Liquid fall to Spirit in PW Shanghai Major quarterfinal
Half a year after missing out on qualifying for the first CS2 Major, Liquid's rebuild project has proven fruitful, with the newest roster iteration reaching the quarterfinals of the Perfect World Shanghai Major.
Spirit, regarded as one of the favorites to win the whole thing, stopped Liquid in their tracks with a 2-0 series win, after stealing Liquid's pick of Anubis 13-9 and then closing the match with a 13-11 Dust2 victory.
Liquid's journey in China started with a loss against region rivals Wildcard, but the squad didn't lose hope nor motivation, as the Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken-led Liquid bounced back with wins over KRÜ, BESTIA, and FURIA to advance to the Elimination Stage. There, they would qualify for the playoffs almost flawlessly, beating Cloud 9 and Wildcard 13-10, and then defeating FlyQuest 2-1 in a qualifying series.
Unfortunately for Liquid, the playoffs would not go the same way. Liquid would start the quarterfinal with a 6-3 lead on Anubis that turned into a 12-7 deficit all of a sudden. The map would end with a 13-9 score. Dust2 followed and it felt the same all the way until the end. This time Spirit led 7-5 at the half and at one point the scoreboard showed 12-6 in favor of the Russian squad. Liquid managed to fight back and almost send the game to overtime, but Spirit prevailed with a 13-11 win.
This is the end of the road for Liquid in Shanghai, but the squad has shown some good signs and will certainly be back stronger for the next Major cycle.
SpiritLiquid| Spirit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets |
47 - 25 | +22 | 104.3 | 87.0% | 1.63 |
| Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov |
31 - 20 | +11 | 72.3 | 82.6% | 1.18 |
 Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia |
30 - 23 | +7 | 58.3 | 78.3% | 1.11 |
| Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov |
27 - 33 | -6 | 74.1 | 76.1% | 1.05 |
| Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev |
24 - 28 | -4 | 64.2 | 73.9% | 0.94 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
29 - 29 | +0 | 67.9 | 69.6% | 0.95 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
24 - 31 | -7 | 66.1 | 76.1% | 0.87 |
 Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
25 - 32 | -7 | 58.5 | 58.7% | 0.81 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
27 - 33 | -6 | 72.0 | 69.6% | 0.81 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
23 - 34 | -11 | 59.7 | 71.7% | 0.81 |
