VCT EMEA League: Liquid beat Giants to secure their fourth victory

Team Liquid secured their fourth victory at VCT EMEA League after besting Giants 2-1 on the first day of week 5.

The VCT EMEA League action returned yesterday with a thrilling matchup between Team Liquid and Giants. Both the team were holding a 3-2 record in the league, making yesterday’s match a crucial one for a boost in the standings. Despite losing the opening map, Liquid managed to hold off Giant in the next two maps to secure a 2-1 victory. Here is how the match unfolded:

Ascent

Ascent hosted the first game of the best-of-three series, with Giants taking the opening pistol round to get things started. Even though Liquid won the second round to tie the game right away, Giant stormed back and took a 4-2 lead before Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin reignited the Liquid offense. The Russian player’s outstanding fragging abilities helped Liquid win a three-round streak to tie the game. The squad, however, was unable to take advantage of the financial advantage and Giant eventually overtook them with a two-point lead at halftime.

Split’s second half saw Liquid cut the deficit to 6-7 with a victory in the pistol round before the game spiraled into utter carnage. As both sides decided to give everything to get an advantage over the opposition, the succeeding rounds were incredibly close. However, their efforts were ineffective, and the score stayed knotted at 10-10 until Adolfo “Fit1nho” Gallego came through for the Giants, giving them a three-round winning run. The Spanish player amassed 21 kills across the entire map, and his efforts were aided and abetted by teammate Aaro “hoody” Peltokangas, who also finished with 21 kills.

Icebox 

After defeating Liquid on their own map pick, Giants picked Fracture to keep the ball rolling. Despite a sluggish start, the team managed to rally and take the lead at 4-3 to keep Liquid under pressure. After getting down 3-4, Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel stood up for Liquid and took the matter into his own hand. The Swedish player picked up 20 kills in the first half alone while helping Liquid to get a two-point edge going into the second half.

After swapping sides, Giant’s star fragger Fit1nho launched a valiant comeback attempt for his team, stopping Liquid’s momentum and keeping the potentially dangerous Sayf at bay. With Fit1nho leading from the front, Giant equalized the score at 10-10 but this time it was Liquid who ran away with a 13-11 victory, thanks to a last-minute push from nAts and Dom “soulcas” Sulcas.

Lotus

Liquid got out to a hot start on Lotus, picking up where they left off to take control of the series finale. Although they encountered stiff resistance, the squad remained composed and built a small but critical 7-5 lead going into the second half.

Giants, on the other hand, were not going down without a fight, and they put on a calculated and coordinated show to hold the ferocious attack from Sayf and nAts. Their efforts went in vain, though, as the dangerous duo of Liquid finished off the map with a 13-11 victory and help the team register their fourth victory in VCT EMEA.

Header: Riot Games