Liquid through after second map scare
Liquid came away with the victory, but it was not without a significant scare as a poor T-side on Mirage led to an overtime and several match points for the organization. Forsaken, despite losing on their own map, fought hard on Mirage to stave off elimination at the Showdown, with Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk and his teammates battling it out against a weakened NA squad.
The match got started on Forsaken's pick of Inferno, where Liquid got off to a hot start on their T-side after losing the pistol. They would win eleven rounds in a row before ending the half at 11-4. The second half was a bit more trouble for Liquid, but they took down the ESEA Advanced side 16-9 to go up one.
Mirage was a much worse story for Liquid as Forsaken were the ones to be significantly better at first, jumping ahead 7-0 before Liquid even knew what hit them. Specifically frustrating was how scared Liquid played against the #5 North American team. Eventually, Liquid found their groove, but it was too little too late as they lost the half.
While they were able to bring it back to only a 6-9 half, it was a dent that would be hard for Liquid to recover from. Forsaken's next half was just as potent, going up 13-6 and having victory within sight, largely through abusing coach and stand-in Damian "daps" Steele on the B-site. However it wasn't enough in regulation, and it enabled Liquid to come roaring back and be in position to win the game to close out the match. But, three T-side overtime rounds courtesy of a fumbled defuse made it an unmanageable comeback for Liquid. Liquid tried, but lost the map 19-17.
Overpass seemed to start the same way as Mirage with a 7-2 lead for Forsaken. But, the Advanced squad just ran out of steam and Liquid rolled their way to the finish line. They closed out the half strong 7-8 on the T-side and lost only a single CT round to finish off Overpass 16-9, and the series 2-1.
LiquidForsaken| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
77 - 48 | +29 | 93.4 | 78.8% | 1.38 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
59 - 56 | +3 | 80.6 | 72.9% | 1.20 |
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
60 - 48 | +12 | 69.6 | 78.8% | 1.17 |
 Robert 'Patsi' Isyanov |
59 - 56 | +3 | 80.4 | 69.4% | 1.13 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
47 - 57 | -10 | 59.2 | 65.9% | 0.88 |
| Forsaken |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'JBa' Barutt |
59 - 55 | +4 | 75.9 | 72.9% | 1.04 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
54 - 59 | -5 | 70.7 | 67.1% | 0.95 |
| Gage 'Infinite' Green |
54 - 59 | -5 | 71.4 | 64.7% | 0.94 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
49 - 69 | -20 | 71.4 | 58.8% | 0.84 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
44 - 61 | -17 | 59.5 | 62.4% | 0.76 |
