by in
The first Counter-strike: Global Offensive quarterfinal game in the ESL Pro League Season 16 playoffs saw Team Liquid defeat MOUZ with a clean 2-0 sweep. As a result of the win, Liquid have secured a semifinal spot.
Liquid had most of their work done by the team’s potent T side, as well as the impressive entry work from Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis. Other players on the team gave an equally good spacing which allowed them an advantageous trade when Latvian went down. The North American squad will definitely have to keep up their good form in order to secure a grand final spot.
Inferno was Liquid’s map pick to kick off the series, and the team started on the T side. The NA team won a pistol victory off the bat, and MOUZ answered with a force buy. Liquid were able to get ahead on the map significantly after winning a force of their own and with the efforts of YEKINDAR. MOUZ seemed unable to adjust their defense fully, and Liquid ended the first half of the map at 11-4.
After both teams switched sides, Liquid’s top form from the previous half seemed to desert them after winning the first two rounds. David “frozen” Čerňanský helped his team take the lead after displaying an impressive offense.
The NA team were able to bounce back after Josh “oSee” Ohm performed a crucial 3k, which earned Liquid six round wins. The player followed the move up with an even more impressive 4K to break their opponent’s economy and close the map with a 16-10 score.
On Ancient, MOUZ started on the T side and quickly won the pistol round, leading to a 3-0 score. However, Liquid were able to take control of the map’s half despite the close-fought battles. OSee’s input was integral to Liquid’s 9-6 lead at the end of the first half.
MOUZ started the second half with a pistol win, but Liquid were able to get into the lead after a force-buy. The NA team reached a 12-7 lead and forced another eco after brushing past MOUZ’s full buy, taking the team up to 14-7.
The European team put in some rounds before the end of the match point. However, they still lost to Liquid by an 11-16 score. OSee was the star of the map and notably did more fragging work than YEKINDAR as he produced a 23-15 K/D on Ancient.
After the series came to a close, Liquid’s Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski took to social media to commend MOUZ for their efforts.
“MOUZ is a really strong team, so happy we were able to win in this fashion,” the player wrote.
MOUZ’s lacking performance was mostly due to the poor plays by Jon “JDC” de Castro and Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás. Despite this, the team were able to put in a good enough fight to reach double digits on both maps.
