Liquid defeat Cloud9 to earn ESL One Cologne playoffs spot

The playoff bracket for ESL One Cologne 2020 North America is now set as Liquid have taken down Cloud9 2-0 in the group B decider match.

The two teams locked horns for the second time in a week, in a rematch of their opening series of the tournament. Last time around, Liquid won it out in three after falling on Cloud9's staple, Overpass, but today Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip and co. edged it out in two. Cloud9 showed the depth of their T-side on their map pick to make it to overtime but failed to close it out, and similarly looked to have Vertigo in their hands, but allowed Liquid to come back from a 11-5 deficit and close out the series with an 11-round streak.

Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken's quad kill on the pistol started off the series on Overpass, earning Liquid their first round which they built on to get a 6-1 lead. Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm and Ian "⁠motm⁠" Hardy combined with all five kills for Cloud9's first, but they started finding success only after bringing out the double AWP, chaining four in a row. Unfortunately, Cloud9's CT side had a sour end, as they were limited to five rounds in total as Liquid was successful in the final stretch to make it 10-5.

The gap was narrowed after Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou's men won the second-half pistol (10-8), but Liquid moved away again when the rifles rolled in to reach 14-9. Cloud9 then displayed their proficiency on Overpass as they fought back as Terrorists to force overtime, but two big multikill rounds from Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski pushed the favorites over the line, 19-15.

Twistzz was the difference-maker on Overpass with a 1.25 rating

Vertigo started with a 3-0 lead for Liquid before Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek aced his enemies on B to get his team rolling. oSee also came online with the AWP as Cloud9 started an impressive run, with the American-South African squad displaying a fearless CT side to go 10-5 up.

Liquid fell six rounds behind as Cloud9 successfully split B on the pistol (11-5), but winning the following force gave them a lifeline. Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince's ace denied Cloud9's force buy and set Liquid up for the comeback, while Twistzz's 4K B hold in round 23 saw them take the lead (13-11). At that point, there was no stopping Liquid, who completed their run on Vertigo with an 11-round streak for a 16-11 victory.

ESL One Cologne 2020 North AmericaBest of 3 LiquidMatchpage 2 0 26th August 2020 Cloud9 19Overpass 15 16Vertigo 11

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	50 - 36	+14	77.6	1.30
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	44 - 35	+9	85.3	1.22
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	46 - 38	+8	77.2	1.16
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	40 - 34	+6	66.8	1.09
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	34 - 40	-6	77.5	1.05

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	43 - 39	+4	71.9	1.01
Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekSonic	37 - 42	-5	68.0	0.95
Ian 'motm' Hardymotm	40 - 45	-5	66.1	0.94
Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy	36 - 46	-10	74.5	0.90
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	27 - 43	-16	54.0	0.75

The playoff bracket for ESL One Cologne 2020 North America is now set, with the following matchups coming up in the semi-final:

Chaos vs. Liquid
Evil Geniuses vs. FURIA

Josh 'oSee' Ohm Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 693 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.64 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1312 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Chaos #22 Joshua 'steel' NissanAnthony 'vanity' MalaspinaJonathan 'Jonji' CareyErick 'Xeppaa' BachNathan 'leaf' Orf Evil Geniuses #3 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 676 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64 Cloud9 #21 Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryIan 'motm' HardyJosh 'oSee' Ohm Liquid #8 Keith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenMichael 'Grim' Wince Michael 'Grim' Wince Age: 19 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 594 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Age: 20 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1059 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.62 FURIA #6 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1248 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.68 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 655 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.67 Ian 'motm' Hardy Age: 20 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 599 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.68