A series between two seemingly unstoppable forces resulted in an all-time winner-takes-all map, with
Team Liquid Brazil
Team Liquid Brazil
Brazil
Rank #12
Jelly
Julia Iris
Bizerra
Vitoria Vieira
Joojina
Letícia Paiva
isaa
Isabeli Esser
daiki
Natalia Vilela
and
G2 Gozen
G2 Gozen
Europe
Rank #241
Akita
Esllene Xu
amy
Amy Lai
Vania
Aleyna Keskin
Petra
Petra Stoker
mimi
Michaela Lintrup
going the distance. The Brazilian squad captured a 2-1 victory over the EMEA giants, with the series playing out on TLV's pick of Haven, G2's pick of Corrode, and the decider map of Split.
Team Liquid Brazil won Haven 13-3, G2 Gozen won Corrode 13-2, and Team Liquid Brazil won Split 14-12.
The series began on Liquid's pick of Haven, a map on which Liquid has experimented with a handful of comps this season. On this particular day, they went for their double-Initiator comp, with Sova and Breach. G2 Gozen playing the map at all was a bit of a surprise. The map was banned by the German squad in its last five matches, with its previous two appearances on the three-site map resulting in losses.
G2 went with a double-Duelist comp pairing Yoru and Waylay, and opted to start on defense. While the abilities of Duelist player
Jelly
are well-known, having been acquired in a one-for-one trade for
bstrdd
with
MIBR GC
MIBR GC
Brazil
Rank #8
bstrdd
Paula Naguil
lissA
Giulia Lissa
srN
Nicolas Niederauer
sayuri
Camila Obam
melissa
Melissa Souza
, the Initiator players were the stars of the show on Haven. A balance between a well-managed ult economy and unmatched confidence helped Team Liquid dominate from the get-go, with
daiki
ripping several Rolling Thunders early.
After losing the pistol and eco rounds, Liquid hardly put a wrong foot down for the rest of the map, ending halftime up 9-3. By opting to start on defense with two Duelists, G2 knew what it was getting itself into, but the team just couldn't seem to figure out the map. Liquid dominated, with Bizerra and daiki combining for 44 kills in the map.
Ice cold from Jelly to put the finishing touches on the Map 1 stomp.G2's pick of Corrode was sure to test the two teams against each other. Both squads entered this match with a win on the map, in rather comfortable fashion as well. G2 stayed with its double-Duelist, Waylay-Yoru pairing, while Team Liquid stuck with the double-Initiator approach, switching out Breach for KAY/O.
After dominating on Haven, it was Liquid that was dominated on Corrode. G2 Controller player Vania opted for Brimstone as opposed to the more on-meta Omen or Astra. The pick resulted in G2's retake attempts being faster and coordinated, with well-timed Incendiaries shutting down crucial choke points. jelly's Waylay looked to establish an early presence in mid, but without a true Sentinel, TLV was exposed from the back on several occasions.
A well-coordinated retake to close the half for G2.A TLV pistol round win followed an 11-1 halftime lead, but an eco round conversion spelled the beginning of the end, with the map ending 13-2 for G2.
After standing tall on their own map picks, G2 and TLV were set to face off on the decider map of Split, a map that welcomed chaos. Both teams fielded mirror comps, opting for Astra-Viper double-Controller and Yoru-Raze double-Duelist looks, with Fade as the lone Initiator.
Very little separated the two teams, with neither team leading by more than three rounds for the entirety of the map. G2 ended its attack side up 7-5, but its lead quickly dissipated following the pistol and anti-eco rounds. After G2's patient attack half picked apart the gaps in Liquid's armor, Liquid played with changes in pace, making it hard for G2 to coordinate retakes, often facing disadvantages in numbers on first contact. For G2, the key on defense was picking off the lurks of isaa .
Eventually, Team Liquid seemed poised to close things out, with the ultimate economy leaning heavily in their favor, but a heroic round from G2 forced overtime. In OT, a gamble paid off. TLV put an Operator in jelly's hands, leaving her with no shields and just one Gatecrash. With the Operator, she found three kills as the lone site player on A, and shut down the G2 attack. On defense, daiki, the hero of map one, came up big once more to clutch a 1v3 and seal the series.
All bangers end on Split, but daiki made sure the last round was a banger, too.daiki, Team Liquid's in-game leader, ended the most kills in the series, picking up 52, while bizerra added 49 of her own. Despite the best efforts of G2 Duelist Akita , who dropped 48 kills and 15 first bloods, G2 came up just short, and is sent down to the lower bracket.
Team Liquid Brazil advances to the upper final, while G2 Gozen will take on MIBR GC in the lower bracket.



