Liquid drop to Eternal Fire 3-1 in CCT Global Finals
All of CCT Global Finals led to this moment, the grand finals between Liquid and Eternal Fire. Despite defeating the better opponent on paper, Astralis, in the semifinals, Liquid had a very touch time against the Turkish superteam in the finals.
The best-of-five started on Liquid's pick of Inferno, but you would be easily fooled into thinking Eternal Fire chose the map. The Turkish team got off to a strong 4-0 lead on their CT-side, and despite Liquid making some moves in the middle of the half, EF closed out the half the way it started for a 9-3 lead. Liquid's pistol made a claim for a comeback, but a bomb plant in the first plus the second round force of Eternal Fire quickly put the momentum back in EF's hands. Force buy wars ensued, but EF came out on top to win 13-5.
Despite being a closer scoreline, Anubis felt entirely in EF's hands the whole time. Tactical CT-aggression turned a respectable five at the half, but it was the T-side where Liquid really had no chance. Lack of fruitful space-taking led to a constriction that easily went the way of Eternal Fire, with the T-side economy abetting their streak. In the end, it was six T-rounds in a row before Liquid mounted a reply, but by then, it was too late, and EF closed out the map 13-10.
Back on Liquid's pick, Dust2 hoped to be a different story. This map truly was a tale of T-sides as Eternal Fire pounced off their strong attacking side on Anubis for another early streak, this one five rounds long. Liquid replied with two in kind, but four rounds forcing CT-saves proved debilitating as EF ended with another nine round half. Liquid, once again, won the pistol, eager for a comeback into a single map win. Their T-side was much more fruitful than their defense, picking up their first 3-round streak of the map. However, a six round lead at the half proved very difficult to overcome. It was a late streak that allowed Liquid to come back from 12-8 and secure overtime.
EF took the first round of overtime, but Liquid's T-side proved just as strong as earlier, taking the second round. EF took the third, more than you would expect from this match thus far. But Liquid kept up the back and forth, taking their first CT-round, breaking the streak by taking the second, going up 15-14. For the first time in the series, Liquid had a map point. They would not throw it (despite looking like they wanted to) to win their first map of the series.
Next up, Eternal Fire's last pick of Nuke. Despite the first half ending 6-6, Liquid should have done much better. Unfortunate late round calls and losses to poor buys evened up the half, but the Americans should have done better. Liquid nearly won a 2v5 to start off their T-side, but it ended up being EF to take their first defensive round. Liquid rocketed ahead to take an 11-8 lead but it was a monumental streak of five in a row from Eternal Fire to go up to match point. Yet, on a tough buy, the two Canadians won a 2v3 to stave off the end of the map.
Two CT-rounds followed by the first T-round put Eternal Fire up 15-13, on yet another match point. Liquid take fourteen, but it was finally Eternal Fire to end the map 16-14 and the series 3-1.
LiquidEternal Fire| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
68 - 69 | -1 | 82.3 | 71.3% | 1.10 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
72 - 70 | +2 | 77.6 | 66.3% | 1.05 |
 Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
70 - 71 | -1 | 77.9 | 70.3% | 1.04 |
 Casper 'cadiaN' Møller |
56 - 66 | -10 | 55.1 | 63.4% | 0.87 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
51 - 80 | -29 | 60.0 | 57.4% | 0.77 |
| Eternal Fire |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş |
77 - 63 | +14 | 90.8 | 79.2% | 1.33 |
| Buğra 'Calyx' Arkın |
79 - 62 | +17 | 83.7 | 73.3% | 1.19 |
| Özgür 'woxic' Eker |
68 - 61 | +7 | 67.7 | 77.2% | 1.11 |
| Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli |
62 - 66 | -4 | 72.5 | 76.2% | 1.04 |
| Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın |
65 - 70 | -5 | 66.9 | 73.3% | 0.98 |
Liquid finish CCT Global Finals 2024 in second place, taking home $100,000. Liquid's next match is at IEM Dallas 2024, where they will face Complexity in the group stage on Monday at 02:30PM
