Liquid's qualification over ITB; what went right?
Licking their wounds following a close win against Heroic in the 2-0 pool, Liquid looked to bounce back with a clean win over Into the Breach to claim a place in the Champions Stage of the BLAST.tv Paris Major. After a tight overtime finish on their pick of Overpass, Liquid quickly swept up the series on Anubis to punch their ticket for the Accor Arena. What were the keys to Liquid's success in this series?
(Almost) everyone came to play
Unlike Liquid's lopsided victory over NAVI, where only Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis had a showing to write home about, almost every player on Liquid put up solid numbers in the series versus ITB. Most notably, Josh "oSee" Ohm put up a star performance, averaging a 1.50 rating across the series with a 1.65 rating on Anubis, his highest individual map rating ever at a Major. Not far behind was Keith "NAF" Markovic with a 1.35 series rating, with the Candian being a consistent piece for Liquid so far in this Major, ranking as the third-highest rated player in the Legends Stage with an average rating of 1.29.
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oSee and NAF topped the charts with 1.50 and 1.35 ratings
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nitr0 and YEKINDAR supported them with 1.14 and 1.12 ratings
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EliGE has still yet to find his form this Major, with a 0.83 series rating and a 0.89 overall average rating
ITB drowning in the map pool
With Liquid's permaban being ITB's most-played map of Vertigo, the Brits immediately found themselves in a disadvantageous situation in regard to the veto. ITB's ban of Nuke was also something that worked out in Liquid's favor, as it has been a map that the American side struggled on during the Challengers Stage. As such, in order to contend with Liquid, ITB took drastic measures and opted to pick Anubis. While the new map is no doubt a solid one for the Brits, it's also quite a strong one for Liquid, who have a 100% win rate over the past three months. There can be no doubt that the nature of the maps in play gave a huge advantage to Liquid, one that they were sure to capitalize on.
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Liquid permaban's ITB's most played map, while ITB permabans one of Liquid's worst
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ITB's Anubis pick played right into Liquid's hand
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Had the series gone to a third map, Liquid's Inferno has looked impressive so far, with a win over NAVI and a close loss to Heroic
Liquid will now be waiting for the results of the 2-2 matchups to determine their opponent in the quarterfinals of the BLAST.tv Paris Major playoffs, with GamerLegion, Natus Vincere, and Apeks being just a few of the potential opponents they may face.
