Liquid secure semi-final spot over NiP; mousesports dismantle BIG

Liquid booked a spot in the last-four stage of IEM Sydney 2019 after taking down Ninjas in Pyjamas in Group A's upper bracket final, while MOUZ came through the lower bracket at the expense of BIG.

The battle for the first semi-final spot in Sydney began on Ninjas in Pyjamas's map pick, Nuke, with the Swedes taking the pistol round off the back of three quick kills by Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson in the ramps. Liquid responded immediately on a force buy, though, and rode that momentum to secure a 5-1 lead.

Ninjas in Pyjamas then finally woke up and went on a five-round streak of their own before Liquid dominated proceedings in the final stages of the half, bringing the scoreline to 9-6.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first, with the CT team immediately hitting back after losing the pistol round. But Liquid did not break their stride, and put together a string of rounds to build a 14-8 lead, eventually locking down the map in the 27th round after a brief comeback attempt by the Swedes, with Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken ending the game with a 30-bomb.

Next up was Overpass, where a solid start from Liquid saw them take a 4-2 lead on the Terrorist side after losing the pistol. The rest of the half was all about Ninjas in Pyjamas's compact defense, though, as the Swedes lost just one of the last nine rounds to secure a 10-5 lead.

Now playing on the CT side, Liquid won a much-needed pistol round in a 3v5 retake situation. That was the start of a phenomenal run from the North Americans, who shut down any chances of Ninjas in Pyjamas stringing rounds together, hitting match point at 15-12.

With no room for error, the Swedes dug deep in an attempt to force overtime and almost pulled it off but shockingly squandered a 4v2 post-plant situation in final round of regulation.

Meanwhile in the lower bracket, MOUZ and BIG faced off in a rematch of the opening round game between the two, which the German side had won 16-14. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's side entered this all-deciding series looking for revenge and made light work for their opponents on the opening map, Mirage, with Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool topping the scoreboard with an impressive performance (2.15 rating) that saw him clutch a 1v4 pistol in the second half.

The match continued to be a lopsided affair dominated by MOUZ on Inferno, this time with David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský leading the charge for the European mixture, who will face the loser of the match between NRG and MIBR in the quarter-finals, against an uninspired BIG side who simply could not put up a fight in the series.