Liquid book final IEM Cologne playoff spot over FURIA

Liquid are through to the playoffs of IEM Cologne after eliminating FURIA in the lower bracket final of Group B, securing victory in two maps after coming back from a substantial deficit on Ancient and edging out an overtime victory on Mirage to advance to the quarter-finals.

In the LANXESS Arena, Liquid will take on Movistar Riders, a team who have been a hot streak after lifting the trophy at ESL Challenger Valencia. FURIA, meanwhile, head home as their tournament season comes to an end, having made deep runs in a number of notable tournaments but ending just shy of a playoff appearance at the final event ahead of the tournament break.

It was an early lead on the T side of their own map pick that helped Liquid start the series off on the right foot, a pistol win giving them the momentum and control of the economy to pull ahead 7-2, a stellar opening on the notoriously CT-sided map. FURIA‘s third round came when they denied Mareks “⁠YEKINDAR⁠” Gaļinskis a 1vs3 clutch, and from there, the Brazilian team got themselves back in the running, clawing back post seven rounds by the break.That run of rounds continued into the second half as FURIA converted a pistol victory of their own into taking the lead, although their win against Liquid‘s round 17 forcebuy was laboured as they lost all of their players.

Still, it was Andrei “⁠arT⁠” Piovezan‘s troops who assumed control of the proceedings, inching closer to match point as they won five rounds in a row and added another to their tally after a brief trade, sitting upon a 13-8 scoreline. A triple from Josh “⁠oSee⁠” Ohm finally put a halt to the Brazilian team’s run of form, with multi-kill rounds from Keith “⁠NAF⁠” Markovic and Jonathan “⁠EliGE⁠” Jablonowski helping Liquid recover the deficit as they began to fight back. Just one more round went the way of FURIA as the North American tied the score at 14-14, with another three kill round from oSee getting them match point before they closed things out, 16-14.

Mirage was an even closer affair, but it didn’t look as if it would be at the start. Despite a number of close rounds, it was a blowout first half from Liquid as EliGE dominated the scoreboard, helping his side to sit upon an 11-4 lead by the break as he ended Liquid‘s CT effort with a 20-5 K-D. Not to be outdone though, FURIA fought valiantly in the second half, Kaike “⁠KSCERATO⁠” Cerato in particular stepping up to keep Liquid at bay round after round. With YEKINDAR unable to find impact in opening duels, the North American side’s lead began to rapidly dwindle, and soon the score was tied up at 11-11.

It was again EliGE to step up as Liquid finally broke through the FURIA defenses, helping his team to claim match point and sit just short of closing out the map. It took an immense quad kill from Rafael “⁠saffee⁠” Costa to keep FURIA in the running, recovering a 2vs4 situation from which the team managed to force overtime, but it was there that they began to falter as Liquid found their footing thanks again to strong impact from both EliGE and NAF, edging out a 19-17 win.