Liquid take down BIG; set up grand final clash with Astralis

The year will be concluded with a BO5 grand final match between Liquid and Astralis, with the winner taking the $200,000 first-place prize at IEM Global Challenge.

Liquid have managed to defeat BIG in the semi-final and earn at minimum a top-two finish in IEM Global Challenge, the last event that will take place before the start of the player break.

With an inspired Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski, the North American side seemed to have the upper hand throughout Inferno and parts of Nuke, but BIG was able to test them on both maps. However, the German side which took down favorites Astralis and Vitality in the group stage wasn't able to replicate the same form in the semi-finals.

After the match, Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip was asked about the upcoming grand final where they will meet their Danish rivals. "I don't think we have any nerves", the Liquid in-game leader said. "With the online era there is no best team in the world right now, there is no consistent #1, anyone can beat anyone".

Drawing comparisons to the 2018 Astralis lineup that handed them numerous grand final losses, Stewie2K said that he thinks this is not the same team. "I think we played Astralis once in a BO3 already and we feel like we are not playing the Astralis that we are usually playing on LAN, on the big stage. We feel like we really have a chance against them."

BIG struggled to get rolling on Inferno, being 5-0 down on the CT side of the map before Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische's AWP multikills got them two in a row. Liquid were back to winning ways shortly as EliGE found key frags to push his team to 8-2. At the end of the half, the Germans finally managed to find their footing, lowering the deficit to 9-6.

Force buy wars ensued as sides were swapped, with EliGE showing up as the hero for his squad. Liquid were 15-9 up after breaking BIG's money, but Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz and co. stayed alive with a scrappy round. Overtime seemed like a possibility as BIG found some momentum, but Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken's 3K on the eco got Liquid across the line, 16-11.

Nuke started with BIG in front, sitting on a 5-1 before Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic pulled out the AWP and helped his team stabilize on the CT side. In the latter part of the half, the North American side won a crucial eco which helped them push into the lead, 8-7, before halftime.

BIG was back on track after the switch as they took the second pistol convincingly, but things got complicated for them shortly. Liquid won three out of for rounds following their unorthodox save in a 5v5, but BIG struck back on a low-buy of their own to keep things competitive. Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince's triple which included a 1v1 against Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş proved crucial to Liquid taking back the reins and closing the map, 16-14, to take the series in two.