MIBR eliminated by Liquid in clean series at IEM Dallas
Liquid have secured another 2-0 scoreline versus Brazil at IEM Dallas, this time over MIBR. With the win, they continue the path through the Group B lower bracket where they will face the winner of Cloud9 vs NIP for a spot in the quarterfinals.
The series kicked-off on Liquid's map pick of Ancient where they demonstrated their expertise of the map. MIBR were given the option of starting side, going with the defending side. Despite a pistol-round loss, MIBR were able to outperform the North Americans in the first half with Jhonatan "JOTA" Willian leading the pack on a 1.53 rating. Only stringing together a few rounds, Liquid ended the half down 6-9.
Swapping sides, a burst of energy was shot into Liquid's veins as they stormed towards a map win. In particular, Nick "nitr0" Cannella stepped up from being at the bottom of the first half to carrying the second half with a 1.66 rating. MIBR were able to stop Liquid converting off their second pistol-round win but they themselves were only able to hold-up a two round streak before faltering. Winning the next nine out of ten rounds, Liquid closed out the map 16-12.
Going three for three in pistol rounds, Liquid started the CT-side on Inferno with a a four-round sweep. Unfortunately, MIBR had enough on the fifth round with Matheus "Tuurtle" Anhaia leading a charge of six straight rounds for the Brazilians. Mostly trading rounds back and forth, the half ended 8-7 for MIBR with a 2v1 clutch from Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski to keep it close for Liquid.
Kicking off their CT-side with a fairly clean pistol, MIBR moved up to a 9-7 scoreline. Disaster struck though, as EliGE continued strong off his half-ending clutch, posting a 1.77 rating and demolishing MIBR at every turn. The Brazilian side were unable to secure a single further round after the pistol with only Tuurtle performing admirably. Moving forward, Liquid closed out the series with a 16-9 map win.
LiquidMIBR| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
41 - 30 | +11 | 80.2 | 75.5% | 1.27 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
43 - 35 | +8 | 86.3 | 77.4% | 1.26 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
42 - 34 | +8 | 84.5 | 79.2% | 1.23 |
 Richard 'shox' Papillon |
31 - 37 | -6 | 72.9 | 71.7% | 1.02 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
22 - 37 | -15 | 52.4 | 60.4% | 0.75 |
| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian |
45 - 38 | +7 | 95.2 | 69.8% | 1.24 |
| Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima |
36 - 38 | -2 | 74.6 | 77.4% | 1.08 |
| Matheus 'Tuurtle' Anhaia |
31 - 35 | -4 | 66.8 | 64.2% | 0.99 |
| Raphael 'exit' Lacerda |
30 - 33 | -3 | 57.9 | 75.5% | 0.91 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
30 - 35 | -5 | 66.2 | 62.3% | 0.89 |
Liquid will be facing the winner of Cloud9 versus NIP, where Cloud9 are currently up 1-0 in the series, later today at 07:00PM. The winner of that map will head to the quarterfinals in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center arena on Friday.
