Liquid scrape win over FaZe to secure semi-final spot

Liquid are the first team confirmed for the semi-finals of DreamHack Masters Dallas following a hard-fought 2-1 win over FaZe.

The game on Dust2 began at a frantic pace, with a host of close rounds and impressive clutches keeping viewers - and the casters - entertained. A stunning 1v3 by Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer that included a jumping shot set FaZe up for a seven-round streak, but a late resurgence by Liquid off the back of some great AWP shots by Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip kept the teams just three rounds apart on the scoreboard.

A trio of kills by Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken in the second half pistol marked the beginning of a dominant period by Liquid, who won five rounds straight to bring the scoreline to 11-9. FaZe then finally woke up as they replied with a run of their own to hit 14 rounds and put the pressure on their opponents. With no room for error, the North Americans tightened up their defence and hit map point before FaZe responded to tie up the score at 15-15.

The first overtime could not determine a winner as Liquid surrendered two map points after Stewie2K had put the team on the brink of victory with a stunning 1v2 clutch at point-blank range. In the second overtime, the North Americans would not be nearly as wasteful, locking down the map at 22-19 after dominating their opponents.

Things quickly went downhill for Liquid, who looked way off the pace were completely outmaneuvered for the vast majority of the first half. FaZe raced to a 12-1 lead with a very compact defence before Twistzz and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic rescued their team with an ace and a clutch, respectively.

Liquid looked determined to defy the odds, even though it always looked like they were playing a losing game. They immediately countered any round won by FaZe and brought the deficit to just two rounds. However, the European side was simply too far ahead to feel the heat, and when they hit map point at 15-12, they completely destroyed Liquid's economy, leaving the North Americans without the tools to be able to contest the game.

Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard opened up the action on Inferno with an ace to kick FaZe into the lead. It would not last though, as Liquid took control of proceedings once they had money in the bank and ran away with the lead. FaZe's round wins were few and far between as they were continuously traded, some of them in situations were the North Americans had almost no money in the bank, resulting in a 9-6 half in favour of the home side.

Now playing on the Terrorist side, Liquid took the pistol round after punishing the CTs' aggression early on. There would be no follow-up, though, as FaZe responded immediately, using that newly-found momentum to bring the deficit to 9-10.

Liquid were unwilling to let a comeback happen and put together another string of rounds to take a 14-10 lead. FaZe still tried to get back in the game, but it all fell apart for them in the 26th round, in which they were caught off-guard in the banana, leaving them counting the pennies and ultimately helpless to attempt a response. The result, however painful it may be for FaZe, does not take away merit from the Europeans, who showed the kind of well thought-out CS we had not seen from them in a while and that will make them a dangerous team in the playoffs and beyond.