Liquid secure first Elimination Stage berth

After two hard-fought maps against FlyQuest, Liquid sealed the deal in style on Nuke.

Liquid have become the first team to qualify for the Elimination Stage at Perfect World Shanghai Major, taking down FlyQuest 2-1 with wins on Anubis (13-9) and Nuke (13-1) after a rough loss on Inferno (5-13).

Coming into the Major Liquid were among the favorites to secure a 3-0 record to make the next stage, and they have delivered on that status. It wasn't all plain sailing, however, as they had to recover from a 3-9 deficit against Cloud9 and had some troubles against Wildcard in their BO1 matches.

Their less-than-smooth route continued in this series, as they utterly capitulated on Inferno to kick things off. An insipid T side was in stark contrast to FlyQuest's heroic defense, and the Aussies' proactive approach took advantage of Liquid's scared play and ponderous calling.

Things took a turn on Anubis as Liquid mounted a strong defense on the unfavored side of the map thanks to plenty of proactive information-gathering, as well as a fantastic half of play from Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage. They once again wobbled on T side, but as they converted their offensive pistol victory, they had enough leeway to close the map.

Nuke was a complete reversal of the first map. FlyQuest simply could not get anything going on the offensive half, repeatedly running into brick walls wherever they went as Roland "⁠ultimate⁠" Tomkowiak and Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis ran riot.

FlyQuest still have two chances to make the Elimination Stage themselves and can walk away from this series with their heads held high, if they can forget about Nuke. The Aussies were far and away the better team on Inferno, could have made Anubis closer if not for losing both pistols, and played plenty of excellent CS across the first two maps in general, both as individuals and as a team.