Liquid take down INTZ to advance to ECS Season 8 Week 4 grand finals
Liquid have secured themselves a spot in the grand finals of the fourth week of ECS Season 8 following a two-map series win over INTZ.
Although Liquid kicked off INTZ's pick of Mirage with a pistol win, a force-buy from the Brazilian side allowed them to immediately answer back and run up a 4-1 lead. Liquid took a trio of rounds to equalize the score, with INTZ only notching two more in the half before Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski and Jake "Stewie2K" Yip helped to power their side to a 9-6 scoreline.
Another pistol win and second round conversion had Liquid extend their lead to 11-6 before INTZ were able to fight back, securing five of the ensuing six rounds to put themselves within one round of their opposition. EliGE and company refused to concede control however, winning four in a row for a 16-11 victory.
Three rounds on the offense gave Liquid early control on Dust2, but INTZ were able to take seven straight in reply to pull ahead. Liquid still maintained a one-round lead at halftime however, thanks in part to a strong showing from Stewie2K. A 1vs2 clutch from Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken following the side swap gave Liquid their fourth pistol round win of the series, but a quad kill and 1vs2 clutch from Gustavo "yel" Knittel put INTZ back on the board as the Brazilians looked to stabilize.
Two more rounds went the way of INTZ before Liquid answered back, with the two teams battling for control. INTZ briefly gained the lead at 11-10, but a reply back from Liquid had the North American roster go on a five-round spree to attain match point, with the team dropping a single round before closing the series with a 16-12 map win.
LiquidINTZ| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
46 - 33 | +13 | 83.9 | 72.7% | 1.29 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
42 - 35 | +7 | 83.0 | 67.3% | 1.16 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
34 - 28 | +6 | 71.2 | 74.5% | 1.11 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
29 - 32 | -3 | 67.5 | 80.0% | 1.03 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
27 - 31 | -4 | 53.8 | 76.4% | 0.95 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
39 - 31 | +8 | 75.4 | 69.1% | 1.19 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
38 - 36 | +2 | 81.7 | 67.3% | 1.08 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
32 - 38 | -6 | 60.1 | 67.3% | 0.89 |
| Bruno 'shz' Martinelli |
25 - 34 | -9 | 51.2 | 70.9% | 0.84 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
25 - 39 | -14 | 51.0 | 60.0% | 0.73 |
Liquid now await the winner of the second semifinal matchup between ATK and Complexity, set to kick off at 5 PM EDT tomorrow.
