Renegades send fnatic home, Liquid take down Virtus.pro
We've had two games running at once this morning in Kiev, with fnatic and Renegades doing battle in the elimination game, while Liquid were taking on Virtus.pro in a 1-1 tie.
Renegades and fnatic were set to face off on Mirage, Cobblestone and Inferno. It was the Swedish side who kicked off the match, with Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson taking an ace on the pistol round, and then kept on winning rounds to prevent Renegades from getting into the game. The game continued on like this for 11 rounds of CT-sided domination.
When the Australians finally managed to secure a round, fnatic instantly answered back to keep them down. However the final two rounds went the way of a force buy and narrow win for Renegades to still be in the game, albeit with fnatic putting a 12-3 wall up in-front of them.
The second half was much like the first, however just the other way. The Australian side claimed the pistol and two anti-ecos, before going on a nine-round unbeaten run to even up the match. Justin "jks" Savage and Aaron "AZR" Ward had come alive in the second half to see their team through.
But fnatic had experience of being in this position and weren't going to go down easy. Jesper "JW" Wecksell and KRIMZ woke up in their next round to push the Swedish team just one round away from match point, at 14-12. But Renegades were determined to get back into it, winning the next eco round to prevent fnatic from reaching it. From there the Australians reached map point, and had Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad take the final kill to complete their comeback at 16-14.
Cobblestone was next up in this tie, and Renegades claimed the pistol round on their CT-side. But the Swedish side secured a minor pistol forcebuy, with KRIMZ leading the charge, to take the next three rounds. But the two sides then had patchy form throughout the remainder of the half, with jkaem helping Renegades take the next two rounds to even the game up.
But the two sides effectively traded the remainder of the half, but Renegades secured the majority of rounds to keep them narrowly ahead, with Karlo "USTILO" Pivac coming in to secure a number of rounds. fnatic did even the game up at 7-7, but it was the Australians who secured their way to an 8-7 lead.
The second half began with fnatic claiming the pistol and two anti-eco rounds on their CT-side, where JW was just farming P90 kills. Renegades claimed the delayed first buy round, and from there Noah "Nifty" Francis and co. secured six rounds in a row to take them on the brink of match point, 14-11 up.
With jkaem performing out of his skin, who secured 32 kills at the end of the map, Renegades were looking poised to take the game. But like the first map, it was going to be close, as KRIMZ was looking his normal self as well. Him and Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson were keeping the Swedish team in it, as they were always within touching distance of the Australians.
But Renegades were going to be the side to take the game. Although they secured match point, fnatic were right back at them as they were looking to force overtime. With Renegades on a terrible forcebuy, that result looked inevitable. But Nifty's display with a salvaged AWP saved their game, for another 16-14 win.
Renegadesfnatic| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
52 - 37 | +15 | 91.2 | 71.7% | 1.34 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
49 - 42 | +7 | 86.5 | 73.3% | 1.13 |
| Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac |
36 - 43 | -7 | 72.8 | 73.3% | 1.05 |
 Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
38 - 38 | +0 | 68.3 | 70.0% | 0.97 |
| Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
37 - 45 | -8 | 70.3 | 70.0% | 0.95 |
| fnatic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson |
54 - 42 | +12 | 88.5 | 71.7% | 1.25 |
| Jesper 'JW' Wecksell |
45 - 46 | -1 | 79.4 | 65.0% | 1.05 |
| Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson |
40 - 41 | -1 | 71.2 | 63.3% | 0.95 |
| Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist |
32 - 41 | -9 | 74.7 | 71.7% | 0.94 |
| Maikil 'Golden' Selim |
33 - 42 | -9 | 70.0 | 65.0% | 0.88 |
Liquid were up against Virtus.pro in the other opening match, with the two teams taking battle on Inferno, Mirage and Cobblestone. Liquid began the game on their CT-side, taking the pistol and two anti-ecos. But from there Virtus.pro instantly came into the game on the first buy round to claim five rounds.
But Liquid weren't letting the Polish side stay in front. Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski pushed forward to punish Virtus.pro's mistakes, before Keith "NAF" Markovic claimed an ace. After six rounds, Virtus.pro finally came back for the final round in the half, but Liquid were still 9-6 ahead.
Liquid continued their form, securing the pistol round and two anti-ecos, before going on a run that took them to map point. Although Virtus.pro managed to halt them for a single round, it was Liquid to take map one 16-7 after a fantastic NAF performance.
Mirage was up next, and Liquid started their CT-side off with their pistol round. But Virtus.pro saw fit to cause disaster as Filip "NEO" Kubski secured a 1vs3 on a pistol force. The Polish side then claimed the next four rounds to take a fair lead.
Nick "nitr0" Cannella and EliGE opened the game up for Liquid in the next round, but the Polish side returned fire onec again. Liquid did manage to take two more rounds in the half, before Jarosław "pashaBiceps" Jarząbkowski railed on Liquid for two rounds in a row. The North Americans did claim the final two rounds of the half, however, but the Polish team were still 9-6 ahead.
A bit like the first map, it was Liquid who wrestled control of the second half. Taking the pistol round and anti-eco to even the map up, NAF and co. steadily secured rounds to claim the lead. Virtus.pro secured one round, but it was the North Americans who kept going to make sure they claimed the match 16-10.
LiquidVirtus.pro| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
57 - 25 | +32 | 114.3 | 87.8% | 1.83 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
40 - 25 | +15 | 81.7 | 77.6% | 1.34 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
39 - 34 | +5 | 99.4 | 83.7% | 1.32 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
32 - 29 | +3 | 66.1 | 81.6% | 1.07 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
29 - 28 | +1 | 65.3 | 81.6% | 1.05 |
| Virtus.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Paweł 'byali' Bieliński |
36 - 37 | -1 | 78.4 | 71.4% | 1.07 |
| Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski |
33 - 37 | -4 | 78.9 | 69.4% | 0.99 |
| Michał 'MICHU' Müller |
28 - 41 | -13 | 66.0 | 67.3% | 0.77 |
| Filip 'NEO' Kubski |
25 - 41 | -16 | 63.2 | 53.1% | 0.70 |
| Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski |
19 - 41 | -22 | 51.2 | 53.1% | 0.55 |
These results see fnatic leave the competition with a 0-3 record, and Renegades move to the 1-2 bracket. Liquid, on the other hand, are now 2-1 whereas Virtus.pro join Renegades in that 1-2 bracket. Next up at StarSeries i-League Season 4 is Cloud9 taking on SK.
