Liquid win cs_summit 2 by defeating Cloud9 3-2
In a surprising turn of events, the grand final of cs_summit 2 saw Liquid facing Cloud9 in a best-of-five series, with Cloud9 having a one map advantage due to coming from the upper bracket. The series kicked off on Train, leaving Mirage, Cache, and Overpass in reserve should they be needed.
Liquid got off to a hot start by taking the pistol round and converting the ensuing anti-ecos and first two gun rounds. Down 0-6 on their CT side, Cloud9 heavily stacked A site on an eco round to catch Liquid off guard, granting them their first round in the series.
An immediate reset was avoided as Jake "Stewie2k" Yip found three frags, keeping Cloud9's economy healthy. Although Liquid secured a seventh round for themselves, Cloud9 were firmly back in the match as they began racking up rounds of their own, allowing Liquid only one more round in the half to begin the second half with only a round of difference between the squads.
Cloud9 evened the score in the second pistol round, but suffered heavy losses in the anti-eco round that followed. Although they were victorious, Tarik "tarik" Celik barely snagged the win by finding three frags and taking down Nick "nitr0" Cannella in a one-on-one with 1 HP.
From here Liquid took firm control using a double AWP setup between nitr0 and the newcomer Keith "NAF" Markovic. B site hits were shut down by Lucas "steel" Lopes and nitr0 working in tandem, allowing Liquid to quickly move their way up to 14 rounds. A light-buy B site hit finally cracked open the bombsite for Cloud9, giving them one last opportunity to get back into the match.
With Liquid's economy in tatters, tarik & co. took the opening that was granted to them and claimed 14 rounds for themselves. Tied up at 14-14, Liquid found match point first; however, they were unable to close the map out as Stewie and tarik combined in the 30th round for all five frags, taking the map into overtime.
Overtime resulted in more of a back-and-forth brawl than regulation between the two sides, but Liquid fought through Cloud9's defense after the side swap to close out the match 19-17.
Mirage started much like Train in that Cloud9 took an early lead without contest, putting five rounds on the board. When Liquid replied back with a round of their own, they replied in full force to even the score at 5-5 — in stark contrast to Train's back-and-forth.
Will "RUSH" Wierzba helped Cloud9 regain their lead by picking up three kills, but the team found themselves immediately reset as Liquid took firm control of the precedings. The final four rounds in the half saw Liquid abuse Cloud9's crushed economy, spurring on a 9-6 lead going into the second half.
Liquid continued to maintain firm control as the second pistol round went their way, granting them an easy path to a 12-6 lead. Even with Cloud9 on rifles, Liquid had little issue dismantling the defense and claimed 14 rounds once again. This time they were able to close out the match, allowing Cloud9 only two rounds before shutting them down.
A fast B site hit from Liquid in Cache's opening pistol round gave nitr0 the room he needed to find 3 kills; however, a collateral deagle kill from Stewie on Cloud9's force-buy pulled the momentum back into Cloud9's favor, with Stewie ending the round with another deagle frag.
This momentum became the catalyst for Cloud9's CT half as they locked Liquid out for the rest of the half, finding round after round until they sat upon 13 rounds. It wasn't until the final round in the half that Liquid cracked through the tight defense, granting them a second round going into their CT side.
Three kills from NAF gave Liquid much needed hope in the second half, and allowed them to claim their fourth pistol round in the series. With both pistol rounds in hand, Liquid began the enormous task of mounting a comeback from being down 13-3. A relatively easy mop up in the first gun round seemed to put Liquid in good sorts to extend their comeback, but a fast A take with pistols from Cloud9 surprised the Liquid side and granted Cloud9 14 rounds.
Liquid immediately reset Cloud9 and continued their form by taking five rounds, but a one-on-two clutch from Stewie finally ended Liquid's hopes of winning in regulation, and secured match point for his side. From here Cloud9 quickly brought the map to a close before Liquid's comeback hopes could be realized, taking us to the fourth and final map of Overpass.
Liquid added yet another pistol round to their tally as they looked to take control of Overpass; unfortunately, heavy losses in the ensuing anti-eco allowed Cloud9 to crush the Liquid economy in the ensuing round. Although they were up 2-1, Liquid were immediately forced to spend all their residual cash, but managed to convert the round thanks to two CZ kills on the B site from NAF.
Cloud9 took a trio of rounds in reply, looking to extend their lead; however, the teams traded rounds back-and-forth once again — this time, Liquid came out ahead to claimed the lead from Cloud9. This saw five of the last six rounds in the half go the way of Liquid, giving the underdogs a 9-6 lead going into the final half of the series.
The Major champions evened the score by taking the final pistol round for themselves, but Liquid answered back once they had guns to take two rounds of their own. Stewie & co. weren't willing to let the map go that easy as they brought the difference in rounds down to one, but Liquid once again showed resilience by pulling ahead.
Cloud9Liquid| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
84 - 80 | +4 | 81.7 | 69.9% | 1.07 |
| Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
75 - 80 | -5 | 76.1 | 69.0% | 1.02 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
69 - 89 | -20 | 73.0 | 63.7% | 0.93 |
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
71 - 83 | -12 | 68.4 | 61.9% | 0.88 |
| Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham |
59 - 79 | -20 | 60.3 | 69.0% | 0.86 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
94 - 70 | +24 | 89.0 | 78.8% | 1.30 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
91 - 70 | +21 | 84.1 | 78.8% | 1.25 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
79 - 73 | +6 | 87.0 | 72.6% | 1.18 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
72 - 68 | +4 | 66.4 | 70.8% | 1.05 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
73 - 78 | -5 | 67.8 | 68.1% | 0.93 |
Liquid's debut event with their new roster shows immense potential for the future. Both Cloud9 and Liquid are set to compete at StarSeries i-League Season 4, which begins February 17th.
