Cover Image Courtesy: Intel Extreme Masters
Chicago was loud and ecstatic as the IEM Chicago 2019 kick-started yesterday at the United Center. With the group stage reaching its halfway mark, Team Liquid has once again done a great job by securing themselves a spot in the playoffs and finishing on top of their group.
This is how the teams stand at the end of the first day of the group stage,
Image Credit: Liquipedia
Liquid To The Playoffs
Liquid once again made it clear why they were the best in the business at the moment, after storming through the ranks of Team Envy, Liquid was also successful in defeating G2 Esports.
Liquid lost only seven rounds against Envy in the best of three series but faced a bit of a tough time against G2. The French squad and Liquid have a bit of rivalry between them and it only adds-on to all the action.
The French team did have a lead on them winning the first map but Liquid pulled ahead winning on both Overpass and Inferno to seal a slot in the playoffs.
"I think our team environment wasn't as great as it usually is for some reason today, so we're gonna work on that for the next match." - @nitr0 as @TeamLiquid defeat @G2esports and qualify for the #IEM Chicago semifinals. pic.twitter.com/bnFaYFlxrC
— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) July 19, 2019
Struggle Continues
Having lost to Liquid, G2 was still able to reach the decider match-up after defeating MIBR. But the Brazilian team had to really sweat it out against Envy, who gave them a run for their money. The last map between the two teams went into overtime and MIBR had to bring out everything they had in order to see themselves through.
The Brazilians are really not what they were during the start of the year, they have lost more than they have won and there seems to be no recovery for the Brazilian all-stars.
.@mibr stay ALIVE! They have taken down @Envy in an AMAZING third match on train! GG WP#IEM pic.twitter.com/ibD2UbQiTR
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 19, 2019
They will be facing off against G2 once again in the decider match tonight.
Vital Victory
In a major upset, Heroic were able to take down the French giants, Team Vitality. And they took the victory in style by winning back-to-back maps in order to send Vitality down to elimination match against Renegades.
"Revenge from Cologne." - @es3tagCSGO on beating @TeamVitality. #IEM pic.twitter.com/bB4QhNZzf3
— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) July 18, 2019
Heroic has a bit of a tough time winning their own map pick, Overpass but once victorious there was no stopping them as they went on to hammer the French squad on Nuke. Zywoo was not in his regular prime form which directly affected the entire team as they were not able to do anything on their ace’s day off.
Image Credit: HLTV
Renefails
The downward trajectory of Renegades performance continued as they lost ‘2-0’ to ENCE. After falling on Inferno quite easily, the Australian squad were unable to recover on Train, though they did give it their best shot yet it did not matter much as ENCE proved to be quite a handful for them.
Still very much in the competition, Renegades will be going up against Vitality in the elimination match. Though they have only a bleak chance of winning against the French juggernaut, a victory is always on the cards no matter what.
Let’s see which other team joins Liquid in the playoffs from Group-A while also witnessing the two other teams that will be qualifying through the other group.
