Liquid overcome Heroic; Wildcard destroyed by VP | IEM Chengdu 2024 BO1 Roundup

IEM Chengdu kicked off with eight BO1 matches as the North American teams, with different levels of expectation, hope to show improvements since the PGL Copenhagen Major Americas RMR. Wildcard were tasked with facing Virtus.pro and things took a turn to the worse even before the event started as Josh "JBa" Barutt is suffering from food poisoning and didn't travel with the team.

Liquid would start their campaign in China against Heroic, who are coming off of a good run at the major. Other notable matches include FURIA v. Lynn Vision, and Cloud9 v. FlyQuest.

G2 13-10 9z

G2 was hoping to make quick work of 9z but the South Americans managed to land on Nuke, one of their most played maps and the game was close. Individually, some G2 players were not producing as much as usual, but Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and Nemanja "nexa" Isaković were able to bring the Europeans across the finish line.

Liquid 13-8 Heroic

Liquid started IEM Chengdu on Ancient against Heroic and got off to a flying start with a 6-0 lead on the T-side. The Danes would tie the half 6-6 but on the stronger CT-side, Liquid closed the match 13-8. Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Casper "cadiaN" Møller were the two highest-rated players on the American side.

FURIA 13-9 Lynn Vision

FURIA came into this match hoping to get revenge from the PGL Copenhagen Major, where they lost against Lynn Vision 13-9. Coincidentally, FURIA managed to win their opener in Chengdu 13-9 on Ancient in a very balanced matchup despite the score.

TYLOO 11-13 MOUZ

Closing Group A, MOUZ was almost sent to overtime by TYLOO. Expectations are high for the European squad who managed to reach the playoffs of the Major, but just like in Chengdu, they started that event slow, with a close win. Can they have a convincing showing on the BO3 series?

FaZe 13-8 Nemiga

FaZe, coming off of a second-place finish in the Major, are trying to bounce back after that tough loss against NAVI. They would face Nemiga but things would be tighter than what FaZe would like despite the European squad claiming a 9-3 lead after the T-side half. Nemiga was trying to mount a comeback but FaZe managed to close the map 13-8.

Steel Helmet 2-13 Astralis

Expectations were low for Steel Helmet, who are playing IEM Chengdu after some Monte players were unable to travel to China. Astralis made quick work of them with a 13-2 win on Ancient. Nicolai "device" Reedtz top-fragged in his first match as IGL.

Cloud9 6-13 FlyQuest

Well, this one was unexpected. FlyQuest, the former Grayhound roster, beat Cloud9 convincingly on Ancient. The match was balanced during the first half, with the score being tied 6-6 as FlyQuest would go on to the T-side. There, the Aussies were unstoppable, winning all the rounds. Everyone in the Australian squad finished with a positive K/D, while the Russians all ended negative.

Wildcard 1-13 Virtus.pro

Finally, we arrive at the last North American match but it's not a pretty one. Wildcard were bombarded by Virtus.pro 13-1. Nothing seemed to work for Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz and co. who only managed to win a single T-side round.

At the time of publication, some BO3 series have already started, as Liquid are currently leading G2 1-0, after winning Ancient 13-6 going into Anubis, while 9z v. Heroic remains on map one.

The other upper-bracket series of Group A is FURIA v. MOUZ, while the second lower-bracket BO3 will feature a Chinese derby between Lynn Vision and TYLOO. Group B will see FaZe v. Astralis and FlyQuest v. Virtus.pro on the upper-bracket, and Nemiga v. Steel Helmet and Cloud9 v. Wildcard on the lower-bracket.

The winners of the upper-bracket matchups will clinch a spot in the playoffs, while the losers of the lower-bracket series will be eliminated.