Liquid avoid DH Masters Spring group stage elimination with win over MIBR

After two defeats from their opening two games, Liquid defeated MIBR 2-0 to secure a spot in the lower-bracket playoffs of DreamHack Masters Spring - North America.

Liquid had gone undefeated by MIBR for a year, losing their last match to their Brazilians in ECS Season 7 Week 5, and have continued their dominance over Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's side today with a 2-0 victory.

MIBR looked good in the opening stages of both maps, Overpass and Inferno, but weren't able to shut down Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski, Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic, and especially Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken for the full duration of the match, which eventually caused their demise. After losses to FURIA and Chaos, Liquid secured their first victory in DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 as well as a playoff spot in the lower bracket, while the final playoff spot will be decided between Chaos and MIBR - depending on the outcome of the former's game against FURIA.

EliGE's triple wasn't enough for Liquid to pick up the first round of the game, allowing MIBR to grab the early lead on the T side of Overpass. Liquid's star did shine in the first two rifle rounds, though, securing six frags which helped bring back the score to 3-2. MIBR started running away with the score shortly as Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo was on point and finding the entries (8-2), but a Deagle round won by Liquid destabilized the Brazilian's economy and allowed the North Americans to salvage the half, 9-6.

Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip's men brought the pace on their T-side, and MIBR had no answer to it. Their eight-round streak started with a B rush on the pistol, with NAF and Twistzz activating and causing a lot of issues for their opponents (14-9). TACO's triple gave MIBR their first on the defense, but it was too little, too late, and Liquid completed the comeback from 8-2 down to win Overpass 16-11.

Three massive clutches for Twistzz turned the tides on Inferno

On Inferno, MIBR canceled out Liquid's pistol win quickly with a force buy, going on to once again take the early lead. The score was 6-1 when the North Americans broke into A with a force buy and started to post rounds on the board. Two 1v2 situations resolved by Twistzz gave Liquid the momentum in the second part of the half, with his ace clutch to end the half pushing his side into the lead before switching to CT.

The advantage was extended early into defensive CT side with Liquid's second pistol round victory on the map, seeing Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's squad sitting on a 13-9 lead before Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe stole away an eco round on B with a triple. It was just a matter of time before Liquid closed it out though, chaining three in a row to make it 16-11, 2-0 for the series.

DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 - North AmericaBest of 3 LiquidMatchpage 2 0 23rd May 2020 MIBR 16Overpass 11 16Inferno 11

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	46 - 31	+15	82.8	1.34
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	43 - 35	+8	88.3	1.30
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	40 - 34	+6	78.2	1.23
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	44 - 32	+12	79.1	1.23
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	23 - 41	-18	62.2	0.83

MIBR	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Vito 'kNgV-' GiuseppekNgV-	43 - 39	+4	83.7	1.10
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	36 - 38	-2	73.2	1.03
Fernando 'fer' Alvarengafer	37 - 38	-1	68.0	1.01
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	28 - 41	-13	59.5	0.83
Alencar 'trk' Rossatotrk	29 - 40	-11	64.5	0.81

MIBR's playoff hopes are now in the hands of their countrymen FURIA, who need to keep Chaos at bay to ensure a playoff spot for FalleN's men.

Group A TEAM M P FURIA 2 6 Chaos 2 3 Liquid 3 3 MIBR 3 3 Chaos #53 Joshua 'steel' NissanAnthony 'vanity' MalaspinaJonathan 'Jonji' CareyLogan 'Voltage' LongErick 'Xeppaa' Bach Matthew 'mCe' Elmore Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo Age: 25 Team: MIBR Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 1107 KPR: 0.61 DPR: 0.64 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1268 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella Age: 24 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1293 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.66 Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo Age: 28 Team: MIBR Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1270 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.60 Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe Age: 27 Team: MIBR Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 649 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.65 Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1229 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 MIBR #15 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoVito 'kNgV-' GiuseppeFernando 'fer' AlvarengaEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloAlencar 'trk' Rossato Liquid #6 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Eric 'adreN' Hoag FURIA #9 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueira Liquid #6 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Age: 20 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1015 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.62 FURIA #9 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: 1204 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.68 Chaos #53 Joshua 'steel' NissanAnthony 'vanity' MalaspinaJonathan 'Jonji' CareyLogan 'Voltage' LongErick 'Xeppaa' Bach