Liquid battle through NiP; to semifinals
The second and final quarterfinal game saw Liquid take on NiP, with both teams looking to book a place in the semifinals against fnatic. The two teams were set to play on Overpass, Mirage and Inferno.
Overpass started with NiP taking the pistol and anti-eco rounds on their T-side, blocking Liquid's force to take the first four rounds. Although Liquid secured the first buy-round, off the back of Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, NiP instantly answered back into the next round.
Liquid had the better of the middle-portion of the half, securing a number of rounds to keep them in the game. But NiP were showing signs that recent roster changes had improved them as a whole, with Dennis "dennis" Edman planting himself firmly on top. From there NiP secured the remainder of the half for a 10-5 lead.
The second half began with Liquid's T-side picking up the pistol and two anti-ecos to get them straight onto the board, but lost out to NiP picking up the first full buy round. However Liquid picked up the three rounds afterwards to edge closer to tying the game up.
NiP put their trust onto the shoulders of legends, with Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund combining to keep their lead intact. However, they weren't expecting the skill of Keith "NAF" Markovic, who secured round after round in both clutch and openers taking Liquid all the way to map point where Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken picked up the final three kills to claim a 16-13 win on the opening map.
Mirage was up next, and it was NiP who began proceedings on the CT-side, securing the pistol round and two anti-ecos. Although Liquid, and particularly Nick "nitr0" Cannella, answered back into the first buy round, the Swedish side fired straight back, with William "draken" Sundin proving clutch for his team.
From there it was the NiP show, with the Swedish side dropping one round before going on a run of five thanks to draken and Fredrik "REZ" Sterner. Liquid finally secured another round in the half with Lucas "steel" Lopes taking three kills, but NiP were going to take a hefty lead into the second half by taking the final round, 12-3.
The second half began swiftly, with Liquid securing the pistol round on their CT-side, moving on to take the two anti-ecos. The first buy round also went the way of Liquid, with NAF stepping up to retake the B-site. With Liquid pushing on to even up the game, NiP were looking barely like a shadow of their first-half selves.
Even at the closest rounds for the Swedish side, Liquid still narrowly pulled it out of the bag for them. Not too much later Twistzz was bringing the magic out of his hat to even up the scoreline. NiP finally pick up a round on their T-side, but Liquid instantly answered back to reset the Swedes' economy.
But on a broken round, NiP cranked it up a gear, with draken utilizing a salvaged AWP to regain their lead, before going onto map point in the following round. The final round went a similar way, with NiP swiftly claiming it for a 16-13 lead to take it to an Inferno finale.
Heading on to Inferno, and Liquid secured the pistol round on their T-side, but a successful eco round from NiP put them immediately in front. The first full buy round went the way of Liquid, from which the American side once again evened the scores up. From there, NiP went in control by securing the next four rounds, started off by an ace from dennis.
With REZ and GeT_RiGhT both linking up in key rounds to push their team forward, the North American side suddenly woke up back into the game. With NAF leading from the front, they secured the final five rounds of the half to take a narrow 8-7 lead going into their CT-side.
The second half was begun by Liquid's pistol round, with the Americans extending their lead through taking down NiP's continuous forcebuys. When NiP eventually picked up a full buy, they picked up their first round on the second half, but not before Liquid forced them back down into a broken economy.
From there EliGE and NAF kept up the pressure for the remainder of the half, only dropping one more round before claiming match point. From there they faced a simple eco round to claim the win 16-9.
LiquidNinjas in Pyjamas| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
69 - 49 | +20 | 86.2 | 80.7% | 1.28 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
69 - 56 | +13 | 92.4 | 74.7% | 1.25 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
63 - 57 | +6 | 81.4 | 67.5% | 1.13 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
48 - 53 | -5 | 64.5 | 68.7% | 0.92 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
36 - 57 | -21 | 54.6 | 67.5% | 0.82 |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 William 'draken' Sundin |
67 - 52 | +15 | 83.8 | 72.3% | 1.28 |
| Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner |
57 - 60 | -3 | 76.8 | 71.1% | 1.05 |
| Dennis 'dennis' Edman |
58 - 58 | +0 | 68.4 | 60.2% | 0.96 |
| Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund |
45 - 58 | -13 | 68.0 | 69.9% | 0.89 |
| Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg |
45 - 58 | -13 | 63.7 | 71.1% | 0.86 |
This result sees Liquid through to the semifinal up against fnatic tomorrow in Katowice, from which the victor will face off against the winner between FaZe and Astralis.
