Liquid clinch win over Ninjas in Pyjamas at cs_summit 2
Liquid's first matchup at cs_summit 2 saw them facing Ninjas in Pyjamas, who last played an official match in the first week of December. With Keith "NAF" Markovic in tow, the North American roster debuted on Inferno, with Cobblestone and Overpass waiting in the wings.
The Swedes got off to a roaring start as they brushed off the dust from their jerseys, swiftly moving up to a 7-0 lead. Although Liquid brought a few rounds into close situations, the Ninjas won out in each clutch situation. It was a B site split through CT spawn that finally yielded Liquid their first round, putting a stop to the streak of the Swedes. A comeback wasn't on the cards as a reset immediately followed, throwing Liquid's economy into jeopardy.
Even with rifles in their hands, Liquid found it impossible to crack the Ninjas' defense. Their single round would remain the only one they would win in the half as the Swedes brought their CT side to a close with a 14-1 lead.
The second pistol round also went the way of Richard "Xizt" Landstrom and co., securing match point for the Ninjas. Liquid were able to answer back with two rounds of their own, but the Swedes quickly closed out the match 16-3 before Liquid could get comfortable.
Liquid finally took control of the match on map 2 as Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken secured four frags in the opening pistol round. The standard three round lead followed for the North Americans, with the Ninjas answering back in the first gun round. This time it was the Swedes who were promptly reset as NAF demolished three players in drop with a MAG-7.
Much like on Inferno, a one-sided half followed. Liquid held a 9-1 lead before three kills from Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund granted the Swedes their second round, but once again another reset tore apart any hopes of a comeback in the half. With control firmly in their hands, Liquid took a 13-2 lead going into the second half of Cobblestone.
The second pistol round of the map also went Liquid's way to put them in touching distance of match point; however, the Swedes replied back with a force-buy to halt Liquid from closing out the match early. The Ninjas took two more rounds before Liquid's rifles secured match point. A final trio of rounds went to Xizt and co. before the match was closed out by Liquid 16-8.
Liquid continued their run of form as a third pistol round went their way to open up Overpass. With three rounds in their hands, A B site hit from Liquid saw GeT_RiGhT frag four on the defense, but Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski replied with four frags of his own to take the round for Liquid.
It wasn't until the sixth round that the Swedes broke the T side's streak — three kills in bathrooms by William "draken" Sundin ensured that the Ninjas would put a round on the board. Liquid weren't able to reset NiP this time around despite doing immense damage, and the Swedes moved up to a 3-5 scoreline.
The duo of EliGE and Twistzz continued finding entry frags to take rounds for Liquid. The duo helped secure a trio of rounds before the Ninjas stabilized their economy. Despite being down 3-8, the Swedish side took the final four rounds to claw their way back into the half, reducing Liquid's lead to a single round.
The trend of both pistol rounds going to the same team was finally broken on the final map of the series. With the score tied up, the Ninjas took five of the following six rounds to put themselves in touching distance of the series, but NAF and EliGE put up a final stand for Liquid. Only one more round went to the Ninjas in the match as the North Americans fought back for the map win, stringing together the final cluster of rounds to edge out the win 16-14.
Ninjas in PyjamasLiquid| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 William 'draken' Sundin |
60 - 47 | +13 | 81.7 | 71.2% | 1.25 |
| Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg |
51 - 48 | +3 | 79.5 | 74.0% | 1.14 |
| Richard 'Xizt' Landström |
56 - 48 | +8 | 80.6 | 79.5% | 1.11 |
| Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner |
40 - 50 | -10 | 71.8 | 76.7% | 1.00 |
| Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund |
46 - 50 | -4 | 66.7 | 64.4% | 0.88 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
64 - 49 | +15 | 97.3 | 78.1% | 1.29 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
53 - 55 | -2 | 83.8 | 71.2% | 1.07 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
46 - 46 | +0 | 69.1 | 69.9% | 1.01 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
47 - 54 | -7 | 64.1 | 69.9% | 0.93 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
33 - 49 | -16 | 56.4 | 63.0% | 0.78 |
Liquid will face the winner of the last day one match between Cloud9 and Heroic in tomorrow's upper bracket semifinals.
