Liquid to IEM Katowice semis over NiP

2-3-2018 21:40

Liquid are through to the semi-finals at IEM Katowice after beating NiP 2-1 in the quarter-finals (16-13 on Overpass, 13-16 on Mirage, and 16-9 on Inferno).

The second quarter-final at IEM Katowice 2018 featured Liquid and Ninjas in Pyjamas. The best-of-three series kicked off on Overpass which was the Swedish squad's pick and they started it on the T-side. Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman picked up a triple kill in the pistol round to make it 1-0.

William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin and dennis clutched a 2vs5 and survived against the force buy of Liquid in the second round. Ninjas in Pyjamas were leading 5-1 when they had a 4vs2 advantage but they crumbled as Liquid got their second round on the board (5-2).

Liquid are through to the semis

Liquid trailed got within one round of Ninjas in Pyjamas on two separate occasions but Ninjas in Pyjamas took charge towards the end of the first half, winning four in a row to be 10-5 ahead at halftime. Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken was the hero for Liquid in the second half pistol round as he got a triple kill to make it 10-6.

Following anti-eco wins, the North American team got to eight rounds but dennis & Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg combined for double kills in the first weapon round to stop Liquid's momentum (11-8). Later in the second half, Liquid were behind with a 13-11 scoreline but managed to go ahead by picking up three consecutive rounds (14-13).

Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic clutched a 1vs3 in the 28th round of the match to give his team two map points. Despite a 3vs5 disadvantage in the following round NAF's double kill and Twistzz' triple was enough for Liquid to close it out 16-13.

Ninjas in Pyjamas started Mirage on the CT-side and secured the first three rounds. Liquid grabbed the first weapon round but Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner and draken stepped up in multiple rounds to make it 6-1. The Swedish dominance continued and they led 12-3 at halftime.

NiP are out of IEM Katowice

The North Americans woke up in the second half, winning the first nine of the half to tie it up at 12-12. Ninjas in Pyjamas got their first round in the second half with REZ's 1vs1 clutch but Liquid hit back in the following round (13-13). Ninjas in Pyjamas won the last three rounds to get a 16-13 map victory, taking the series to the third map.

On Inferno the T-sided Liquid picked up the pistol round but couldn't follow it up with anti-ecos as Ninjas in Pyjamas got three rounds in a row (3-1). NAF's team won a 3vs5 and a 4vs5 in consecutive rounds to tie up the game (3-3).

dennis got an ace in the seventh round to put his team ahead and Ninjas in Pyjamas extended their lead to 7-3 after securing three more rounds. Liquid replied with five rounds in a row and won the half 8-7.

Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes & company started the second half with four round wins, extending their lead to 12-7. The defense stood strong for Liquid and they won the map 16-9. With a 2-1 series victory, Liquid advanced to the semi-finals where they will play fnatic.

IEM Katowice 2018Best of 3

Liquid

Matchpage

2nd March 2018

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Overpass

Mirage

Inferno

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Twistzz	69 - 49	+20	86.2	80.7%	1.28
Keith 'NAF' Markovic NAF	69 - 56	+13	92.4	74.7%	1.25
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski EliGE	63 - 57	+6	81.4	67.5%	1.13
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella nitr0	48 - 53	-5	64.5	68.7%	0.92
Lucas 'steel' Lopes steel	36 - 57	-21	54.6	67.5%	0.82

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
William 'draken' Sundin draken	67 - 52	+15	83.8	72.3%	1.28
Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner REZ	57 - 60	-3	76.8	71.1%	1.05
Dennis 'dennis' Edman dennis	58 - 58	0	68.4	60.2%	0.96
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund GeT_RiGhT	45 - 58	-13	68.0	69.9%	0.89
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg f0rest	45 - 58	-13	63.7	71.1%	0.86

Liquid is a weird team - they picked stanislaw and didn't allow him to call. Why did they pick steel and still keep him in the team if nitr0 is their main caller? What does steel do for the team? As for NiP - an absence of a true IGL messed them up but dennis as an IGL is surely not a part of the solution for them. He refused to call in his previous teams for a clear reason - he knew he wasn't good at that or he wasn't interested in that - doesn't matter. NiP is also a weird team, they decided to use a regular fragger as an IGL. They might get lucky enough to win some tournament like Cloud9 or mousesports did, but they will end up like G2 anyway. Having a true IGL makes you more consistent because you have something else to rely on in addition to your pug style and individual skill (aim). P.S. Tomorrow fnatic < Liquid.

2018-03-02 21:40

62 replies

again you rofl

2018-03-02 21:41

5 replies

he never gets tired

2018-03-02 21:42

4 replies

he is superfast.I think he is admin ? :/

2018-03-02 21:44

2 replies

fortunately for the majority of hltv users no im not ;-)

2018-03-03 00:48

1 reply

Lol Fnatic will pass to final i hope

2018-03-03 12:02

well indeed he is

2018-03-03 04:19

2018-03-02 21:43

haHAA

they let stan call but it didn't work steel is playing most most of the supporting roles along with nitr0 and I'm sure he's helping out with the calling

10 replies

Steels English still isn’t great that may be a factor

2018-03-02 21:54

9 replies

I mean it's pretty fucking good

2018-03-02 21:55

2018-03-02 22:09

2018-03-02 22:18

yeeee maaaan

2018-03-02 23:11

Fuck yeaaa man

2018-03-03 03:07

Not from what I’ve heard

2018-03-03 14:45

He speaks as well as I've ever heard any Brazilian speak English.

2018-03-03 00:06

He has a great english level. I'm almost sure that if Nitr0 is calling there's something behind the scene going on, mostly Zews trusting in Nitr0 to become the best IGL in NA or some shit like that.

2018-03-03 00:36

There's no reason he shouldn't be calling there's much more talented support players in NA and even Brazilian support players (if Zews had any say) that Liquid could have gotten but they needed an IGL

2018-03-05 01:48

0/8

You dont know what ur talking about, stanislaw was igl whe he first arrived, then they switched to n1tr0 igl in august. They had a goo run in September, but after quite a few bad results with stanislaw being the worst performer he was kicked and replaced with a different support player steel.

Yeah and that's when nitr0 went back to his old role of entry and steel began calling. Then jdm was dropped and now he AWPs/entries depending on the map and strat

2018-03-05 01:51

steel was never igl of liquid...

2018-03-05 02:32

I can imagine you stupid face pressing f5 f5 f5 while you think you are doing a achievement for your pathetic life, peace.

your tears are sweet <3

2018-03-02 21:45

ROFLLLLLLLL

2018-03-02 21:51

can you imagine still being tired from the fnatic game at the major

2018-03-02 21:56

Sk can

2018-03-02 23:49

2018-03-02 23:46

I believe they picked up steelega to be an IGL initially but he still needs to work on his english. Hopefully soon he can take IGL off nitr0 so he can go off and with steel not preforming very well right now it wont really affect his game too much. Still very impressive with what they've done considering these negatives.

I remember reading off some comments and watching streams that Steel said he will never igl at Liquid

2018-03-02 22:13

His English is really good

2018-03-03 00:07

not like NiP had any strats with Xizt lul

2018-03-02 21:58

This

2018-03-02 22:03

People need to stop "fixing" Liquid. The team works, that's it! They qualified for the major with a stand-in, that frags like a bot. Since then, we had 3 tournaments this year so far, and Liquid made it to semifinals in every single one, and one of these became a championship run. To prove that it's not luck, in the last 2 weeks they won at least one BO3 vs Sk, Faze and C9. Their roster is balanced with 3 potential star players, and 2 support/reliable players.

7 replies

2018-03-02 22:07

a win over sk isnt really impressive though

2018-03-02 22:10

double time winning major, best team of 2016/2017? we have 3 of the top 10 players

2018-03-02 22:37

3 replies

SK blows lul don't kid urself

2018-03-02 22:42

Best in 2017 LUL

2018-03-03 04:38

And? Astralis had 4 players from 2017 it doesnt mean that beating them was an achivement at the start of the year

2018-03-03 10:43

2018-03-02 23:02

Picked steel to be a support player, and because zews wanted a Brazilian friend

2018-03-02 22:14

Twistzz that suggests steel for liquid

2018-03-02 22:34

Interesting. Did Twistzz talk about this somewhere?

2018-03-02 23:56

Zews said... But i think that it is in portuguese... Gaules channel on youtube, i think

2018-03-03 00:05

FaZe fanboy and delusional analysis: Hey Thorin, why don't you just go to bed and try again next time.

2018-03-02 22:40

Let Dennis some times ffs, he can do great things with pita but he need some times that's all. Stop speaking Mr analytics in csgo

2018-03-02 23:57

steel is doing the dirty work at liquid if u know what i mean, their dedicated player for that just like taco is for SK.. and honestly he's doing a very good job at that, liquid is a t1 team now and with NAF coming in as well they're looking really fucking strong also Steel has some very high peaks in some games, check his major final run, absolutely carried immortals in some of the maps

2018-03-03 00:02

It makes me wonder why him and boltz got kicked from the original Luminosity roster.

2018-03-03 04:40

they weren't as good as they are now my man, people change and evolve i think fallen said that some time ago in the past that boltz was very...close headed? stubborn? idk how to express in english but like he didn't accept his mistakes... their departure to tempo storm > immortals made them grow as a person and as a player, that's why they are where they are right now :)

2018-03-03 14:14

Mousesports has a dedicated igl so your whole point is invalid

2018-03-03 00:41

c9 didnt get lucky they just peaked and they are almost back at that peak as they should of beat FaZe in that 5v3

2018-03-03 00:44

Well they were only up 3-0 because of back to back clutches that wouldn't happen like that normally, one of which Stewie won. Blaming him for making a mistake in another round and 'throwing' the game makes no sense, as it was him performing insanely well in a 'lost' round that gave them the 3-0 opportunity in the first place. Faze made mistakes in every single one of those 3 rounds they lost with x vs 1, but no one talks about that.

2018-03-03 09:37

-steel +anyone with skill and liquid is easy top1

2018-03-03 01:50

I'm curious about this phenomenon about having the first comment. Seeing as your post is not edited, I must assume that you prepare your comment while the match is ongoing or just the moment after it's done. Then I suppose you go on HLTV.org straight after, and you sit and relentlessly refresh your browser until the news story shows up on the front page, after which you copy/paste your prepared statement in the hopes to become the first user to have commented on the news story. The only question I'm left with is: WHY? Why go through all that trouble just to be first? Is it about power? Is it about feeling like you're not being heard and compensating this way? Is it something rooted in a deep traumatic experience? Help me understand. lel

2018-03-03 04:24

It's called having no life

2018-03-03 04:44

To get asked about it ofc.

2018-03-03 10:41

That makes very little sense

2018-03-03 16:51

First comment always get read. That's the why. Unnecessary comments later on swallows any real thaughts (tl;dr syndrome). Actually commenting rather than say "mum I did it" ought to be what we all want, don't you think?

2018-03-03 12:40

Mousesports lucky??? Mousesports a team full of insane young talent and amazing structure, this is why they won SL and they will go on to win much more

2018-03-03 12:04

You are an idiot

2018-03-03 13:32

14 replies

Tryharders kids won against experienced legend players :/

13 replies

Experienced legend players were tryharder kids once

Nice words my friend. - Nicolito

2018-03-02 22:12

Smart stuff

2018-03-02 23:10

Damn.... U made me wet

2018-03-03 13:35

Are you saying NiP didn't tryhard?

2018-03-02 21:48

Everybody tryhard here. Its a major

2018-03-03 09:45

A good team beat a bad team

2018-03-02 22:00

Or just the better team wins. Nip isn't bad or anything like that

Give NiP a few months with Dennis and that "Bad Team" will disappear.

True. He’s still dangerous. -forest/gtr +Brollan?

2018-03-03 08:23

That's just a matter of time, Brollan is just too young.

2018-03-03 16:55

yes nip used to be good in cs back when the scene was much smaller and barely anyone played

2018-03-02 22:26

wp, Team Liquid. - Nicolito

- bot right

Faze is going to win this. f0rest and GTR are cooked.

ggggg

liquid the real number 1

of NA? maybe

2018-03-02 22:32

not no.1 surely, but liquid seems kinda strong now

2018-03-03 11:02

ez for nip

chokers in pyjamas

They didn’t choke? Should’ve been 0-2

Nice b8

They choked. Should've won the first map

2018-03-03 03:08

Mirage would’ve played out different and they still could’ve got 2-1

2018-03-03 08:27

rip for my legend

NA ERA

Hahaha, nice joke, where is your team in top2... Oh wait HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

2018-03-03 02:18

GeT_ReTiReD finally pls, dragging team down sooo hard, also f0rest was tilting af if he got few kills on overpass last 2 rounds nip would be in semis 2:0 Edit: Both -13 lmao

Fnatic have a real chance to win this event! who knew

I would still favor FaZe in a final. But if Astralis gets to the final Fnatic has a real shot. Ofc they still have to take down Liquid, and if i'm not wrong this Fnatic roster hasn't played against Liquid in bo3 yet, gonna be a great match for sure. (Last time Fnatic played Liquid ELIGE destroyed Fnatic in Dust 2 if my memory isn't that bad)

2018-03-03 00:40

Last time they played in ecs season 3 i think

2018-03-03 03:09

FaZe is great at choking in the finals though. I think if Astralis makes the final they will take it for sure no matter if they play fnatic or Liquid.

2018-03-03 08:35

RESPECT NiP :(

Fuck off

rip NiP xD

get right & f0rest like neo&taz - bottom fragging

GG NiP played great for their first offline tournament with this new lineup #GONINJAS

-steel asap

Ez for water horse

Few weeks with dennis and one week with pita, yet they made it to playoffs. That's a win in my books for NiP. I'm sure they will show us some great stuff in the future. Grats to Liquid, Great game.

"Few weeks with dennis and one week with pita" it's actually the other way around, as Pita was with NiP already at their previous tournament "CS_Summit 2" but other than that agree. twitter.com/BeyondTheSummit/status/96098.. photo from Summit btw ^

2018-03-02 22:25

+1 playoffs is good acheivement for tier 3 team like NIP

2018-03-02 22:28

2018-03-02 22:30

I feel bad for Dennis.

expected well deserved

NiP went from losing to Heroic after 2 month break to making a pretty good run not bad

2018-03-02 21:46

twistzz this kid so crazy.what a talent

2018-03-02 21:47

He looks like everything except a pro gamer...

2018-03-02 21:57

NiP gave it away by themselves, should've won Ovp, you cant lose so many advantageous situations and Xv1 clutches, Liquid wasnt as good as everyone said they are, there was no dominant team here, congrats TL:( Lets hope it'll be fixed and we'll see a top 5 NiP, they can do it

2018-03-02 21:49

LIQUID ERA 2018 - 20??

They should win a tournament at least to be an era, and i don't think that they can win this tournament. Not because of Fnatic, they can defeat Fnatic, but FaZe and Astralis are both better than Liquid.

2018-03-02 21:50

feelsbadman

steel -21, just replace to became top3

2018-03-02 21:52

Taco always went -20 and won back to back majors. The kills steel does get are important kills. Doesn’t need to frag with twistz Elige and NAF. Hopefully he IGLs soon and nitro comes alive too. #1 team potentially

+++1

Not necessarely . I don t see steel a as Taco like support. The team is Still adapting and he was carried

2018-03-03 00:22

TL liquid was at one point 19/19 in rounds that steel got the first kill

2018-03-03 08:25

Ez for Fnatic

2018-03-02 21:53

liquid best 4 player team in the world

Ye, they took the title from SK that is now playing with 3 players.

2018-03-03 00:42

Burger > meatballs

tomorrow round nr2 :D

2018-03-03 00:29

from last place at cs_summit 2 and losing to fucking Heroic, to top 6 at Katowice with series wins over G2 and North, and taking Liquid to 3 maps not bad NiP

Indeed, true words

Nip nooo! :( But at least they showed that they are still here

2018-03-02 21:59

NT nip <3

NIP fell short on their terrorist side and loosing some key rounds where they had an advantage. This is probably bacause a lack of tactics and a shift in play style due to new igl and coach. But they played enjoyable cs and it feels like they are more dangerous with dennis than they were with xizt. I never expected them to win over liquid I just hoped they would play a good game, and they did.

2018-03-02 22:08

O' Canada

Now imagine Liquid with autimatic instead of bot sterl

2018-03-02 22:19

ez again god-naf

2018-03-02 22:29

Get_Right washed up pls pick up someone that can actually frag

2018-03-02 23:08

crap :(

2018-03-02 23:21

When is the last time get_right had a good tournament?

2018-03-02 23:41

400 BC

2018-03-02 23:48

made me rofl for some reason..

2018-03-03 10:26

when you ask yourself this question you should really be asking when is the last time NiP had a good tournament ?

2018-03-03 00:08

I remember Nip winning one recently, but not gtr shining...

2018-03-03 00:27

IEM Oakland

2018-03-03 06:55

GG liquid it was a great game

2018-03-02 23:59

-steel +s1mple = Liquid era 2018-2020

2018-03-03 00:09

Liquid present themselve in good shape. Well deserved.

2018-03-03 00:30

Lol get right useless

2018-03-03 01:33

People, We need to focus on one thing NA CS is rising back up

- steel + roca !

2018-03-03 01:52

LET’S GO LIQUID! Tough win but you’re in the semis. We believe!

2018-03-03 02:46

its a good direction for the NiP boys, give them some time, making the playoffs here is pretty good for them. Anyway, GTR and Forest need to step up and get back to their level or they might not hold a trophy. I love Dennis btw, hes fresh, seems like gtr and forest need some long break from cs just to freshen up. With that being said, I wish to see the NiP lineup with forest gtr dennis krimz olof

2018-03-03 06:22

Sad, tournament broken :< Fnatic is just not the same.

2018-03-03 06:48

NIP will definitely come back stronger. It's a great result for a new lineup anyway. Dislers

2018-03-03 09:18

Liquid have more braindead aimstars than NiP. Once again Aim>Brain

2018-03-03 09:21

It was obvious that nip dont have any strats on their T side. They were playing more like pug style, just straight rush, contact play or just destroy them on aim. But i think its great result with dennis after 10 days of practice.

2018-03-03 11:22