Liquid head to ECS Season 8 LAN Finals with win over ATK
Liquid have claimed a 2-1 victory over ATK in the ECS Season 8 week four grand finals, earning themselves a spot on the team list alongside their regional rivals Evil Geniuses for the LAN finals in Arlington, Texas.
Entering the finals with strong performances against INTZ and ex-Singularity, Liquid were looking primed and ready to claim their place in the LAN finals; however, the team faced an additional challenge in their final matchup as coach Eric "adreN" Hoag would be filling in for in-game leader Nick "nitr0" Cannella.
The series kicked off on Dust2 as ATK went up 10-5 on their T-side half, looking to run away with map one. A string of eight rounds following the side swap helped Liquid to swing things back on their offensive, leading the map to an overtime affair. A solid performance from Jake "Stewie2K" Yip put Liquid back in contention, but alas, impressive rifle work from Johnny "JT" Theodosiou combined with a 30 kill game with nearly 90 ADR from Josh "oSee" Ohm eventually net ATK a 19-17 victory.
ATK's run in form continued into the first half of Inferno where they took a 9-6 lead on their CT-side, but Liquid's defense proved too sturdy to shake, allowing Liquid to then close the map 16-12 and take it to a third.
The decider of Overpass had the two teams neck-and-neck at the end of the first half, with ATK edging out an one-round lead. A pistol win from ATK was swiftly replied to by a triple kill from Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken, allowing Liquid control of the map as they only dropped two more rounds before taking the win 16-11.
LiquidATK| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
74 - 53 | +21 | 86.6 | 76.9% | 1.29 |
 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
63 - 60 | +3 | 82.1 | 71.4% | 1.13 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
54 - 55 | -1 | 64.7 | 67.0% | 0.98 |
| Eric 'adreN' Hoag |
50 - 51 | -1 | 62.6 | 72.5% | 0.98 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
54 - 60 | -6 | 66.5 | 63.7% | 0.95 |
| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
69 - 57 | +12 | 83.1 | 73.6% | 1.20 |
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
60 - 59 | +1 | 72.4 | 67.0% | 1.02 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
52 - 57 | -5 | 59.5 | 74.7% | 0.95 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
47 - 60 | -13 | 62.6 | 67.0% | 0.88 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
50 - 62 | -12 | 63.2 | 63.7% | 0.85 |
Liquid's qualification leaves just two more teams to be determined for the LAN finals. The winners of the upcoming fifth and final week from Europe and North America will complete the team list, with the matchups set to run from October 28-31.
The team list for the season finals currently looks as follows:
 AVANGAR |
Evil Geniuses |
 NiP |
 Sharks |
 Astralis |
Liquid |
 EU Week 5 winner |
 NA Week 5 winner |
