Liquid topple FaZe, claim third place in Kiev
The penultimate match of StarSeries i-League Season 4 was set to take place between perennial North American second fiddles Liquid, and current world number one team FaZe. The two sides had lost to grand finalists mousesports and Natus Vincere, respectively, yesterday. After the veto concluded, the maps were set to be Nuke, Inferno, and Mirage.
From the get-go, FaZe were not themselves, likely due to the inconsequential nature of the match itself. Liquid opened up their CT-side with the pistol, and from there on out the map was all them. The Europeans were able to grab isolated rounds, but saw themselves staring down the barrel of a 12-3 deficit at the conclusion of the half.
A second-half pistol win for Liquid all but sealed the deal, and the North Americans quickly took the next trio of rounds to secure an impressive 16-3 victory on their opponents map pick. The longest tenured members of Liquid, Nick "nitr0" Canella and Johnathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, both ended the map with over 20 kills.
Heading to Inferno, Liquid continued their strong CT-side play, taking the pistol and the next eleven rounds as well, before FaZe were able to get on the board. A nice ace in the fourteenth round by Håvard "rain" Nygaard was on of the lone bright spots for the Europeans, with the half ending 12-3 to their detriment.
Seemingly waking up a bit, FaZe were able to take the second pistol of the map, though it came down to a 1v1 between Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken. FaZe were able to take the following anti-eco rounds, but Liquid were able to do solid damage to the European economy, which manifested itself in the North Americans taking the first gun round of the half.
Now well and truly alive, FaZe stormed back into the match by putting on a defensive master class of their own and claiming the next nine rounds, bringing the scoreline to 15-12. Three desperate rounds from Liquid kept them in the map, culminating in a 1v2 by Twistzz to send his squad to overtime.
The first half of overtime again saw a hapless Liquid on the Terrorist side of the map, and they were unable to penetrate the FaZe defense. With their backs against the wall, the North Americans were able to turn in their own perfect CT half, sending Inferno to double OT.
Still on the CT-side, Liquid surrendered a round to FaZe, which given the way the map had been going, could well have spelled their doom. The teams swapped sides with Liquid up 20-19. A quick hit onto B saw Liquid get the bomb down, and take down rain in a 1v2 situation, putting them onto match point. Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač each secured triple kills and forced triple overtime.
The first half of the third overtime was back and forth, with nitr0 picking a massive quadruple kill and clutch to put his team in the lead. Liquid once again secured match point, but yet again, FaZe fought back and put the map into a fourth overtime. FaZe managed to acquire their own match point finally, but in round 53, Lucas "steel" Lopes pulled off a huge 1 v 3 clutch to keep Liquid in the game. FaZe eventually came through in the end though, taking Inferno 28-26 and forcing a third map.
Liquid got off to a great start on Mirage, with NAF and EliGE propelling the North American side to a fast 7-1 lead on the Counter-Terrorist side. The unstoppable Liquid defense allowed only three total rounds to go to the European side, leading 12-3 at the side switch.
NAF picked up a 1 on 1 win against rain in the final pistol round of the game to put Liquid on 13 rounds, edging ever closer to victory. The end seemed inevitable though, as FaZe could only muster a single CT round before falling to Liquid 4-16 on Mirage and 1-2 in the best of three.
LiquidFaZe| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
81 - 56 | +25 | 91.7 | 76.3% | 1.36 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
84 - 57 | +27 | 91.0 | 79.6% | 1.35 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
78 - 54 | +24 | 89.3 | 77.4% | 1.34 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
67 - 48 | +19 | 73.4 | 71.0% | 1.14 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
49 - 53 | -4 | 62.3 | 74.2% | 0.98 |
| FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács |
67 - 73 | -6 | 75.4 | 62.4% | 1.04 |
 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard |
49 - 70 | -21 | 62.4 | 64.5% | 0.90 |
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
57 - 73 | -16 | 68.9 | 63.4% | 0.88 |
 Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer |
50 - 70 | -20 | 54.6 | 52.7% | 0.73 |
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
45 - 73 | -28 | 59.5 | 60.2% | 0.72 |
Both teams will now head to IEM Katowice, following distinctly different personal trajectories. For Liquid, the team will no doubt be elated to see their good form since the addition of Keith "NAF" Markovic. In FaZe's case, Finn "karrigan" Andersen and company will look for quick answers after falling to lower-ranked Natus Vincere and Liquid sides.
