Liquid into EPICENTER group stage after defeating Vega Squadron

The second wildcard match of the day began on Inferno, Liquid's map pick. The North Americans got off to a flying start and took the first seven rounds of the game as Vega Squadron struggled to find a way past the CT's solid resistance, sometimes even after securing the man advantage during the early stages of rounds.

Still, the Russian team had made some of those rounds very expensive for Liquid, so when they finally got a round on the board, after calling a tactical pause, they broke the North Americans' economy. Vega Squadron added a second round to their tally, but then Liquid responded on a shoddy buy, which sparked another great run from Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's men. The home side would still be able to secure two more rounds, with the half ending in a one-sided 11-4 scoreline.

Liquid further added to their lead by winning the pistol round as Terrorists, off of three kills from Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski in a 2v4 situation, and the subsequent anti-ecos. Vega Squadron recovered a couple of rounds after getting their economy in order, but in the 24th round EliGE put Liquid on map point with a quad kill, with Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano dealing the finishing blow in the next round with a triple kill inside B.

EliGE was on fire on Inferno

The early stages of Cache felt like an exact copy of Inferno as Liquid cruised to a 8-0 lead, but this time with the economy clearly in their favour. It was only then that Vega Squadron finally managed to break through Liquid's tight defense, but they simply could not build up their bank as they got instantly reset after every round win.

Down 13-2, the Russian team kept themselves in the game by picking up the pistol round and the following anti-ecos. They were, however, outclassed when Liquid bought up, with the North Americans winning two rounds in a row to hit match point.

With no margin for error, Vega Squadron still went on a three-round spree to give their fans some hope, but then Liquid got the final round they needed to run out 2-0 victors in the series.

EPICENTER 2017 Wild Card QualifierBest of 3

Liquid

Matchpage

2

0

23rd October 2017

Vega Squadron

16

Inferno

9

16

Cache

8

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	47 - 28	+19	93.6	71.4%	1.47
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	48 - 29	+19	91.4	77.6%	1.37
Josh 'jdm64' Marzanojdm64	36 - 29	+7	72.6	73.5%	1.16
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	32 - 31	+1	81.8	71.4%	1.12
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	26 - 32	-6	75.7	75.5%	1.01

Vega Squadron	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	46 - 38	+8	87.5	73.5%	1.21
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	31 - 38	-7	80.7	71.4%	0.96
Pavel 'hutji' Lashkovhutji	30 - 39	-9	69.6	63.3%	0.90
Dmytro 'jR' ChervakjR	20 - 37	-17	49.7	53.1%	0.64
Sergey 'keshandr' Nikishinkeshandr	21 - 39	-18	48.0	55.1%	0.62

With FaZe and Liquid through to EPICENTER's main tournament, here is how the groups will look:

Group A	Group B
SK	Astralis
Virtus.pro	G2
Gambit	North
FaZe	Liquid