Liquid take down fnatic to join Astralis in ECS grand final

Liquid have joined Astralis in the grand final of ECS Season 8 Finals after taking down fnatic 2-1 (Overpass 6-16, Inferno 16-6, Mirage 16-10).

The feat sees Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's squad secure their first grand final appearance since IEM Chicago in an otherwise underwhelming second part of the 2019 season, setting up a deciding matchup against Astralis, which has been detrimental to them for the past three months.

fnatic were looking to send a strong message early as they opted for aggression as CT in the opening pistol, which awarded them a clean round and kickstarted a massive run that lasted nine rounds in total, with Liquid unable to find answers to the stifling defense.

Individual plays from Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski (a quad-kill) and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic (a 1v3 clutch) bailed the North American side out towards the end of the half, as they stabilized to end up with five in total. It was all in vain, however, as the Swedes rallied to a 16-6 win on the back of another great start in the second half.

Liquid will play their first grand final since IEM Chicago in July

Inferno was next with roles almost reversed, as Liquid got off to a fruitful start on the defense, letting go of only two out of the first 11 rounds. Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell's triple and a 1v1 clutch helped the Swedish team get back on their feet with three out of the last four, but just like fnatic did on the opening map, nitr0's team grabbed five in a row at the beginning of the second half to reach map point and soon secure a comfortable 16-6 win to equalize the series.

A back-and-forth battle on Mirage ensued when fnatic got off the line on the back of Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist and Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim combining for five kills in the pistol round before Liquid took over in the first gunrounds, winning several disadvantageous situations for a 5-2 lead. A 1v3 from JW with just a pistol shifted the momentum back in the favor of fnatic, who ended up switching over to the offense at 8-7.

When Liquid got onto the CT side, they took matters into their own hands, with a forcebuy victory at 10-9 giving them the economic edge to close out the series comfortably at 16-10, 2-1.

ECS Season 8 FinalsBest of 3 LiquidMatchpage 2 1 1st December 2019 fnatic 6Overpass 16 16Inferno 6 16Mirage 10

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	53 - 38	+15	89.8	1.26
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	53 - 43	+10	85.2	1.23
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	47 - 43	+4	70.4	1.07
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	36 - 42	-6	57.2	0.87
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	40 - 53	-13	60.5	0.81

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	48 - 44	+4	80.5	1.10
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	44 - 41	+3	75.9	1.08
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	52 - 47	+5	71.0	1.01
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	41 - 48	-7	68.1	0.95
Maikil 'Golden' SelimGolden	34 - 49	-15	57.6	0.83

fnatic #3 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' SelimLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1191 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 Maikil 'Golden' Selim Age: 25 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 565 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.69 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella Age: 24 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1216 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1152 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1612 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.68 Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist Age: 26 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1517 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65