Cloud9 suffer shock defeat by Heroic; Liquid through to playoffs
The tale of North America continues in two very different paths at Dallas. On the one hand, there's Cloud9 having to face a lower bracket battle to continue in the tournament. The other saw Liquid having just a single best-of-three to reach playoffs.
It's been a tough start to the competition for Pujan "FNS" Mehta's camp, as they suffered a defeat in the lower bracket semifinal against Heroic, in two straight maps. It was Jorgen "cromen" Robertsen, standing-in for the Scandinavian side, who was on fire to force their way past the Americans to keep their tournament hopes alive.
First up was Mirage, from where the first half was a close battle between the two teams, with Cloud9 narrowly putting themselves ahead at the break. The second half was less so, with Timothy "autimatic" Ta's performances unable to keep them in it. With cromen topping the tables and running away with the game for his team, a 16-11 defeat was next.
Second was Overpass, whcich was much worse viewing. Heroic practically dominated throughout both halves, taking nine rounds in a row in the first half to make sure they were on top. The second half continued that dominance, only dropping one round to go for a 16-7 win.
Cloud9HEROIC| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
40 - 37 | +3 | 86.0 | 76.0% | 1.13 |
| Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham |
31 - 36 | -5 | 58.3 | 66.0% | 0.89 |
| William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
27 - 37 | -10 | 67.2 | 64.0% | 0.85 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
28 - 40 | -12 | 68.0 | 58.0% | 0.85 |
 Pujan 'FNS' Mehta |
22 - 41 | -19 | 57.2 | 54.0% | 0.65 |
| HEROIC |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jorgen 'cromen' Robertsen |
49 - 31 | +18 | 104.9 | 84.0% | 1.53 |
 Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen |
42 - 26 | +16 | 77.5 | 80.0% | 1.34 |
| Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensen |
38 - 30 | +8 | 82.8 | 70.0% | 1.21 |
 Andreas 'MODDII' Fridh |
30 - 28 | +2 | 76.3 | 80.0% | 1.18 |
| Adam 'friberg' Friberg |
32 - 33 | -1 | 67.1 | 80.0% | 1.03 |
This result sees Cloud9 out of the tournament in the groups, whilst Heroic head for a final game to keep their tournament alive.
It's much brighter viewing for Liquid fans, as they saw themselves through two straight maps to reach the playoffs against Space Soldiers, with Epitacio "TACO" de Melo leading the charge for his side.
Mirage was the initial map, where after the first two rounds of the half Space Soldiers were shut out by Liquid, taking thirteen unanswered rounds. The second half was a more dogged battle, as it took twelve rounds for Liquid's T-side to secure the three required rounds, taking a 16-11 win.
Inferno was next, and a close first half was all that Space Soldiers could look back on fondly. With the Turkish side near enough matching Liquid round for round, it was the North Americans who secured a narrow first half 8-7. With Keith "NAF" Markovic slowly lighting up battlefield, they then secured the eight second half rounds with ease to take the win 16-7.
Space SoldiersLiquid| Space Soldiers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş |
40 - 42 | -2 | 87.0 | 74.0% | 1.11 |
| Engin 'ngiN' Kor |
28 - 34 | -6 | 63.8 | 64.0% | 0.89 |
| Çağatay 'DESPE' Sedef |
28 - 37 | -9 | 61.7 | 60.0% | 0.79 |
| Ahmet 'paz' Karahoca |
26 - 44 | -18 | 57.8 | 56.0% | 0.71 |
| Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli |
20 - 37 | -17 | 48.1 | 62.0% | 0.69 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
41 - 25 | +16 | 79.1 | 86.0% | 1.39 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
41 - 31 | +10 | 103.5 | 80.0% | 1.35 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
44 - 28 | +16 | 76.5 | 78.0% | 1.22 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
37 - 28 | +9 | 79.0 | 74.0% | 1.22 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
31 - 30 | +1 | 73.7 | 80.0% | 1.20 |
With that result, they are confirmed a spot into the playoffs. Their final game in Group B will be against the winner of SK or Astralis, to decide who will be headed straight into the semifinals.
