Team Liquid had an impressive start to 2019 taking several trophies from the hands of the Astralis, unlocking the Intel Grand Slam earlier this year. They went into the Starladder Major as heavy favorites to hoist the trophy but they failed to do so. Since then for the later part of this year Liquid seems to be only a shadow of what they were. But Liquid were back to dominating teams in ECS Season 8 and they managed a grand final spot against the world number 1 Astralis at the cost of Fnatic.
MAP1: Overpass
The first map was Overpass, picked by the Swedes where the Americans barely put up a fight. Liquid starting on the offense didn’t stand much of a chance only managing 5 rounds. The constant aggression from Fnatic on the defense caught them off-guard time and time again. Some individual sparks from Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski with a quad kill and Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic’s 1v3 clutch put the few of the numbers on the board for them. When the teams switched side, Fnatic looked to have their entire offense mapped out, giving Liquid only one round on the defense, taking the first map with a convincing 16-6 scoreline in favor of the Swedes.
MAP 2: Inferno
Team Liquid equalized the series with the exact same scoreline from the first map but in their favor. Teams clashed on Inferno, with the North American side on the defense. Both the halves repeated a similar story from the first half with Team Liquid as the protagonist. Liquid playing at off-angles and throwing unexpected flanks at Fnatic which caught them with their backs turned several times, closing the first half 10-5. Liquid had their number once they went over to the T-Side, sparing them one round only Liquid managed to grab 6 out of the 7 rounds to even things up with 16-6 scoreline.
MAP 3: Mirage
Deciding map Mirage was much more of a brawl with the Fnatic taking the pistol round and securing the SMG buy round. Liquid brought the rifles in the 3rd round when Fnatic lost their bonus round and Liquid were on the streak till 5 rounds before a 1v3 from JW with just a deagle made the contest closer. Fnatic barely edged out Liquid in the first half with an 8-7 scoreline. Twistzz was in the mood to pop some heads once he was moved to the CT side, with a clinical 3k on the pistol round. Fnatic only managed two rounds on the offense, Liquid were a rock on the CT side taking all the remaining rounds to close the final map with a 16-10 scoreline.
Liquid are set to face the Danes later today at 14:30IST, this will be a mouthwatering clash as Astralis were deeply tested by lesser-known opponents earlier this tournament and Liquid are fighting more much more than a trophy, they are seeking the revenge for Berlin back in September and are aiming for the number 1 spot in HLTV rankings.
