Ahead of tomorrow's ESWC quarter-final between Cloud9 and Liquid, we have put together a statistical preview to get you up-to-update on the match-up.

As was the case at ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 Finals a week ago in Cologne, Cloud9 once again take on a fellow North American team in the playoffs, this time Liquid.

The two sides have played each other on nine maps in just over the past month and Cloud9 hold a narrow 5-4 lead. When looking at full matches the score is tied 3-3.

Liquid warming up

Liquid's very recent record versus Cloud9 is promising

In each of their wins, the scores have been fairly lopsided. Six of the nine maps have finished with the loser in single digits - and five with them having won four, or less, rounds.

Notably Liquid have now won three straight maps, or two straight games, after Cloud9 started their qualifying maps with four straight wins - three of which were one-sided.

Date Team Score Team Map Event June 21 Cloud9 Cloud9 13-16 Liquid de_cache iBP Summer June 21 Cloud9 Cloud9 4-16 Liquid de_dust2 iBP Summer June 19 Cloud9 Cloud9 4-16 Liquid de_cache FACEIT June 17 Cloud9 16-4 Liquid Liquid de_dust2 ESL ESEA June 17 Cloud9 Cloud9 12-16 Liquid de_overpass FACEIT June 16 Cloud9 16-3 Liquid Liquid de_overpass CEVO June 16 Cloud9 16-4 Liquid Liquid de_cache CEVO June 8 Cloud9 16-6 Liquid Liquid de_dust2 HTC Reborn June 8 Cloud9 16-14 Liquid Liquid de_overpass HTC Reborn Average: Cloud9 12.6-10.6 Liquid Liquid

Cloud9 have played Liquid on nine maps since June 8

Though Liquid have seemingly gained ground as of late, it's worth noting that Cloud9 have spent time since in Europe, including the strong showing in Cologne last weekend.

Average score in the nine maps is 12.6 over 10.6, two full rounds in Cloud9's favor - wtih notably the average score for each team fairly low, due to how lopsided each one's wins have been.

Neither team has an undefeated map - they've only played de_cache, de_dust2 and de_overpass in the qualifying maps, with C9 up 2-1 on the two latter ones, and Liquid up 2-1 on the first.

Let's then take a look at the player statistics in the nine maps they've played, combined for both teams, in order to see how each player has performed in this particular match-up.

Player statistics for the nine maps Cloud9 have faced Liquid on since June 8

Unsurprisingly the three best players have been the biggest three stars in these two teams, namely Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek, Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski and Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham, in that order.

What is surprising, though, is the fact Liquid's second best performer has been their in-game leader Eric "⁠adreN⁠" Hoag, while the team's second and third wheel have struggled.

Neither Jacob "⁠FugLy⁠" Medina or Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella have impressed overall in the nine maps versus Cloud9, a clear sign of trouble for a team who needs to be able to match C9 in skill to win.

Next, let's take a look at player statistics from the five maps that Cloud9 have won, to see who have been their most important players when things have gone as planned.

Player statistics in the five maps Cloud9 have won vs. Liquid since June 8

For Cloud9 the only real differences have been Skadoodle taking the reigns from shroud as the team's top dog, while Ryan "⁠freakazoid⁠" Abadir, the entry-fragger, has outdone Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert.

On Liquid's side virtually nothing has changed -- aside from everyone's statistics, as a whole, going down. Which is understandable, given a 6.2 to 16 round differential in the data.

To compare, we have also put together statistics for the four maps Liquid have beaten Cloud9 on in our qualifying data set, with an arbitrary cut-off point, still, at June 8.

Player statistics for Liquid's four map wins over Cloud9 since June 8

On Liquid's side - now on the top of the table - the order, once again, remains unchanged. It's worth noting adreN is clearly better versus Cloud9, than he is overall in his career on average.

For Cloud9 though, the changes are clear. As the round differential is now 16 to 8.3 in Liquid's favor, naturally the statistics take a nosedive for Cloud9 - led by entry fragger freakazoid.

Compared to wins, Skadoodle also played clearly worse -- or Liquid made him less effective. Either way, no matter how you slice the data, these two teams are neck and neck.

The one thing on Cloud9's side is their recent success at ESL ESEA Finals. But one also shouldn't forget Liquid's map wins over Na`Vi and fnatic at Gfinity Spring Masters II.

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