Liquid overcome NRG at ESL One New York

In the North American clash, Liquid came out as the winners, recovering from a loss on the opening map to beat NRG 2-1 (Overpass 17-19, Dust2 16-10, Mirage 16-4).

Liquid swept the first three rounds on the CT side of Overpass, their map pick, but were overwhelmed by pistols on A in the following round which saw NRG get on the board. After tying up the score at 3-3, Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte and Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov found entries that allowed NRG to take control of the early portion of the map.

The score was 7-3 when Liquid was looking good to break NRG's streak, but Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold stepped up in the clutch and lined up Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo and Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken to win the 1v2. Twistzz responded straight back with an ace on the B site defense, though, and that gave Liquid a way back into the match.

The first half ended 8-7 in the favor of NRG and Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele's team advanced their lead by winning the CT-side pistol and the followup. Liquid got a footing into the match by punishing NRG's 'bonus round', but Brehze sprayed down three to quickly reply. The game was soon all tied up again, 12-12, then again at 13-13, and finally at 15-15, seeing Liquid fight back against two map points to force overtime.

After more grueling, back-and-forth rounds, Brehze powered his team through to the map win, finishing with 42 kills as NRG secured the 19-17 on Overpass.

NRG was the first team to establish an economy on Dust2, with Jacob "⁠FugLy⁠" Medina's crisp triple from CT spawn in round six being key to that effort (4-2). Lead by Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic and TACO, Liquid went on a three-round winning streak, ultimately finding the lead by abusing NRG's B site defence and ending the half with a minimal advantage, 8-7.

Liquid then won the CT pistol, and with that momentum, took a significant lead. NRG attempted a comeback, but in a crucial round, Twistzz aced the opposing team to get his team back on the road to victory (13-10). NRG managed to put down the bomb in the last two rounds, but Liquid pulled off the retakes and closed out Dust2, 16-10.

After two exciting maps, the action moved to Mirage, where Liquid were in control right from the start. Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski clutching the 1v1 in the pistol gave Liquid the good start, and Twistzz 3K in the first buy allowed them to advance their lead in rounds and economic status.

NRG were able to add a round to the board to make it 4-1, but it was a prompt strike-back from Liquid, resetting daps' team. The rest of the first half followed the pattern, with Liquid dominating for streaks of rounds and NRG only able to win singles, not building any momentum.

The half finished 12-3 in Liquid's favor, and with the second half pistol round added to their name, they had no issues closing it out, 16-4, to take the series 2-1.