Cloud9 overcome Liquid, to decider
The second game today at the ECS Finals saw the two American teams of Cloud9 and Liquid face off for a spot in the Group B Decider match. The game was vetoed down to Mirage, Inferno and Cobblestone.
With Mirage starting the show, it was Cloud9's strong A-site hold to pick up the pistol round on their CT-side. With Cloud9 comfortably securing the first anti-eco, Liquid bought up into the following round to get on the board early. However Cloud9 had quickly built a strong enough economy ensuring they could return straight back into the next round. With what looked like starting to swap rounds, Jake "Stewie2K" Yip comes out with a monstrous 3k with the AWP, and started Cloud9 to create a small lead, 7-3 up.
Liquid weren't to be closed off just yet. Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski started to wake up, securing key kills as Liquid went off to even the scoreline. Josh "jdm64" Marzano was also remaining consistent, picking up two multi-kill rounds as Liquid moved on to be narrowly ahead at the half, with an 8-7 score.
With Cloud9 now on their T side, they slide on into the second half with another pistol round. Taking the following two rounds, avoiding a similar scenario to the first half, they instead lose the first full buy round. But Cloud9 retaliated fast, picking up four strong rounds with Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham securing a 3k in the middle of them.
Liquid weren't lying down, when on a mixed forcebuy they rushed through mid and claimed a round. From there they went rolling on into the game, picking up round after round including EliGE and Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken linking up multiple times to hold bombsites. With both teams on 14 rounds, Cloud9 struck to claim match point and the game itself, thanks to a critical performance from Will "RUSH" Wierzba proving pivotal at the end with Cloud9 taking the first map 16-14.
Inferno was up next, and it was Liquid securing a CT-side pistol round victory. Securing the first anti-eco, Cloud9 come out with a set of AKs with RUSH and Tarik "tarik" Celik linking up to get them on the board. However, Liquid answered back immediately thanks to a Nick "nitr0" Cannella 4k and they furthered their lead with another round. From there Cloud9 came out to string round after round together to take a narrow lead, before Liquid took the next round to even the score again.
The Liquid boys weren't looking to let the lead leave their grasp again, as EliGE and Twistzz once again combined to take multiple kills through consecutive rounds. Cloud9 came back to take another round thanks to a RUSH 4k, but Liquid returned to take the final two rounds of the half for a 9-6 lead.
The second half saw Cloud9 take the pistol round, following it up with the two anti-ecos. With the first full-buy round starting, Cloud9 kept it without dropping a single player. With a booming economy, Cloud9 started rolling as they had secured six rounds without response, with Timothy "autimatic" Ta remaining a consistent force for his side.
With Cloud9 looking like they were set to quickly take the match without dropping a second half round round, sitting on a 14-10 scoreline, Liquid secured a round in an attempt to remain within touching distance of the game. But it wasn't to be, as Cloud9 rallied for the final two rounds to take Inferno 16-10.
Cloud9Liquid| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
42 - 35 | +7 | 75.3 | 69.6% | 1.12 |
| William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
42 - 37 | +5 | 80.4 | 64.3% | 1.10 |
| Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham |
40 - 31 | +9 | 66.2 | 73.2% | 1.08 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
29 - 35 | -6 | 74.1 | 67.9% | 1.01 |
| Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
32 - 38 | -6 | 67.7 | 64.3% | 0.95 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'jdm64' Marzano |
43 - 34 | +9 | 78.0 | 71.4% | 1.17 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
37 - 38 | -1 | 81.6 | 67.9% | 1.12 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
37 - 37 | +0 | 68.5 | 71.4% | 0.94 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
34 - 41 | -7 | 79.0 | 67.9% | 0.93 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
24 - 35 | -11 | 45.4 | 66.1% | 0.78 |
This result sees Liquid go home, and Cloud9 head on to face FaZe. Next up in Cancun will see the tournament return to Group A and see OpTic face off against mousesports at 15:15 EST.
