Liquid eliminated from IEM Dallas by Cloud9
With both teams harboring a 2-1 record, the winner of this match advanced to the playoffs while the loser packs their bags to the airport. Well, unless they already live in North America. Cloud9 looked to be the favorites coming into this matchup with a commanding 16-6 victory over Liquid on Vertigo in the BO1 stage of IEM Dallas, and favorites they were as once again they swiftly defeated the Americans in the server.
Liquid's pick took us to green and swampy Ancient, but Cloud9 had no problem as they quickly took control of the game. Electing to choose the defending side to start the series, they scored four unanswered rounds before Liquid came to their senses and replaced the goose egg at the top of the screen. Unfortunately, the victory was short-lived as Cloud9 remained on top, losing only one round in the remainder of the half. The Americans were simply unable to break through the iron curtain that C9 established, looking at an eleven-round deficit to start the second half.
Liquid achieved the necessary pistol round and won the two following rounds to bring the game somewhat into contention, but the Russians shut Liquid's dreams down early, answering Liquid's three rounds with three of their own, amassing sixteen rounds where Liquid was only able to attain five on their own map pick.
Staring at a one-map disadvantage coming into C9's pick of Vertigo, Liquid knew their backs were against the wall. This being the same map that C9 dominated Liquid on earlier just a few days prior, C9 looked poised to take the series and secure their stage appearance. Indeed, the map started in their advantage too. Liquid, electing to pick the defending side, won the pistol round to begin their journey, but C9 quickly answered back. The two tussled back and forth, but ultimately C9's fundamentals prevailed, preventing any American streaks of rounds until the last two of the half. Cloud9 ended with ten rounds to their name as they took the CT-side and braced for North American impact.
Liquid once again prevailed in the pistol round, bringing their total to three out of four in the series. However, for the second time on Vertigo, they lost the conversion. They strung rounds together after the half though, bringing C9's lead only to two rounds. The Russians weren't going to let up quickly though, as they won three rounds to bring them only two more away from winning the whole series. Liquid took back control and gave their fans some hope, only for it to be dashed as C9 went on to win their map pick 16-12
LiquidCloud9| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
39 - 37 | +2 | 81.2 | 79.6% | 1.15 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
29 - 36 | -7 | 74.3 | 57.1% | 0.93 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
32 - 34 | -2 | 72.7 | 69.4% | 0.92 |
 Richard 'shox' Papillon |
19 - 38 | -19 | 47.0 | 55.1% | 0.60 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
18 - 42 | -24 | 51.0 | 55.1% | 0.55 |
| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov |
42 - 27 | +15 | 105.9 | 85.7% | 1.55 |
| Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov |
42 - 24 | +18 | 77.7 | 73.5% | 1.31 |
| Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov |
36 - 32 | +4 | 85.8 | 77.6% | 1.27 |
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
35 - 29 | +6 | 85.1 | 79.6% | 1.18 |
| Timofey 'interz' Yakushin |
30 - 26 | +4 | 55.8 | 79.6% | 1.00 |
Liquid are now eliminated from IEM Dallas and Cloud9 will play their first playoff match on stage in the quarterfinals on Friday 05:30PM against FaZe.
