Liquid edge past MAD Lions in BLAST Premier Fall Showdown

Liquid made it through to the quarter-finals after coming back from a 3-12 deficit on Vertigo, the decider map.

Liquid won a contested affair against MAD Lions in their first match on European soil since March, when the North Americans last competed in the old continent at IEM Katowice. Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole’s men took the series in three fought-out maps to go through to the next round of the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, where they will face off against Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe’s MIBR in the quarter-finals.

Liquid looked poised to take MAD Lions’ map pick, Overpass, winning convincingly on the CT side and hitting double digits before the half, but they were unable to find their pace on the attack, giving up 11 rounds in a row as the Danes took the series lead ahead of Mirage. Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip and company then won in-extremis on their pick, 16-14, and came back from the brink of elimination on the decider map, Vertigo, to secure the series.

MAD Lions, now out of BLAST Showdown following their elimination at the hands of Liquid, will look towards the Flashpoint 2 playoffs, where they will play their next match on Monday against Virtus.pro in the opening round of the upper bracket.

Liquid survived MAD Lions thanks to a clinical defense on Vertigo

Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince downed four players with the USP in the opening round of Overpass as Liquid went on to take a 5-0 lead, not letting MAD Lions find a way into the map early on. Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand with three AWP kills and Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali with a double secured their first round on a B site play, as both teams then started to go back and for nine rounds in a row, with Liquid finally hitting double digits in a 10-5 half. The North American squad were able to win against the forcebuy after securing the second pistol round, but lost to a second forcebuy as MAD Lions rallied, with acoR finding several opening kills and multi-kill rounds on the defense with the AWP in the Danish squad’s 16-12 comeback win.

Liquid started ahead on the attacking side of Mirage, but three Scout kills by acoR in the second round immediately tied things up, prompting MAD Lions to go up 3-1. A huge round from Grim with three kills to turn a 2vs4 around tied things up, 3-3, but the Danes went on to secure the half 9-6. Liquid won the second pistol round without losing a single player, but gave up a costly bomb plant, and a second round save by MAD Lions gave way to a third round full buy, although the Danes weren’t able to capitalize on it as the CTs made it 9-9. A tight half then ensued, going all the way to 30 rounds, but three critical kills by Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic in the last round secured it for Liquid.

Three opening USP kills by Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck put MAD Lions in the lead on Vertigo and once again the defending team set the pace, winning six rounds in a row before Liquid could retaliate. MAD Lions didn’t let up, however, winning nine of the first ten rounds prompting Liquid to call an overtime as they saw the series start to slip away. Stewie2K won two clutches in the last two rounds of the half to make it 3-12 before Liquid secured a 5vs5 retake in the second pistol round, getting comfortable on the defense and starting to mount a comeback as MAD Lions hit a wall over and over again. Not a single plant was afforded by Liquid as they took a 13-12 lead. MAD Lions won their first round on the attack to tie things back up, but it was just a one and done as Liquid went on to close the map out 16-13 to survive the first round of the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown bracket.

BLAST Premier Fall 2020 ShowdownBest of 3 LiquidMatchpage 2 1 26th November 2020 MAD Lions 12Overpass 16 16Mirage 14 16Vertigo 13

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	68 - 63	+5	84.2	1.12
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	60 - 61	-1	79.0	1.08
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	64 - 58	+6	76.4	1.05
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	47 - 57	-10	57.7	0.91
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	42 - 55	-13	60.3	0.88

MAD Lions	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandacoR	72 - 54	+18	86.8	1.30
Ismail 'refrezh' Alirefrezh	67 - 49	+18	67.9	1.12
Rasmus 'sjuush' Becksjuush	57 - 56	+1	76.1	1.07
Fredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenroeJ	58 - 63	-5	75.9	1.01
Rasmus 'HooXi' NielsenHooXi	39 - 62	-23	57.0	0.81

Ismail 'refrezh' Ali Age: 22 Team: MAD Lions Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 760 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Jason 'moses' O'Toole Age: 33 Team: LiquidC Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck Age: 21 Team: MAD Lions Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 600 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.64 MAD Lions #22 Rasmus 'HooXi' NielsenFrederik 'acoR' GyldstrandIsmail 'refrezh' AliRasmus 'sjuush' BeckFredrik 'roeJ' Jørgensen Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1327 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe Age: 28 Team: MIBR Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 736 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.65 Liquid #14 Keith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenMichael 'Grim' Wince Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand Age: 23 Team: MAD Lions Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 895 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63 Michael 'Grim' Wince Age: 20 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 648 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 Virtus.pro #15 Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis MIBR #29 Vito 'kNgV-' GiuseppeLucas 'LUCAS1' TelesAlencar 'trk' RossatoLeonardo 'leo_drk' OliveiraVinicius 'vsm' Moreira Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1302 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.68