Liquid squeeze by into Roman Imperium Cup VI playoffs after a rough 2-2 group stage
After a group stage of solid wins and surprising losses, the dust settles with Liquid claiming a spot in the playoffs of the Roman Imperium Cup VI, with Justinas "jL" Lekavičius standing in. Successful group stages don't get much uglier than this as they scraped by with a 2-2 record.
It came down to a head-to-head tiebreaker after Liquid and BESTIA both ended the group stage with the same number of points. Liquid will be happy that one of their two victories came against BESTIA, putting them on top.
The day started well with a strong opening win against the Latvian team hypewrld. Great performances from Keith "NAF" Markovic and Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak helped Liquid cruise to a 13-5 victory on Nuke.
LiquidOlyBet| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
20 - 9 | +11 | 113.9 | 100.0% | 2.10 |
 Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
21 - 9 | +12 | 120.2 | 100.0% | 1.81 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
20 - 10 | +10 | 106.0 | 88.9% | 1.39 |
| Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek |
11 - 7 | +4 | 66.4 | 88.9% | 0.99 |
 Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius |
11 - 8 | +3 | 63.6 | 72.2% | 0.90 |
| OlyBet |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Roberts 'Frip' Poļakovs |
14 - 18 | -4 | 90.2 | 66.7% | 1.18 |
| Jānis 'yaankz' Krūmiņš |
8 - 16 | -8 | 64.5 | 50.0% | 0.95 |
| Daniēls 'discplex' Bieziņš |
8 - 16 | -8 | 53.7 | 44.4% | 0.73 |
| Andrejs 'hexoq' Nadeikins |
10 - 15 | -5 | 52.1 | 61.1% | 0.69 |
| Ralfs 'ChipaaN' Čipāns |
2 - 18 | -16 | 18.1 | 33.3% | 0.18 |
Liquid continued their success in the second series with another solid win over BESTIA, a much more established team. Liquid started down 0-2, but put together a great 9-3 CT-side on Ancient. BESTIA fought back with three round wins to close the gap, but Liquid closed it out with a respectable 13-6 scoreline. jL and NAF were phenomenal on the CT-side with a combined K/D of 28-9 and over 230 ADR.
LiquidBESTIA| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius |
18 - 8 | +10 | 99.5 | 78.9% | 1.85 |
| Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek |
16 - 10 | +6 | 90.5 | 84.2% | 1.51 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
19 - 9 | +10 | 113.3 | 89.5% | 1.46 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
16 - 13 | +3 | 85.5 | 89.5% | 1.16 |
| Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
11 - 10 | +1 | 38.2 | 89.5% | 0.91 |
| BESTIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nicolás 'buda' Kramer |
10 - 17 | -7 | 74.2 | 68.4% | 0.95 |
| Ignacio 'nacho' Rodriguez |
10 - 15 | -5 | 59.9 | 68.4% | 0.81 |
| Tomas 'tomaszin' Corna |
14 - 17 | -3 | 75.2 | 68.4% | 0.80 |
 Cristhian 'timo' Perez |
7 - 16 | -9 | 39.8 | 52.6% | 0.65 |
 Cássio 'cass1n' Santos |
9 - 16 | -7 | 45.9 | 57.9% | 0.62 |
Up 2-0, the wheels started to come off the wagon against the Portuguese squad Famalicão. The teams clashed on Inferno, and Liquid started with a pistol and conversion. The two squads traded small streaks for the rest of the half, leaving the score tied 6-6 going into Liquid's CT-side. Famalicão started well to put Liquid down 8-11, but Liquid recovered and took the game to overtime. Despite winning the first round, Liquid couldn't keep up as they eventually lost the match 13-16 in a shocking upset.
The map was especially tough for IGL Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek as he ended Inferno with only 8 kills over nearly 30 rounds.
LiquidFamalicão| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
31 - 19 | +12 | 96.1 | 82.8% | 1.74 |
| Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius |
23 - 23 | +0 | 86.2 | 82.8% | 1.30 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
20 - 23 | -3 | 84.9 | 75.9% | 1.04 |
| Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
18 - 19 | -1 | 59.9 | 75.9% | 0.69 |
| Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek |
8 - 26 | -18 | 41.3 | 51.7% | 0.36 |
| Famalicão |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Miguel 'M1KA' Moreira |
27 - 18 | +9 | 86.3 | 72.4% | 1.50 |
| Gabriel 'Sprayy' Lameiras |
27 - 20 | +7 | 88.6 | 86.2% | 1.38 |
| David 'P3R3IIRA' Pereira |
18 - 18 | +0 | 77.9 | 82.8% | 1.32 |
| Oscar 'h0t' Gaspar |
18 - 21 | -3 | 77.6 | 69.0% | 0.93 |
| João 'seabraez' Seabra |
18 - 24 | -6 | 67.7 | 69.0% | 0.92 |
The day ended with a rematch from ESL Pro League against Gaimin Gladiators on Ancient. As Gaimin Gladiators beat Liquid there, contributing to their early elimination, they were surely looking for a little revenge. Liquid started down 1-3, but had a convincing remainder of their CT-side to take a slight 7-5 lead. Their T-side was far less convincing as they won only one more round on the way to an 8-13 loss.
LiquidGaimin Gladiators| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius |
17 - 15 | +2 | 77.2 | 61.9% | 1.09 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
12 - 16 | -4 | 87.4 | 76.2% | 1.01 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
15 - 14 | +1 | 65.0 | 71.4% | 0.99 |
| Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
9 - 15 | -6 | 47.7 | 61.9% | 0.70 |
| Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek |
8 - 16 | -8 | 43.6 | 66.7% | 0.52 |
| Gaimin Gladiators |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian |
25 - 8 | +17 | 114.1 | 90.5% | 2.03 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
13 - 9 | +4 | 72.4 | 81.0% | 1.37 |
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
14 - 17 | -3 | 83.4 | 81.0% | 1.06 |
| Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
12 - 11 | +1 | 57.5 | 76.2% | 0.98 |
| Luca 'Luken' Nadotti |
12 - 16 | -4 | 57.8 | 76.2% | 0.77 |
At the end of the group stage, Gaimin Gladiators took one of the two playoff spots with a 3-1 record, but Liquid, BESTIA, and Famalicão all went 2-2. As the tournament rules gave consolation points for overtime losses and fewer points for overtime wins, Famalicão had fewer points than the others and were eliminated. In their head-to-head result, Liquid beat BESTIA, putting them over the top in the tiebreaker and earning them a spot in the playoffs.
It wasn't pretty, but they made it. The playoffs of the Roman Imperium Cup VI will begin tomorrow; Liquid will face EYEBALLERS at 07:00AM in their quarterfinal.
