Liquid stunned, Wildcard eliminated in IEM Dallas CQ
The IEM Dallas 2024 Closed Qualifier started yesterday with Liquid taking on Nouns, and Wildcard on BOSS. Both Liquid and Wildcard lost their opening matchups, with the latter being eliminated in the lower bracket by Keith "NAF" Markovic and co.
Nouns, on the other hand, were able to beat BOSS in the upper bracket to reach the grand final of the qualifier, where they await the winner of Liquid vs. BOSS, which will happen later today. The grand final will be played right after.
Both Liquid and Wildcard began their Closed Qualifier campaign with stunning losses. Liquid fell on their own pic of Ancient, 13-10 despite a 6-6 T-side, which was followed by a lackluster CT half. The defense was rectified on the very next map, Overpass, as Nouns were only able to win four rounds on their offensive side. Liquid went to halftime leading 8-4 and followed that up with a 5-1 T-side to close the map and send the series to a decider. On Mirage, Nouns had a dominant T-side, completely destroying Liquid's hopes of winning the map. With a 10-2 lead going into the more favorable CT-side, Nouns won the map 13-3.
LiquidNouns| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
48 - 35 | +13 | 92.7 | 73.7% | 1.27 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
40 - 35 | +5 | 79.8 | 87.7% | 1.16 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
37 - 37 | +0 | 71.0 | 77.2% | 1.05 |
 Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
42 - 36 | +6 | 74.4 | 66.7% | 1.02 |
 Casper 'cadiaN' Møller |
27 - 43 | -16 | 54.7 | 68.4% | 0.68 |
| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
45 - 31 | +14 | 78.9 | 77.2% | 1.25 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
38 - 36 | +2 | 75.7 | 75.4% | 1.16 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
42 - 41 | +1 | 70.0 | 66.7% | 1.03 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
33 - 43 | -10 | 63.1 | 66.7% | 0.88 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
28 - 44 | -16 | 68.0 | 68.4% | 0.84 |
As for Wildcard's tough night, it all started with the team winning its pick of Mirage 13-6, with a solid T-side strategy from Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz that netted them an 8-4 lead at the half, followed by a 5-2 CT-side half. After that, BOSS would rally back, first on Vertigo, 13-9 on the back of a solid T-side 7-5 half, and then on Anubis where, despite only securing four rounds on the more favorable T-side, the orgless team shut down Wildcard's offense with a 9-0 CT-side to claim the map 13-8, and the series.
BOSSWildcard| BOSS |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brett 'brett' Rhein |
50 - 45 | +5 | 91.9 | 71.0% | 1.20 |
| Matthew 'Cryptic' Whitmore |
47 - 43 | +4 | 77.1 | 72.6% | 1.14 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
43 - 38 | +5 | 74.3 | 77.4% | 1.11 |
| Adam 'freshie' Paterson |
33 - 41 | -8 | 64.6 | 72.6% | 0.92 |
| Matthew 'd4rty' Paplawskas |
34 - 42 | -8 | 63.0 | 69.4% | 0.85 |
| Wildcard |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'JBa' Barutt |
58 - 38 | +20 | 92.0 | 79.0% | 1.34 |
| Gage 'Infinite' Green |
46 - 42 | +4 | 77.2 | 72.6% | 1.09 |
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
42 - 40 | +2 | 72.4 | 77.4% | 1.07 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
32 - 44 | -12 | 63.8 | 74.2% | 0.90 |
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
28 - 46 | -18 | 57.5 | 66.1% | 0.70 |
With the CQ having a double-elimination bracket, Liquid and Wildcard met on the lower side of the bracket, which turned into another three-map series. Once again, Liquid went to Mirage, but only this time they won with a 13-7 score, thanks to an 8-4 CT-side and a 5-3 T-side. Liquid's Nuke pick was a mistake, as Wildcard tied the series with a 13-5 win, with 10 of those rounds coming on the CT side. To close off the series, the decider was Inferno which was intense until the very end. Wildcard opened with a 5-1 lead on a map marked by streaks, only to get to halftime trailing 7-5. They managed to get the lead back 9-7, but Liquid returned to get a 13-10 win and stay alive in the competition.
LiquidWildcard| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
49 - 36 | +13 | 84.6 | 80.3% | 1.26 |
| Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
45 - 44 | +1 | 85.4 | 75.4% | 1.20 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
42 - 37 | +5 | 74.7 | 83.6% | 1.17 |
| Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
44 - 35 | +9 | 67.0 | 82.0% | 1.12 |
| Casper 'cadiaN' Møller |
33 - 32 | +1 | 62.9 | 77.0% | 1.00 |
| Wildcard |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gage 'Infinite' Green |
42 - 45 | -3 | 77.6 | 59.0% | 0.97 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
40 - 43 | -3 | 76.4 | 63.9% | 0.95 |
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
36 - 37 | -1 | 62.5 | 62.3% | 0.93 |
| Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
34 - 42 | -8 | 58.4 | 70.5% | 0.85 |
| Josh 'JBa' Barutt |
30 - 46 | -16 | 64.5 | 63.9% | 0.76 |
In the upper bracket final, Nouns beat BOSS 2-0 in two very close maps. First it was Mirage, picked by Nouns, who showed that their T-side prowess against Liquid was not a fluke with a 9-3 offensive half. BOSS managed to tie things up at 10-10 and 11-11, but Nouns were able to close out the map 13-11. Onto BOSS' Vertigo, Nouns showed a better CT-side than the previous map with an 8-4 half and, after a back-and-forth second half, were able to win 13-10 and reach the grand final.
NounsBOSS| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
41 - 28 | +13 | 89.9 | 78.7% | 1.33 |
| Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
35 - 29 | +6 | 83.8 | 83.0% | 1.20 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
29 - 33 | -4 | 76.9 | 74.5% | 1.04 |
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
33 - 28 | +5 | 64.6 | 76.6% | 0.98 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
23 - 25 | -2 | 56.7 | 72.3% | 0.94 |
| BOSS |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
39 - 27 | +12 | 85.1 | 74.5% | 1.29 |
| Brett 'brett' Rhein |
31 - 32 | -1 | 72.5 | 61.7% | 0.94 |
| Matthew 'Cryptic' Whitmore |
30 - 36 | -6 | 68.9 | 68.1% | 0.90 |
| Adam 'freshie' Paterson |
22 - 33 | -11 | 69.0 | 70.2% | 0.82 |
| Matthew 'd4rty' Paplawskas |
21 - 34 | -13 | 62.5 | 63.8% | 0.78 |
After all these results, Wildcard was eliminated, and now Liquid or BOSS is one series away from joining Nouns in the grand final. Liquid vs. BOSS happens today at 05:30PM, while the grand final between Nouns and the winner of Liquid vs. BOSS is scheduled to start at 09:30PM.
