mousesports smite down Liquid to advance to StarSeries Finals
The first semifinal of the day began on Mirage, with mousesports setting the tone that would carry on throughout the entire series. A swift pistol round victory would translate into a six round lead for mousesports on their Terrorist side. A complete lack of bomb site defense from Liquid would only allow them to pick-up a total of four rounds by the time the half ended 11-4.
As both teams switched sides, Liquid began their offense by narrowly claiming the pistol round to start their grind back into their first map of the day. A forcebuy from mousesports halted any progression out of their six round deficit, and carried them forward on a four round streak. With mousesports sitting comfy on ten matchpoints, there was little Liquid could do. After the American squad was able to collect two more rounds to their name, mousesports finally ended the misery with a 16-7 scoreline.
After a pretty decisive defeat on Mirage, it wouldn't have been unexpected for Liquid to be a bit shaken going into Cobblestone. In a stellar showing of resiliency, Liquid took to their starting CT-side with comfort and ease, fabricating an impenetrable defense that mousesports couldn't seem to find a hole in. Round after round came in for the Americans until they silenced the Kiev crowd with a 15-0 half-time score.
Little hope was to be had looking down the barrel of such a deficit, but mousesports didn't roll over and give up. A down-to-the-wire 1v1 between Lucas "steel" Lopes and Tomáš "oskar" Šťastný in the pistol round of the second half was the beginning to mousesports uphill climb back into the game. They would go on to take the following three rounds before Liquid composed themselves enough to close out the map 16-4.
Moving on to the map decider of Train it was anyones game. mousesports started off with a strong showing of a seven round streak on their CT-side. Just when it began to look like a mirror image of Liquid's performance on Cobblestone, the Americans replied with an aggressive play on the B-site and finally put a round on the board. mousesports would only claim one additional round on their defensive side the rest of the half before Liquid would close it out with a six round streak, ending the half 7-8 in mouz's favor.
Once on the offense, mousesports tore into the CT's who were unable to hold down their sites as they continued to lack the utility one desperately needs on Train. After claiming the pistol round, mousesports continued to push Liquid further and further into a round deficit as they took the following four rounds after.
It appeared that Liquid was re-stabilizing themselves when they were able to secure two additonal rounds, but with heavy player losses their economy was still meager at best. Unable to have the firepower or utility to combat their opponents, Liquid would eventually fall 16-0 to mousesports, who now be head to the StarSeries i-League Grand Finals.
LiquidMOUZ| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
47 - 50 | -3 | 77.9 | 57.4% | 0.99 |
 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
43 - 49 | -6 | 68.6 | 63.2% | 0.92 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
42 - 52 | -10 | 68.1 | 66.2% | 0.88 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
43 - 52 | -9 | 68.2 | 64.7% | 0.85 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
36 - 47 | -11 | 60.6 | 64.7% | 0.82 |
| MOUZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Robin 'ropz' Kool |
56 - 35 | +21 | 87.9 | 76.5% | 1.35 |
 Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný |
54 - 41 | +13 | 81.8 | 77.9% | 1.27 |
 Martin 'STYKO' Styk |
46 - 44 | +2 | 73.9 | 77.9% | 1.17 |
 Miikka 'suNny' Kemppi |
51 - 47 | +4 | 78.6 | 70.6% | 1.14 |
 Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong |
43 - 44 | -1 | 68.8 | 75.0% | 1.05 |
With the fall of Liquid, all American teams have finally been knocked out of the StarSeries event. mousesports now wait and watch intently to see who they will face in the finals after the conclusion of FaZe vs. Na'Vi.
