Team Liquid sends EDward Gaming house in all-out brawl

The first day of eliminations at Champions Paris started in the present day with a showdown for survival between

Team Liquid

Team Liquid

Europe
Rank #4

paTiTek
Patryk Fabrowski








nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin








trexx
Nikita Cherednichenko








Keiko
Georgio Sanassy








kamo
Kamil Frąckowiak

and

EDward Gaming

EDward Gaming

China
Rank #3

ZmjjKK
Zheng Yongkang (郑永康)








no person
Wang Senxu (王森旭)








CHICHOO
Wan Shunzhi (万顺治)








Smoggy
Zhang Zhao (张钊)








Jieni7
Zhang Juntai (张君泰)

, with both EMEA’s first seed or the reigning champions destined to go house first.

These groups final matched up initially of this 12 months at Masters Bangkok in a 2-0 victory for EDG. Since then, each groups have had their share of ups, downs, and participant swaps, however it was Liquid in the long run who earned the proper to proceed their 12 months with a slender 2-1 win.

The match kicked off on Sunset. Both groups continued to make use of the compositions that they had proven of their respective areas, with Liquid taking part in Raze-Yoru and EDG opting into the Neon-Breach that had partially outlined their Champions run final 12 months.

Despite Liquid being those to choose the map, they have been locked out from the beginning. EDG transformed the primary bonus spherical with an aggressive Judge 3K from

ZmjjKK
to take an early 4-0 lead. From there, a sequence of mishaps on the facet of Liquid, together with a weird misplaced Dimensional Drift for

kamo
in spherical 7, together with oppressive Operator play from ZmjjKK set into movement a 10-round win streak for the facet of EDG.

ZmjjKK punishes Liquid together with his signature Operator.

paTiTek
managed to win one assault spherical through the use of his Omen final to teleport into the opponent’s spawn, however it solely delayed the inevitable as EDG gained Sunset 13-3. ZmjjKK dominated all through with 22 kills to 9 deaths and 210 ADR.

The subsequent map was Abyss, the place EDG switched from Neon and Sage to Waylay and Astra after struggling a 10-2 comeback by the hands of NRG final week. Even with the changeup, nevertheless, their defensive woes continued as a revived Liquid collected a 9-3 assault half off of sturdy mid lurks and web site executes.

nAts
particularly wreaked havoc across the map on Cypher, at one level successful a 1v3 and ending the half with an unbelievable 22/4 Okay/D.

kamo retains his group’s momentum going with a easy ace.

EDG prolonged the map within the second half with a pistol win and a few heavy final rounds, however Liquid’s mix of aggressive peeks into A Main and steadfast backsite holds on their protection gave them the rounds they wanted to shut out Abyss 13-6. Liquid’s captain ended the map with 27 kills, 218 ADR, and a 1.94 ranking.

Bind was the decider. This time, each groups made compositional changes, with Liquid transferring to Raze-Yoru and EDG going for the uncommon Tejo choose. A chaotic opener set the tone for the remainder of the map as each groups dropped anti-ecos inside the first 5 rounds. EDG seized management for a second, going up 5-3 and forcing a Liquid timeout, however a low purchase win adopted by a nAts 4K in rounds 9 and 10 made for a good 6-6 half.

EDG gained the ultimate pistol, making it a 5-1 pistol spherical file for them over the course of the sequence. This time dodging the eco, they appeared primed to assert victory, discovering constant first picks in opposition to Liquid’s Duelists and forging forward to a 10-7 lead.

Resilient as ever, Liquid held on in opposition to the percentages, drawing the rating first to 10-9 after which forcing extra time within the face of two match factors for EDG. After lastly discovering their first match level at 14-13 with an important 3v5, they capitalized instantly, successful out Bind 15-13. While better-laid plans in midround conditions in the end gained Liquid the day, nAts continued to steer from the entrance individually with a server-high 27 kills.

An ideal swing into Lamps by paTiTek and

trexx
makes all of the distinction for Liquid in extra time.

With this consequence, the reigning world champions might be denied the prospect of defending their Champions title, exiting the event winless after a turbulent 12 months. On the opposite facet, Liquid progress to the group decider and can search revenge in opposition to

DRX

DRX

Korea
Rank #2

Flicker
Kim Tae-hee (김태희)








Flashback
Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁)








MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)








free1ng
No Ha-jun (노하준)








HYUNMIN
Song Hyun-min (송현민)








Estrella
Park Gun (박건)








BeYN
Kang Ha-bin (강하빈)

on Monday, Sept. 22 with a playoff spot on the road.