Kovač cousins shine as G2 take down Liquid
The Americans were not able to handle the deadly duo from Bosnia.
The second Group A upper semi-final saw G2 take on the only North American team in Team Liquid.
Vertigo was the first map to be played, chosen by Liquid. A map that neither of the teams had played in an official match in over a month.
The first half started out very evenly with the teams trading a couple of rounds here and there, often determined by who was able to win out in the fight for ramp control. Here we saw a pattern developing almost from the start where star players “EliGE” and “NiKo” would go head-to-head almost every round. These duels often gave a very clear indication of who would win the round, and the two were very close, which meant that the half was close until it came to its conclusion at 8-7 in favor of G2.
The second half was almost a repeat of the first, with the one difference that the Kovač cousins started to completely dominate the server. Team Liquid were very close to G2 for most of the game, but the raw power and amount of multikills coming out of “NiKo” and “huNter-“ were just too much to handle, and G2 took the win at 16-13.
With their map pick G2 chose the legendary Dust2, and how fitting now that they have their legendary AWP’er “kennyS” back as a stand-in for IGL “nexa”.
Team Liquid started the first half with a pistol-round win and a conversion. A good start was important for them since they lost map 1. G2 answered back with a five-round streak, kickstarted by three deagle one-taps by “NiKo”. Fortunately for the Americans, they were able to snag seven of the last eight rounds and could go to break with their heads held high at 9-6.
The American side was once again the ones to start the half off in the best way as they grabbed the first three and started to build an economy. The money they had amassed did not really get to play that big of a role, as G2, as soon as they were equipped with rifles, reset their economy. Once G2 got their foothold firmly on the map, they pressed the gas pedal as hard as they could. They were able to take eight rounds in a row before Liquid finally answered back with a couple of their own making it 14-14. Unfortunately, it was not enough for the American side as G2 were able to take the last two rounds and close it out at 16-14.
With this result we see G2 moving into the Group A Upper Final vs. Vitality, while Liquid has to do battle versus Astralis in the lower semis.
Highlight of the BO3-series:
G2 – Liquid (1-0) | IEM Winter 2021
16-13 (Vertigo) |
16-14 (Dust2) |
IEM Winter 2021 overview – TYLOO vs. OG (0-2)
In the lower bracket of Group A we had an elimination match on our hands. It was TYLOO taking on OG in a battle to stay alive at IEM Winter 2021. The Chinese squad were up against it from the start as OG was just on another level. OG took both maps at 16-10 and move on to meet NIP on the lower semis, while TYLOO is eliminated from IEM Winter 2021.
10-16 (Mirage) |
mantuu – 1.69 Rating / 29-16 K-D / 110.4 ADR
10-16 (Inferno) |
