Liquid steals the victory against fnatic

Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer and Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman were looking for revenge against Liquid after the crushing semi-final loss back at ESL Cologne, and as they were on a 2-1 score in the Swiss system they could also book a place in the semifinals with a win.

The American side started out in blazing fashion on T-side by winning the pistol and the first gun round, and even resetting fnatic straight after their first round they got a solid 7-1 lead.

Even though only olofmeister remains from the Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten-era, a classic pause of old was called from the Swedes and it worked like a charm, as the Swedes suddenly were inside the minds of Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella and his squad.

dennis picked up two huge opening picks from mid, and ended up getting a quad kill which clearly spurred on the rest of his team to unlock their potential in the following rounds. Liquid got the bomb plants, but the Swedes simply let them do so, constricting their fragile afterplants over and over again and getting the defuses.

Most notably, the Orange & Black secured the 14th round in their favor by defending the defusing player with their own bodies. The brand of Fnatic simply demands that rounds will be won in the most unpredictable manner. The Swedish side won the first half 8-7.

Liquid started out on the second half with a crucial CT pistol win. Supposedly at least, as the pistol god himself dennis lead the way in the ensuing force buy. It looked like the American side were out of the game as the aforementioned player got himself another quad kill with almost no backup, and putting the Swedes up 14-8.

Taking their own timeout Liquid avoided facing match point and brought it back. The roles were reversed from the first half as it was now Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin and the guys to be one step ahead fnatic, shutting down the Terrorists with aggressive pushes and moving onto a streak of six rounds, tying up the scoreline 14-14.

fnatic called their last pause, and it seemingly worked, as it went into a 3v3 afterplant, but in a flurry of exchanges it was Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche who slammed all the Swedish players down, moving on to match point. nitr0 stepped up massively in on the CT half, being a surprisingly effective secondary AWP'er, and it was him that shut down the last Swedish attack, ending the game 16-14 for Liquid.

ESL One New York 2016Best of 1

fnatic

Matchpage

14

16

1st October 2016

Liquid

14

Dust2

16

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis	30 - 21	+9	92.4	73.3%	1.39
Simon 'twist' Eliassontwist	21 - 23	-2	81.1	63.3%	1.06
Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonLekr0	17 - 22	-5	72.0	66.7%	0.89
John 'wenton' Erikssonwenton	16 - 22	-6	60.8	63.3%	0.84
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	14 - 21	-7	62.7	53.3%	0.81

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	28 - 19	+9	86.1	63.3%	1.37
Jacob 'Pimp' WinnechePimp	22 - 18	+4	85.8	80.0%	1.21
Josh 'jdm64' Marzanojdm64	22 - 17	+5	78.6	76.7%	1.19
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	20 - 21	-1	73.4	73.3%	1.02
Spencer 'Hiko' MartinHiko	17 - 23	-6	64.7	70.0%	0.80

Team	Score
Natus Vincere	3-0
SK	2-1
Virtus.pro	2-1
fnatic	2-2
OpTic	2-2
Liquid	2-2
Astralis	1-3
G2	0-3

Next matchup in New York will be a duel between Virtus.pro and SK. The winner of that match moves on to the play-offs.