashion as the two squads traded runs of rounds, with Renegades ultimately leading by a single round.
After switching sides, the map began to tilt towards G2 as they won the first five rounds in a row to take the score to 12-8. Following this, Renegades were only able to cobble together three more rounds before G2 forced a third map with a 16-11 finish.
With the series tied up, Renegades rebounded on Inferno after winning their T-side pistol, as although G2 continued to find rounds, Renegades managed to hold onto their lead for the entirety of the half, taking it 8-7. Moving onto their CT-side they looked even better frustrating G2's efforts, only allowing the French team to claim two more rounds before taking the map 16-9.
RenegadesG2| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas |
62 - 41 | +21 | 84.1 | 72.2% | 1.25 |
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
65 - 52 | +13 | 89.8 | 72.2% | 1.23 |
| Justin 'jks' Savage |
53 - 47 | +6 | 80.2 | 74.7% | 1.16 |
| Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
54 - 46 | +8 | 70.7 | 75.9% | 1.08 |
 Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai |
53 - 51 | +2 | 68.9 | 68.4% | 1.08 |
| G2 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 François 'AMANEK' Delaunay |
52 - 55 | -3 | 71.7 | 70.9% | 1.07 |
| Richard 'shox' Papillon |
55 - 56 | -1 | 73.6 | 68.4% | 1.04 |
| Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub |
52 - 56 | -4 | 71.4 | 63.3% | 0.99 |
| Lucas 'Lucky' Chastang |
37 - 59 | -22 | 59.4 | 62.0% | 0.76 |
| Audric 'JACKZ' Jug |
41 - 63 | -22 | 59.5 | 63.3% | 0.74 |
The second series of the day saw Liquid narrowly claim a 2-0 over mousesports and make their way into the playoffs. Starting on Mirage, Liquid claimed three out of the first five rounds before mousesports claimed the lead with three rounds of their own. mousesports' lead was short-lived as Liquid had rebounded in the closing rounds of the half, finding six out of the next seven rounds to claim to a 9-6 lead at the half.
Continuing on, after mousesports won the second pistol round, Liquid sprang into action, winning the next five rounds to climb up to fourteen rounds. With their backs against the wall, mousesports closed the gap winning the next six rounds in a row before the two teams ended up in overtime. In overtime, mousesports nearly forced a second overtime before Jake "Stewie2K" Yip and co. claimed Mirage 19-17.
On Dust2, Liquid and mousesports looked poised to play another incredibly close game as the two teams went tit-for-tat, with Liquid's strong T-side granting them a narrow one round lead. Continuing onto their CT-side, Liquid finally had their chance to be in the lead as they won the pistol round and three out of the next four rounds to climb up to 11-9.
However, their lead was quickly blown away as David "frozen" Čerňanský and co. mobilized, winning six out the next eight rounds in a row to find map point. With the prospect of having to play Inferno looming, Liquid illustrated why they are one of the most mechanically skilled teams in the scene as an amazing 3k Desert Eagle play by Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski paved the way for Liquid to force overtime.
In overtime, it continued to be a highlight reel for Liquid as although mousesports continued to fight on, a literal last second clutch by EliGE and a 3k by Stewie2K were just barely enough in the end for Liquid for win the second overtime 22-20.
LiquidMOUZ| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
60 - 45 | +15 | 78.8 | 82.1% | 1.26 |
 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
59 - 51 | +8 | 81.4 | 70.5% | 1.18 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
59 - 53 | +6 | 90.6 | 64.1% | 1.16 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
53 - 53 | +0 | 67.7 | 74.4% | 1.04 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
37 - 51 | -14 | 54.4 | 69.2% | 0.84 |
| MOUZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
60 - 57 | +3 | 88.7 | 73.1% | 1.18 |
 Özgür 'woxic' Eker |
54 - 54 | +0 | 78.1 | 69.2% | 1.12 |
 David 'frozen' Čerňanský |
56 - 50 | +6 | 80.4 | 61.5% | 1.08 |
 Robin 'ropz' Kool |
43 - 52 | -9 | 59.3 | 66.7% | 0.87 |
 Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong |
40 - 56 | -16 | 53.6 | 61.5% | 0.73 |
With the New Legends stage all wrapped up, the New Champions stage is set to start on September 5th with the following quarterfinals matchups in EDT:
| September 5th: | ||
| Vitality |
vs.  AVANGAR |
9 AM |
 ENCE |
vs. Renegades |
12:30 PM |
| September 6th: | ||
 Natus Vincere |
vs. NRG |
9 AM |
| Astralis |
vs. Liquid |
12:30 PM |
