What to expect from Liquid v. ENCE

Liquid are the king of starting off important events with a few missteps. Every Major it feels like the squad, regardless of who is actually playing, takes a few games before they hit their stride. Well, for Gamers8, that is not allowed. The do-or-die single elimination bracket pits Liquid against the red-hot ENCE. Winners of IEM Dallas and runners-up at IEM Cologne, ENCE are firing on all cylinders and ready to punish Liquid and make them turn right back around to their facilities in Utrecht.

Liquid languishing

It's no secret that the dream European roster for Liquid has not gone the way anyone hoped. Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis has transitioned to the IGL full-time at the expense of his fragging ability, while newcomers Robert "Patsi" Isyanov and Aleks "Rainwaker" Petrov have had difficulty bedding into the team. Meanwhile, Joshua "oSee" Ohm and Keith "NAF" Markovic have had to adjust to a new European lifestyle. Safe to say, it's been a bumpy road for Liquid so far.

• oSee has a 0.94 Impact rating over the last three months.

• NAF has a 1.08 HLTV Rating against Top 5 opponents since May

• YEKINDAR continues to struggle to balance being an IGL of this brand new team

• Rainwaker, while still adjusting, hasn't been a major liability in his jump from T2 to T1

EZ4ENCE

ENCE are one of the hottest teams in the world right now. They can't be stopped as they took the crown in Dallas and got second at IEM Cologne. It's been a nice way for the team to close out one season while opening up the second half. For Dane Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer, this team has been able to fight amongst the world best and be the 4th best team in the world, despite no BLAST partnership for Louvre Agreement membership.

• ENCE are just an unstoppable unit right now, how can you stop them?

• SunPayus showing off why ENCE decided to pick him all that time ago

• NertZ continues to be a revelation and showing that Israeli CS is on the map

• It's important for maden and dycha to continue being a solid backbone of the team

Previous Matchups

Surprisingly, these teams have not played one another with these cores.

Likely Vetoes

The vetoes for each team are actually somewhat favorable should Liquid try to go the distance. Considering ENCE's form, Liquid will still be considered the underdogs in today's matchup.

• Liquid remove Nuke; Permaban

• ENCE remove Inferno; Permaban

• Liquid pick Vertigo: Liquid have been playing the map more, while ENCE don't

• ENCE pick Anubis; ENCE are flawless while Liquid are flawful

• Decider is Ancient.

I can see ENCE getting the vetoes down to either Ancient or Mirage and Liquid trying to avoid Overpass given their recent struggles.

The game is currently scheduled for 02:00PM and will be broadcast here.