nitr0: "It's a completely different game when you are IGLing"

Liquid completed their miraculous reversal of fortunes with a 2-0 win over British underdog side Into the Breach. The win means Liquid will be the first NA team in Major playoffs since 2019, and it also means they will be the only non-European representation left in the competition.

After a close first map on Overpass, where the British side ran the team all the way to overtime eventually losing to the NA team 17-19. The second map was a lot less competitive, Liquid ran away with Anubis 16-9 to secure their spot in the playoffs.

Nick "nitr0" Canella spoke to Dust2.us' Arnie Petty after the team win, with the IGL speaking about being the only Americas team left in the competition, his upturn in individual form, and the match against the British underdogs. You can watch the full interview below.

Congratulations, you have qualified for playoffs! What are your initial thoughts on the game?

It was a bit harder than I expected, they had a lot of resilience. It's crazy at Majors even the weaker teams on paper always put up fights, it's so fun. I think they played well, they still have a good chance of qualifying if they play how they have been playing.

Let's talk about map one, it was super close, went to OT. Is there anything about it that made it so close?

We had a really good start then we couldn't really keep getting the rounds together that we wanted to. They were playing super aggressively and they were catching us off guard; we were ready for the aggression but we weren't capitalizing on what we thought was going to happen. They were getting opening entries a lot so it was really hard, especially on a map like Overpass 4v5's are pretty hard already. They caught us off guard with a lot of their aggression.

They picked Anubis, one of their better maps but also one of your strongest, did that surprise you?

Yeah we were actually surprised they picked Anubis, historically it's a pretty good map for us. We are one of the most tenured teams on the map because we started playing it in December when it first came out to get reps on it. We weren't expecting Anubis, we were expecting a different map, we were really happy to see the Anubis pick.

Since coming back you have struggled with your individual skill, but at this Major you have more than been holding your own. Have you been working on it or is it the role changes that have helped you?

I have been trying to figure this out for a while, honestly. I think with YEKINDAR helping calling has really helped me focus more on my own decisions and when you are not calling it's a lot easier to focus on getting the frags you need to be getting. Whereas when you are calling you are fully focused on the macro stuff. It's just hard, it's a completely different game when you are IGLing and you wouldn't know that until you do it at a tier one level, I think it's just a combination of him helping out calling and me being able to play my own game.

Liquid will need to wait for the final day of Legends Stage to find out their opposition for their first Major playoff appearance since Starladder Berlin 2019.