The IEM Sydney Grand Final was going to be played between Liquid and Fnatic. Liquid made their way to the finals without dropping a single map following victories over top teams. Fnatic, on the other hand, clawed through the lower bracket and made it to the finals.
Grand Finals
Liquid vs. Fnatic
- Fnatic won Cache 10-16
- Liquid won Overpass 16-14
- Liquid won Mirage 16-8
- Fnatic won Dust2 6-16
- Liquid won Inferno 16-9
The first map of the Best of 5 series was Cache, picked by fnatic. The vetoes can be found here:
- fnatic removed Nuke
- Liquid removed Train
- fnatic picked Cache
- Liquid picked Overpass
- fnatic picked Mirage
- Liquid picked Dust2
- Inferno was left over
The Swedes kicked off the CT side of Cache in convincing fashion and dominated the North Americans, taking the first 9 rounds in a row. However, Liquid wasn’t ready to give up the game so easily and was able to pull back 5 rounds in the half, pushing the scoreline of 10-5.
In the second half, the North Americans managed to pull back the first two rounds before Fnatic propelled themselves to map point on Cache. However, Nitro had other plans and an ace from his side made sure that Liquid survived for another round. The heroics from Liquid ended and Fnatic picked up the first map with a scoreline of 16-10.
The second map was Overpass, Liquid’s pick, where they started on CT side, which they won after a nail-biting encounter and Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell trying pretty hard to carry his side with twenty-three bombs.
The teams went to Mirage for Game 3, where Liquid promptly pulled ahead with a 9-6 lead before switching sides. EliGe led the way once again with 26 kills and only 14 deaths in the map, as Liquid eventually sealed the deal with a 16-8 score.
Fnatic came out swinging on Dust 2 in Game 4, taking a 16-6 victory over Liquid. Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell and Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson led the way for the Swedish squad, posting statlines of 21-15 and 18-7 respectively.
IEM Sydney 2019 final standings:
more to follow…
