Liquid crush Gambit in New York, proceed to grand finals
After taking down NRG and G2, going 2-0 in the group stage, Liquid were seeded into the semifinals of ESL One New York, where they took on Gambit. Liquid looked ready to take on the Kazakhstani team in front of the American crowd in New York and return to the grand finals in Barclays Center.
Liquid kicked off the series on Nuke with four strong rounds, before Gambit finally found their footing in the game off an eco round. Stringing together four rounds of their own, Gambit took a slight lead 4-3. Off the back of Nick "nitr0" Cannella, Liquid regained their strength and breezed through the last six rounds of the half, taking a strong 10-5 lead at halftime. Liquid continued to shred through Gambit in the second half, ultimately taking Gambit's map pick 16-6.
Liquid's confidence continued onto their map pick of Inferno, where Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken crushed Gambit's defenses in the first half. Going 12-3 in the first half, Liquid went undefeated in the second half off a perfect pistol round, leading to a 16-3 finish in favor of Liquid, eliminating Gambit and moving onto the grand finals.
LiquidGambit| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
41 - 18 | +23 | 110.6 | 97.6% | 1.88 |
 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
40 - 18 | +22 | 87.0 | 85.4% | 1.60 |
 Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
30 - 21 | +9 | 87.4 | 90.2% | 1.42 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
32 - 21 | +11 | 74.3 | 82.9% | 1.31 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
30 - 16 | +14 | 78.0 | 80.5% | 1.29 |
| Gambit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
22 - 30 | -8 | 67.5 | 48.8% | 0.74 |
| Rustem 'mou' Telepov |
21 - 35 | -14 | 59.2 | 53.7% | 0.65 |
 Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov |
19 - 35 | -16 | 58.0 | 43.9% | 0.58 |
| Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov |
17 - 34 | -17 | 63.5 | 51.2% | 0.56 |
| Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev |
15 - 39 | -24 | 49.9 | 48.8% | 0.45 |
As the only North American team left in ESL One New York, Liquid move forward into the grand finals, where mousesports are currently waiting for them. Liquid previously appeared in the grand finals of last year's installment in New York, where they lost to FaZe in a straight 3-0 series.
