What to expect from Liquid v. HEROIC

Liquid are finally back on LAN, more than a month after failing to secure qualification out of the Americas RMR, the international squad are headed to IEM Chengdu in hopes of getting more LAN reps and proving themselves on the international stage. Missing out on the Major was a massive letdown for the squad as the star-filled roster was more than capable of competing at that level. Now, the squad has had a month to refocus and improve with their first real test against the Danish squad of HEROIC.

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Liquid in recovery mode

It was clear that things were not clicking together while down in Monterrey. Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis was not performing to the high standard he set for himself, and Casper "cadiaN" Møller was concernedly not the impact fragger many thought he would be in the new squad. On the bright side, Canadian duo Keith "NAF" Markovic and Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken were still in top form.

Can YEKINDAR refind his form?
cadiaN has had more than enough time to implement his system
NAF cannot be called upon more to be Mr. Consistent

HEROICly strong

They made the Major, then they made the Elimination Stage, but they weren't strong enough to make it to playoffs. Fans noticed that this reformed HEROIC team can still compete at the top level despite losing their core just a few months ago. Their Major run is the start to some decent results, but can they keep it up against the international stars in Liquid?

kyxsan's evolution as an IGL has been revolutionary
nicoodoz has been hot and cold
NertZ is the best player on this roster right now

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Previous Matchups

With these being two completely new cores, they have not played one another before. However, cadiaN used to play for the organization alongside Rasmus "sjuush" Beck and René "TeSeS" Madsen.

Likely Vetoes

The vetos match up nicely for both sides, however HEROIC might get the edge based on their preferred maps.

Liquid bans Vertigo
Heroic bans Inferno
Liquid picks Anubis
Heroic picks Mirage
Decider will likely be Ancient or Overpass.

Liquid's map pool is still hard to determine considering their lack of officials in recent months, as well as most of their HLTV results focusing on domestic competition.

IEM Chengdu 2024

Anc

Liquid

13 - 8

HEROIC

All maps

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.0
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken	21 - 9	+12	89.2	76.2%	1.60
Casper 'cadiaN' Møller	20 - 12	+8	75.8	76.2%	1.39
Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros	12 - 12	+0	83.7	85.7%	1.21
Keith 'NAF' Markovic	12 - 13	-1	77.4	85.7%	1.17
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis	9 - 16	-7	52.8	71.4%	0.85

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.0
René 'TeSeS' Madsen	22 - 16	+6	107.0	71.4%	1.44
Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck	13 - 14	-1	69.7	81.0%	1.03
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski	11 - 15	-4	59.2	57.1%	0.73
Guy 'NertZ' Iluz	11 - 16	-5	57.8	61.9%	0.68
Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi	5 - 13	-8	31.2	61.9%	0.57