Liquid sweep NRG to move on to ECS final

Liquid have swept NRG 2-0 (Inferno 16-6, Nuke 16-8) to move on to the ECS Season 5 Finals grand final.

The first semi-final began on Inferno, which was picked by Liquid, who quickly proved it was their playground with an early 6-0 lead, with Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella and Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo putting in most of the work.

Although NRG had issues in full buys, the CZ-75 buys worked out for them twice over the next three rounds, which helped them recover in the first half, racking up five rounds after all on the back of 1v1 clutches from Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold and Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov.

Liquid take their revenge on NRG

Despite winning the pistol round with another 1v1 clutch, that time by Jacob "⁠FugLy⁠" Medina, going their way, NRG couldn't bring the first map in their favor. Liquid gave their local opponents a taste of their own medicine with a CZ-75 win on B, while Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski stepped up with a 1v2 clutch, inspiring Liquid to finish off the first map at 16-6.

Nuke followed, and that time it was NRG who got off to a good start, leading 5-0 as CT after the first pistol round and two gunrounds. Losing the anti-forcebuy to Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken's triple, Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele's team saw their sizable lead diminish as quickly as they had gotten it, as Liquid ended the half with eight rounds to their name.

EliGE wreaked havoc in the second half, racking up a triple and an ace in the first two rounds before adding a quad-kill to it up against a forcebuy later on. NRG only won one round while Liquid reached match point at 15-8. A 1v1 clutch from Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic later, his team emerged victorious at 16-8, 2-0, to take their revenge for the loss in the StarSeries quarter-final.

ECS Season 5 FinalsBest of 3 NRGMatchpage 0 2 10th June 2018 Liquid 6Inferno 16 8Nuke 16

NRG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	26 - 37	-11	75.8	0.91
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	29 - 35	-6	76.9	0.84
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	27 - 36	-9	64.3	0.78
Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaFugLy	27 - 38	-11	59.4	0.72
Damian 'daps' Steeledaps	22 - 37	-15	56.8	0.61

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	47 - 23	+24	111.0	1.75
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	43 - 24	+19	92.4	1.54
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	31 - 28	+3	75.1	1.26
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	37 - 28	+9	72.4	1.19
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	24 - 28	-4	57.5	0.96

Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 702 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.64 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 20 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 855 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Age: 18 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 514 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.63 Liquid #5 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Nick 'nitr0' Cannella Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 881 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 20 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 817 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 Damian 'daps' Steele Age: 24 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 0.90 Maps played: 626 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.67 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Age: 18 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 607 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.64 Jacob 'FugLy' Medina Age: 23 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 772 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.65 NRG #11 Damian 'daps' SteeleJacob 'FugLy' MedinaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold Age: 18 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 432 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68