Liquid’s European-majority squad debuts with 2-1 victory over G2

Liquid won a hard fought series in their BLAST Fall Groups opener against a top 5 opponent.

Liquid’s European roster debuted with resounding success as they took down No. 4 team in the world, G2, in their BLAST Premier Fall Groups opening match. The squad now led by Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis did so in a fought out 2-1 series on Ancient (16-9), Mirage (17-19), and Vertigo (16-14).

"There's been more changes, not only because of the initial spots that they played, but also because of new personalities," YEKINDAR said before the match, hinting that his team's style and understanding of the game may still be somewhat fluid.

"You need to adapt the system, change the system, new people come in with new ideas and you obviously need to listen to them to adapt the way you would want the team to play with how they want to play."

The series, which started on Ancient, confirmed some initial assumptions about the new Liquid constellation as Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov took on the role of aggressive pack rifler while Aleks "⁠Rainwaker⁠" Petrov added a passive element.

Liquid, who started down 0-3, played it perfectly after bringing the score back to even, 3-3, changing the pace to great effect on the seventh round after a tactical timeout by G2 to take the lead. The two teams then stayed neck-and-neck throughout.

Rainwaker and Patsi played well off of each other on the CT side. The Bulgarian anchored A or took Donut while Patsi flew down Mid or rotated to the A site when necessary in what ended up being a one-sided half for Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele’ men, who closed it out 16-9.

The frags were even across the board in Liquid's win; every player on the team was comprised between Patsi’s 20 frags and Rainwaker’s 15.

It looked like Liquid were going to wipe the floor with G2 on Mirage after denying them double digits on Ancient. Again on the CT side, with Patsi on Short and Rainwaker anchoring A, they got to off to a brilliant 8-3 start, but a 1vs4 by Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač shook the new-look team, who then lost every remaining round all the way to the half.

G2’s CT side was not the strongest, but they did manage to keep Liquid at bay as NiKo started to show his best self. A crucial 4vs5 retake on A that Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen ninja defused tied up the game 13-13 and avoided crippling money issues for G2 before the map was sent to overtime.

In a diametrically opposed showing to that of Liquid’s balanced scoreboard, G2 were propelled by NiKo to a 19-17 win , whose 37 kills towered over the second highest, Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage and Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov with 27 each, and nearly 30 over in-game leader HooXi.

Vertigo introduced some early discomfort for Liquid, whose disjointed attacks and struggles in A ramp battles gave G2 a comfortable 7-1 lead. The tables turned, however, and the half ended up as tight as could be as Liquid adapted their offensives and YEKINDAR recovered from a dismal start.

A brilliant four-kill pistol retake by Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic brought the match back to even before NiKo, with a triple of his own, got G2 back ahead. The No. 4 team in the world leapt ahead, finding the kinks in Liquid’s armor, but once again the YEKINDAR-led side adapted and put up a wall to close the map out in the final round of regulation.

Liquid's second test at BLAST Premier Fall Groups will come on Monday at 15:00 , when they will face off against FaZe for a spot in Group C's final match.