Liquid vs. NAVI, what went right?
In a dramatic turnaround from their subpar showing the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage, Liquid shocked many earlier today with a comfortable win over Ukrainian juggernauts NAVI, besting the world's third-best squad on Inferno 16-8. Liquid will certainly be patting themselves on the back as they head into their 2-0 match versus Heroic, but what was it about the NAVI game that worked out so well, and will the team be able to repeat it?
LiquidNatus Vincere| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
29 - 14 | +15 | 124.1 | 91.7% | 2.00 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
12 - 11 | +1 | 80.0 | 87.5% | 1.26 |
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
16 - 13 | +3 | 51.2 | 75.0% | 0.98 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
9 - 14 | -5 | 39.5 | 79.2% | 0.82 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
12 - 17 | -5 | 51.7 | 62.5% | 0.78 |
| Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev |
22 - 12 | +10 | 103.0 | 87.5% | 1.62 |
| Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy |
14 - 16 | -2 | 60.0 | 75.0% | 0.99 |
 Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov |
11 - 19 | -8 | 69.0 | 70.8% | 0.94 |
| Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy |
11 - 14 | -3 | 47.1 | 91.7% | 0.83 |
| Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi |
10 - 18 | -8 | 58.6 | 62.5% | 0.74 |
YEKINDAR takes over the match
To be frank, this game was almost single-handedly won by Liquid's Latvian superstar, Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis, and this is not an exaggeration. Posting his second-highest overall map rating of 2023 so far, with a 2.00 rating to completely shut out NAVI in this match. The bulk of YEKINDAR's stellar showing was on the T-side, where he posted a 2.52 rating to help Liquid claim a phenomenal 14-1 lead.
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YEKINDAR had a 2.52 T-side rating, with a 2.00 rating overall
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Secured an ADR of 124.1
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Impact rating of 2.30
First kills? Who needs those?
Liquid found themselves in a deficit of opening kills in this match, with ten opening frags versus NAVI's fourteen. Ultimately, this proved not to be a fatal flaw as YEKINDAR's phenomenal performance allowed them to succeed in man disadvantages, although the young Latvian still notably claimed seven of his team's ten opening kills.
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YEKINDAR secured seven of Liquid's ten opening kills
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EliGE and oSee with two and one respectively, while NAF and nitr0 have none
Looking forward
While no doubt Liquid's win over NAVI was an impressive one, there is still more work to be done. The team's 2-0 BO3 matchup against Heroic is an even more daunting prospect, and if the North American side wish to succeed at reaching playoffs they may have a difficult time repeating the circumstances of the NAVI match. YEKINDAR posting one of his strongest ratings of the year and bailing the team out of man-down scenarios is not necessarily something to bank on heading into the BO3 versus Heroic.
Liquid will be hoping for continued strong performances from YEKINDAR and Keith "NAF" Markovic, with 1.60 and 1.43 average ratings across the event, respectively, and a potential boost in form for Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, who has averaged a middling 0.89 rating, the lowest on the team. Liquid and Heroic are set to face off tomorrow morning at 08:30AM tomorrow, with the winner securing one of the first spots in the BLAST.tv Major playoffs.
