Team Liquid claim victory over Misfits in the grand finals of the Americas Minor
Misfits took on Liquid in the Americas Minor Grand Finals after the latter secured their own Major Qualifier slot by dominantly besting CLG in two maps earlier in the day.
Misfits took a quick 3-0 lead on Cobblestone, securing the pistol round and the following anti-ecos with ease. The first gun round saw François "AmaNEk" Delaunay grab two Mag-7 kills at A long, granting a boon to Misfits' economy immediately. Two supplementary UMP kills from Sean "seang@res" Gares closed out the round, allowing Misfits to upgrade their guns for free.
The excess addition to their economy would see use immediately as Liquid answered back with a fast armor and pistol round on B. The next six rounds came close for both teams, with many rounds coming down to two-on-two or one-on-two situations. Misfits and Liquid traded rounds out for the rest of the half among the chaos, ending the half 9-6 in favor of Misfits.
Misfits were able to secure the second pistol round on Cobblestone too, but a force buy from Liquid on their CT side gave Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz and Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken the firepower to grab two frags apiece. The next two rounds also went Liquid's way, at which point Misfits picked up three rounds of their own, thanks in part to a one-on-two clutch by David "devoduvek" Dobrosavljevic.
A clever boost outside B site doors grabbed Twistzz two crucial kills in the following round, resetting Misfits. Misfits still took the next round for themselves, but were stopped just short of match point by a last-ditch effort from Liquid to close the map as they attained yet another trio of rounds. A fast eco rush on B was what allowed Misfits to take possession of the rest of the map, and led to them closing out Cobblestone in the following two rounds to end the map 16-13.
Liquid got off to a far better start on Train by racking up five rounds straight rounds until Misfits were able to secure one of their own; however, an immediate economic reset threw Misfits into disarray for the latter part of the half. This ensured a dominant CT side from the Liquid squad, one wherein Misfits were only able to pick up two more rounds. Calculated aggression from Liquid all over the map shut down Misfits' terrorist side, ending the half 12-3.
Liquid's reign of terror on Train continued on their T side as Nick "nitr0" Cannella led his squad through the motions, annihilating Misfits' defensive side until his team comfortably sat on match point. The map seemed to be on its final round - Liquid in a five-on-two and the bomb down on B site - until the French duo of AmaNEk and devoduvek demolished Liquid's post plant setup. Despite this incredible recovery, Misfits were unable to capitalize in the following round and Liquid efficiently closed out the map 16-4.
The first pistol round on Mirage saw an A site given up for a plant in a five-on-five, with Misfits gearing up to retake as a team. A default plant from Liquid ended up leading to their demise in the round thanks to a kit from seang@res - Liquid were able to secure all five kills in the end, but only after the bomb had been defused. This plant allowed Liquid a buy in round three, and it was from here that they continued the form we saw on Train. Jonathan "EliGE" Jablownowski racked up four fast kills to demolish Misfits' defense, crushing their economy in the process.
From here Liquid smoothly pushed themselves up to six rounds before three kills from devoduvek on the AWP put Misfits back in the running; unfortunately for them, seang@res and co. were only able to take one more round before Liquid destroyed their economy once again. This allowed Liquid to secure nine rounds in the half, leaving Misfits scrambling to secure the final two rounds. A triple AWP setup seemed to be the answer for Misfits as they did pick up the last two rounds of the half, but a 6-9 score headed into their T side meant they needed to secure the second pistol if they hoped to have a good shot at taking the map.
Alas, it was not to be for Misfits - Liquid easily took control of the pistol round, and continued to dominate on their CT side to bring themselves up to fourteen rounds. AmaNEk made one last heroic effort to keep his team in the running by taking four quick kills in mid, but Liquid had firm control of the match at this point and comfortably closed the map out 16-7.
MisfitsLiquid| Misfits |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 François 'AMANEK' Delaunay |
47 - 54 | -7 | 74.2 | 66.7% | 0.97 |
 Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan |
41 - 55 | -14 | 61.9 | 62.5% | 0.83 |
| David 'devoduvek' Dobrosavljevic |
40 - 57 | -17 | 68.2 | 59.7% | 0.81 |
| Hunter 'SicK' Mims |
36 - 56 | -20 | 55.4 | 59.7% | 0.74 |
| Sean 'seang@res' Gares |
34 - 58 | -24 | 52.4 | 55.6% | 0.64 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
75 - 41 | +34 | 105.5 | 83.3% | 1.62 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
68 - 41 | +27 | 94.5 | 79.2% | 1.44 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
52 - 41 | +11 | 83.7 | 77.8% | 1.27 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
43 - 38 | +5 | 65.6 | 77.8% | 1.12 |
| Josh 'jdm64' Marzano |
41 - 37 | +4 | 59.1 | 80.6% | 1.03 |
Liquid and Misfits have both secured spots at the ELEAGUE Major Boston Main Qualifier which is set to take place a week prior to the Major itself. Both teams will take on the likes of FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, and their North American brethren in Cloud9 at ELEAGUE's GFUEL Arena in Atlanta, with matches set to start on January 12th, 2018. For now, Team Liquid will go home $30,000 richer than they arrived, with Misfits taking $15,000 for themselves.
