Team Liquid Advances to VCT Champions Semifinals with Victory over Cloud9 Blue
Team Liquid emerged victorious in a close series against Cloud9 Blue, securing their spot in the semifinals of VCT Champions. Despite a standout performance from C9’s leaf, Liquid proved to be too strong for their opponent.
Liquid made a strategic change in their composition compared to their previous match against Sentinels. They placed their star player, ScreaM, on Reyna instead of Jett, which made him even more lethal with the abilities to devour and dismiss. However, it was leaf who dominated the first half with an impressive pistol round ace and a total of 18 kills on defense. The two VALORANT teams ended the first half tied at 6-6.
Liquid started strong in the second half, taking a three-round lead after winning the pistol round on defense. Both ScreaM and leaf continued to showcase their skills, and vanity also contributed with some clutch plays to bring C9 back into the game, resulting in a 10-9 lead for C9. However, Liquid responded with successful retakes and powerful Judge multi-kills from L1NK under hookah window, countering C9’s B executes. In a crucial two-vs-two post-plant situation on B, with Liquid leading 12-10, Nivera took advantage of a costly mistake from vanity to secure the defuse and win the map 13-10.
On the second map, Ascent, both Jamppi and leaf played as Jett and were the key playmakers for their respective teams during a highly competitive first half. Leaf continued his excellent performance from the previous map, scoring 11 kills in just the first five rounds of Ascent, including another ace. Despite Liquid securing a few unlikely rounds, they still trailed C9 with a score of 7-5 at halftime.
The two teams fought a close battle, tying the game at 8-8. However, Liquid’s strong site holds on A and B, coupled with outstanding performances from Jamppi and ScreaM, resulted in a depleted economy for C9. Liquid built a 12-8 lead, but C9 made a comeback with successful B executes. In the final round of regulation, both teams activated their Killjoy ultimates simultaneously after the post-plant situation, but Liquid secured the necessary kills to defuse the spike and win the map 13-11.
With this victory, Team Liquid advances to the semifinals, where they will face off against Acend on Saturday, December 11. This matchup is a rematch of their previous encounter at the Red Bull Home Ground Two event, where Liquid emerged as the winners with a 3-1 scoreline.
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