Evil Geniuses trounce Liquid to secure ESL One Cologne playoffs berth

Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold led the way for EG in a one-sided victory over Liquid in the Group B winners' match of ESL One Cologne, helping his team earn a spot in the semi-finals.

Evil Geniuses were able to even their head-to-head record against Liquid in 2020 as they secured a victory in two maps, with each team now having defeated the other four times in series play. It was the Ethan show for much of the series as the 20-year-old rifler had a stand-out performance, posting a 1.76 rating while averaging 108 damage per round to secure a spot in playoffs for EG.

Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken got Liquid off to a solid start as he opened up Mirage's B bombsite with a Glock triple, with Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince and Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski helping to make up for a number of disadvantageous starts to ensuing rounds as their team moved up to a 4-0 lead.

It took a 1vs2 clutch from Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik to get EG their first, and although Liquid immediately answered back, the pistols of Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz and company gave EG a lifeline as they took a round of their own to swing momentum into their favour. From there, Liquid looked out of sorts as a stellar showing from Ethan led the way for EG, combining with the rifles of tarik and Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte to secure a 16-7 victory for their side.

Ethan and tarik were at the helm of a swift Mirage victory for EG

Ethan continued to lead the way for his side as Nuke got underway, dismantling Liquid's defenses alongside Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov as they pushed up to an 8-2 scoreline. A quad kill from Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip gave Liquid their third, with the in-game leader adding additional multi-kill rounds to make a comeback effort in the half and bring themselves within one round of their North American opposition by the break.

Unfortunately for Liquid, the second half kicked off in similar fashion to the first as Evil Geniuses remained a step ahead, continuing to pick apart Stewie2K's troops to close out the series in fast fashion.

ESL One Cologne 2020 North AmericaBest of 3

Evil Geniuses

Matchpage

2

0

21st August 2020

Liquid

16

Mirage

7

16

Nuke

9

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	54 - 26	+28	108.2	89.6%	1.76
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	40 - 26	+14	82.6	81.2%	1.33
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	33 - 28	+5	80.9	83.3%	1.25
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	32 - 33	-1	72.6	83.3%	1.13
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	30 - 34	-4	69.6	72.9%	0.95

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	31 - 33	-2	76.1	68.8%	1.03
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	32 - 41	-9	70.9	68.8%	0.89
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	28 - 36	-8	66.6	62.5%	0.89
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	31 - 40	-9	67.3	68.8%	0.80
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	24 - 39	-15	60.5	58.3%	0.72