Liquid move past MIBR at ELEAGUE Premier

Liquid are off to a fantastic start at ELEAGUE Premier after beating MIBR 2-0 in a one-sided series.

Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik did not get the MIBR debut that he wanted as his new team were outplayed by Liquid even with a clearly underperforming Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo. The Brazilian/American mixture were on the back foot for most of the series - except for a brief period on Cache -, and will have to rethink their strategy ahead of the elimination match against Cloud9, on Monday.

The Americas showdown kicked off on Inferno, MIBR's map pick, with Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken winning the decisive 1v1 on the A site after Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic had picked up three kills. The Brazilians then took some gambles that did not pay off, with the scoreline blooming to a 5-0 advantage for Liquid.

It was only then that MIBR finally managed to get a footing in the game, winning five of the next six rounds, with Liquid's round during that streak coming on the back of a quad-kill from Twistzz. The Canadian talent was a nuisance to MIBR throughout the half, playing the angles from the pit area to perfection, and in the 12th round he pulled off a quad-kill with a Desert Eagle in a very low buy, punishing the Brazilians for some poor utility usage.

That round left MIBR's players in disarray and set Liquid up for another great run, with the North Americans hitting nine rounds before Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip put his side back on the board with a triple kill.

Now playing on the CT side, MIBR took the pistol round in convincing fashion, but then they were caught off-guard by Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski, who got four amazing Desert Eagle kills to his name. That was the start of a dominant run from Liquid, who lost just one more round before running away with the map, 16-8.

The next map, Cache, started with a chaotic pistol round in which Liquid somehow squandered a 5v2 advantage with the two remaining MIBR players in a choke point. It took the North Americans a while to recover from that blunder as they got on the board for the first time just seven rounds into the game.

Liquid followed that up with another round, but MIBR quickly restored a six-round lead following two entry frags from Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo. There was no follow-up from the Brazilians, however, as a timely flank from EliGE set Liquid up for an easy retake on the A site.

Once again, the North Americans were unable to string more than two rounds together as MIBR hit the A site with two entry frags from Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga before Stewie2K picked up two key frags in a 2v2 situation. Liquid's individual talent then made the difference: Twistzz held the A site on his own with a massive triple kill before Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella got an ace to his name. In the final round, MIBR tried to push the B site but were unable to move past NAF, with the half ending with a competitive 8-7 scoreline.

Liquid came from the break with all guns blazing and won seven rounds right off to bat as they exposed the gaping holes in the MIBR defence. The Brazilian team then finally got a round on the board, but they were immediately traded back, leaving them with no money in the bank to keep the North Americans from taking the map.