Cloud9 and Liquid to face off for arena spot in Dallas

The two teams with stand-ins, Ninjas in Pyjamas and MIBR, couldn't quite hold up in the elimination matches.

Cloud9 defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas and Liquid sent MIBR home 2-0 in today’s opening matches, setting up a lower bracket final bout between the two great American organizations Cloud9 and Liquid.

Cloud9 were made to work for it on their own map choice of Vertigo, going all the way to OT with Ninjas in Pyjamas, but Overpass was a completely dominant affair for the Russians. It was a similar story in the other series, where Liquid clinched a reasonably close Ancient from MIBR, before a second-half collapse from the Brazilians gave the NA squad a comfortable with on Inferno.

The A stream played host to the match between Cloud9 and Ninjas in Pyjamas, with things kicking off on the Russian squad’s pick of Vertigo.

Starting on the T side Cloud9 struggled to convert rounds early in the half despite making them close, allowing Ninjas in Pyjamas to get up to a 5-1 lead before the boys in blue found their cutting edge. Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov was vital with his entry work at ramp, and Cloud9 began to run away with the half once the rounds began to flow, grabbing six on the bounce to build a respectable offensive haul. A few rounds traded at the end of the half left the score 8-7 in C9’s favour.

Cloud9 seemed they would comfortably bring their map pick home, getting up to a 13-8 score before Ninjas in Pyjamas really found any success. Once the Swedes switched up their offense, focusing more on the B bombsite, they began to find real success, Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson in particular impressing with his fragging output. The Swedes managed to grind their way to a 14-13 lead, and despite a couple of key plays from Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov, Ninjas in Pyjamas managed to force the map to overtime.

Cloud9 managed to pick up a clean three rounds on their CT half of OT, and it looked like Ninjas in Pyjamas might do the same on their CT half, but a 5v3 advantage somehow got away from them and sh1ro duly delivered another clutch to close the map out for his team.

Next up was the Ninjas' pick of Overpass, and the Swedes struggled badly starting on the T side. Cloud9 opened the map with eight rounds in a row, and despite Ninjas in Pyjamas grabbing two of their own they could not make the half close; powered by the duo of sh1ro and nafany, Cloud9 roared to a convincing 11-4 lead.

A Cloud9 victory in the second pistol spelled trouble for Ninjas in Pyjamas, and the Russian squad quickly and efficiently closed the map out 16-5.

Over on the B stream MIBR took on Liquid, starting on Liquid’s pick of Ancient, and it was a tightly contested affair. The NA side opened with a Terrorist pistol win and conversion before a scrappy battle ensued, the bomb repeatedly going down only for the Brazilians to succeed in the retake. The match seemed to ebb and flow, with MIBR stringing a few together only for Liquid to grab a streak in return, but the Brazilian squad got the better of things and went into the second period with a 9-6 lead.

Liquid won their CT pistol only for MIBR to win the force-buy and a follow up round, but that was just about the only joy that the Brazilians found on their offense as Liquid set about putting up a dominant CT half. Such was the NA squad’s dominance that MIBR only found one more round for the rest of the map, Liquid taking their pick 16-12.

Inferno was next, the pick of MIBR, and the Brazilians were left ruing their selection. They began poorly on their T side, with Liquid winning the pistol and converting to a 4-0 lead, before the Brazilians recovered in spectacular fashion with six rounds on the bounce. The back end of the half was more evenly fought, with the teams trading rounds to a slim 8-7 lead in favour of MIBR.

MIBR grabbed their CT pistol, and that was all they managed on their defence; much like the first map they collapsed in the second half, allowing Liquid to stroll to a convincing 16-9 victory keeping them alive here in Dallas and sending MIBR home.