Liquid breeze past Grayhound to qualify for Legends Stage

The North Americans came back from a 0-2 start in the Swiss group to secure the final Legends Stage spot.

Liquid beat Grayhound in the final match of the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage, securing a Legends Stage spot after an unconvincing campaign. The North Americans lost their first two games against Apeks and FORZE to find themselves in the 0-2 pool and needing three straight best-of-three victories to qualify.

Liquid found a labored three-map victory against Fluxo to get on the board before dominating regional rivals Complexity, as they put themselves one match away from the Legends Stage. Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis and company then met Grayhound in the decider match, where they justified their favorite status by comfortably winning Anubis (16-9) and Inferno (16-9).

EliGE topped the scoreboard with a 1.57 rating

The complete team list for the Legends Stage is as follows:

HEROIC
Natus Vincere
fnatic
Bad News Eagles
G2
FaZe
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Monte

Vitality
FURIA
9INE
Into the Breach
ENCE
Apeks
GamerLegion
Liquid

"It feels really good [to qualify], after the first day everyone was criticizing us, and rightfully so. We showed we are supposed to be in the next stage and have a real shot at the tournament," said Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski in the post-match interview.

The loss is the end of the road for Grayhound, who have surpassed the expectations of many by making it to the final Swiss round and equalling their best Major performance to date. The Aussies had a hot-and-cold tournament, with their wins coming against FORZE and The MongolZ. Their losses were very one-sided, though, as they lost out to Ninjas in Pyjamas and Liquid while also making history as the third team to lose 0-16 at a Major against Apeks.

The decider game started on Anubis, and Liquid looked in control throughout, helped by the fact Grayhound made a mess of many advantageous situations. Eleven rounds on the offense were more than enough for the North Americans to secure a 16-9 victory, moving the series on to Grayhound's pick.

Inferno followed the same script as a dominant first half enabled Liquid to start the game with a massive lead, this time on the CT side. The opening exchanges were close, but the individuals stepped up to drag the North Americans out of sticky circumstances. As Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella found two back-to-back quad kills and put his team up 4-3, the writing was already on the wall. Grayhound won just one more in the remainder of the half to eventually fall 9-16 after a small comeback, the loss eliminating them from the Paris Major.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers StageBest of 3

Grayhound

Matchpage

0

2

11th May 2023

Liquid

9

Anubis

16

9

Inferno

16

Grayhound	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz	40 - 33	+7	93.2	68.0%	1.20
Declan 'Vexite' PortelliVexite	32 - 39	-7	77.7	64.0%	0.91
Simon 'Sico' WilliamsSico	27 - 36	-9	56.9	58.0%	0.80
Alistair 'aliStair' JohnstonaliStair	23 - 36	-13	53.8	56.0%	0.70
Joshua 'INS' PotterINS	16 - 34	-18	53.0	60.0%	0.65

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	48 - 28	+20	106.9	80.0%	1.57
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	36 - 25	+11	91.2	78.0%	1.34
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	35 - 29	+6	71.0	72.0%	1.15
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	31 - 27	+4	63.5	74.0%	1.00
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	28 - 29	-1	59.7	68.0%	0.99