Liquid overcome early scares to reach IEM Chengdu NA closed qualifier

Close calls early on in the qualifier later segued into one-sided affairs.

The first of two open qualifiers for North America's IEM Chengdu closed qualifier has drawn to a close.

After two days of play, Liquid stood tall amongst the competition to lay claim to the single closed qualifier spot up for grabs. However, this success did not come easily, as Liquid endured two terrifyingly close matches en route to the closed bracket.

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Liquid & M80 make Americas RMR, NRG eliminated at end of qualifier

The first notable mishap of Liquid's campaign came at the tail end of day one of the qualifier, where a 12-5 lead over LOS was carefully whittled away by the Brazilian side. As the threat of overtime loomed, Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's men finally managed to close out the map 13-11.

The shoe would be on the other foot in Liquid's next match versus Wildcard, as Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz and co. found themselves within touching distance of victory after a strong start to the second half.

Wildcard would not manage to recover in the same way Liquid had done previously, as cadiaN and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic powered their team to overtime, where a clean sweep earned them a 16-12 victory.

A quick 13-4 win over huge sweaty led to a final test versus Badass, who had taken down NRG on their path through the qualifier. Liquid stamped out their opponents 13-2 on Ancient, before coming out on top after a tied half on Inferno with a 13-8 scoreline.

Liquid now join invited sides M80 and BOSS in the closed qualifier, with one final spot going to the winner of the second open qualifier set to run from January 17-18.