Liquid stay alive in Cologne with a solid victory over HEROIC
After a rocky first two days at the IEM Cologne Major put Liquid on the brink of elimination, they faced off against a tough opponent in HEROIC in their 1-2 match. Liquid started the series with a convincing win on HEROIC's pick before a nearly choked second map earned Liquid the 2-0 and another life in the Major.
Liquid's backbone, Keith "NAF" Markovic, had solid performances on both maps. He had a 37-24 K/D and 98 ADR over the series.
The series began on HEROIC's pick of Nuke, a map Liquid were 1-7 on with the current lineup going in the Major. Though Liquid lost the pistol, they won six rounds in a row and had an 8-4 lead going into the second half. After winning the pistol, Liquid only lost one round en route to a strong 13-5 victory on Nuke, stealing HEROIC's pick.
Liquid picked Inferno for map two, and once again had a confident start as they ran all over HEROIC on their T-side. Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa was a beast as he went 14-8 in the first half, propelling Liquid to another 8-4 lead. HEROIC finally got in the game with a pistol and conversions, but Liquid responded to maintain a 9-7 lead. After that, Liquid got four to claim five match points. After HEROIC won four, Liquid eventually closed it 13-11.
LiquidHEROIC| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa |
37 - 26 | +11 | 89.9 | 76.2% | 1.50 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
37 - 27 | +10 | 88.3 | 88.1% | 1.35 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
37 - 24 | +13 | 98.0 | 92.9% | 1.33 |
 Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
29 - 23 | +6 | 74.0 | 88.1% | 1.08 |
| Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek |
19 - 22 | -3 | 57.9 | 78.6% | 0.86 |
| HEROIC |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Christoffer 'Chr1zN' Storgaard |
32 - 32 | +0 | 83.4 | 73.8% | 1.31 |
 Linus 'nilo' Bergman |
29 - 32 | -3 | 66.2 | 69.0% | 1.09 |
| Simon 'yxngstxr' Boije |
27 - 31 | -4 | 71.9 | 69.0% | 1.01 |
| Tim 'susp' Ångström |
19 - 32 | -13 | 55.8 | 66.7% | 0.70 |
 Yasin 'xfl0ud' Koç |
15 - 33 | -18 | 50.1 | 69.0% | 0.67 |
Liquid's next match will be high pressure as a win sends them to Stage 2, and a loss sends them home. They will play against FlyQuest tomorrow.
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