What to expect from Liquid v. Grayhound

It's the last hurrah for Liquid's leader Nick "nitr0" Cannella at IEM Dallas and the opening day could not have been more poetic for Captain America, for all the wrong reasons. During Liquid's dominant run in 2019 where they won the Intel Grand Slam, Danish giant Astralis was always a thorn in the North American's side and yesterday despite having many new faces in the four years since their rivalry peaked, Astralis beat nitr0 one last time 19-17 on Overpass. In the lower bracket today, Liquid will have to beat Grayhound to avoid an embarrassing last-place finish on home turf.

Liquid has nothing to lose

The last few months have been a rollercoaster for the North American lineup. Making the playoffs at IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League Season 17, and the BLAST.tv Paris Major, Liquid has won a single series in any of those playoff runs, beating Vitality in Poland. Now with their backs against the wall facing elimination against a seemingly much weaker team than them on paper and with roster changes looming, Liquid should brush off their day one loss and play with some freedom and passion, especially with a chance to play in front of a home crowd on the cards.

• NAF built off an exceptional Paris Major, with a 1.17 rating in their loss yesterday

• With YEKINDAR calling, nitr0 can let loose and pop some heads

• oSee needs to continue being the vocal hype man

Grayhound

With no PickEm's to ruin, Grayhound appears a lot less threatening in Dallas. Getting dunked on 16-2 by Cloud9 yesterday, the Australians did not show any of the fine form that led them to a 2-3 record in the Challengers stage. It remains to be seen if they can find that form again outside of a Major set up.

• INS went 22-15 despite losing 16-2 to Cloud9

• Vexite and Liazz provide strong firepower alongside INS

• aliStair needs to find more impact on the AWP

Previous Matchups

The most recent match between these two teams was incredibly recent and will be a strong incentive for Grayhound to seek revenge. Liquid sent the Aussies packing from Paris in the 2-2 Challengers stage game, winning 2-0 with 16-9 scorelines on Anubis and Inferno.

Likely Vetoes

I think it will follow a slightly different veto to last time, despite Grayhound's embarrassment on Ancient yesterday.

• Liquid permaban Vertigo

• Grayhound permaban Overpass

• Liquid pick Anubis - 100% win rate + beat Grayhound in Paris

• Grayhound pick Ancient - 72.7% win rate, Liquid 16.7% win rate

• Decider Inferno - both teams are comfortable on it

Conclusions

This should be routine enough for Liquid but with the NA side, nothing is guaranteed. Liquid is the heavy favorite around the 1.15 mark with bookmakers but as was pointed out previously, Grayhound will be out for vengeance.