Liquid’s Kryptonite

A story of second place

In 2018 many people regarded Team Liquid, comprised of Epitacio “TACO” de Melo, Keith “NAF” Markovic, Nick “nitr0” Canella, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, and Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, to not just be the best NA lineup of all time, but the second-best team in what was (and still is) an Astralis Era. Throughout 2018, Team Liquid lost countless finals to Astralis, and most of the time they lost in the semi-finals it was to the same foe. In terms of maps Liquid only won 6 to Astralis’ 28 against them in head to head matchups. In terms of overall matches, the story grows dimmer, with liquid not winning a single best of three (bo3) over Astralis in the entire year, only managing 1 best of one win as well.

Liquid played Astralis in 14 series on LAN throughout 2018. This starts back in February of that year in the StarSeries i-League Season 4 swiss stage with a 2–1 defeat against their soon to be rivals, losing 16–4 on Mirage, battling back a 16–13 victory on Inferno to then lose out in the decider 16–7 on train in round 1. They would meet again at the start of March in a bo3 in the upper bracket final of group A in IEM Katowice, again 2–1. Similar to before, Liquid picked and won Inferno (16–12) but this time lost on both Nuke and Overpass, both 16–5. Their next bought would be in the Group D winners match in DreamHack Masters Marseille in April. Another 2–1 loss for liquid. This time, liquid picked and won Mirage, which will prove to be a strong map for the team into the future, clinching the win 16–14. However, they proceeded to be blown out on both overpass and cache 16–3.

The story of defeat for Team Liquid continue moving into May with the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals. Now firmly moving into the Astralis Era with the removal of cobblestone, their permaban. Liquid lose out 2–0 in the upper bracket of group B with a 16–10 defeat on Nuke and a 16–7 loss on Inferno. They would then meet again in a best of 5 grand final, starting with a blowout in favor of Astralis on Dust 2 (16–1) followed by a nail biting 16–14 loss for liquid on Nuke. With their backs against the wall, down 0–2 in the final Liquid clutch Mirage 16–14 but then, lost the final 3–1 ending with a 16–12 defeat on Inferno. 2 weeks later in June, liquid would lose a best of 1 Inferno game in the winners’ match of Group A in the ECS Season 5 Finals 16–6. They would meet again in the grand final of the same event, Liquid losing on both Mirage (16–14) and Dust 2, this time 16–11. Then these two meet again in the group A winners’ match of Eleague, with Astralis winning both Nuke (16–12) and Mirage (16–7). Again this matchup would repeat itself in the finals of the same event with Liquid losing 16–5 on Inferno and failing again on Nuke 16–12.

Moving into the Faceit Major Liquid clinch a 19–15 Inferno match over Astralis in the 2–0 matchups of the swiss stage. Many people had believed Liquid had finally overcome the obstacle of Astralis and would be able to snag the major trophy from their hands. This however did not occur. These two met again in a head-to-head in the semi-finals of the major. Liquid once again lost Nuke, this time with a 16–8 score line and them lost again on Mirage 16–7.

Only two more events in 2018 have both Astralis and Liquid, IEM Chicago and the ESL Pro League Season 8 finals. In Chicago, liquid was unable to pick up a map in the best of five final, losing on Mirage 16–14, Nuke 16–7, and Inferno 16–4. This puts Astralis one win away from securing the Intel Grand Slam. If Liquid can overcome Astralis in the Pro League finals, Liquid would force Astralis to have to complete the Grand Slam at the Katowice Major in February. This however, wasn’t the case for Liquid, as they would lose 2–0 to Astralis in the group A upper bracket final 16–12 on Inferno and 16–8 on Nuke. Then onto the grand final best of five match that gives liquid a shot at denying the grand slam. They start off strongly with a 16–8 victory over Astralis, but they then proceed to get swept 3–1 losing Mirage 16–11, Inferno 16–11, and then Dust 2 16–10. A close series overall, but a grand slam for Astralis, and another loss for team Liquid, ending the year with no best of three or best of five wins over Astralis.

Team liquid in any other era would have lifted multiple trophies, even beating teams who were the best at the time around Astralis couldn’t beat them consistently, outplacing Navi and Faze consistently as well as the likes of MIBR, mousesports, and NiP. Liquid were the clear number two of the year. Despite their status as the second best, they failed to raise prestigious trophies in 2018, only picking up cs_summit and SuperNova CSGO Malta, both with lesser competition.

They did, however have a few shortcomings as a team in 2018, such as the 3–4 finish at Belo Horizonte losing to both mousesports (2–0) featuring Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert as a stand-in and Faze who had cromen instead of olofmeister (2–1). New York, however, is a different story. Coming into the final against mousesports, many believed team liquid would win, more than likely in a 3–1, especially with the hot form twistzz was having throughout the event. But they would lose in close fashion 3–2 despite twistzz being the mvp of the event with a 1.39 rating and a 1.41 impact rating on HLTV.

This team even had 3 players in HLTV’s Top 20 Players of 2018, with EliGE securing 15th, twistzz at number 12 and Naf claiming 6th in the world. Their strength as a roster were unrivaled outside of the Gods of the game in Astralis. Many believed that that roster would at some point overtake the Danes moving on into 2019, only to have both Taco and Zews leave to join MIBR with Stewie2k coming the other way. Continuing to rebuild, they picked up adreN, formerly a member of the team himself and have shown mixed results into 2019 thus far, calling into doubt the future many people believed, including myself would become a reality. Liquid’s story has always been one of just coming up short at pulling off the unthinkable, almost conquering Luminosity Gaming in their prime with a previous roster only to choke. The story has been a similar case for this team, consisting of only 2 from that core roster. They still showed massive promise, much greater than that of the team who would lose to Luminosity and later SK. This Team Liquid was consistent, and strong, but never strong enough to raise the trophy over the heads of their Danish rivals. Liquid, to many were a mini-Astralis, having similarly strong fundamentals, and skillsets, just unable to beat their bigger brothers, in spirit.

Team Liquid, unable to conquer Astralis throughout 2018, cemented a year of shortcomings for the Majority North American Side. But into 2019, the future has hope if iBuyPower Masters wasn’t a fluke and that the Katowice major, on the other hand was a massive underperformance that wont repeat itself.