The finals of the ESL event in Cologne, the cathedral of Counterstrike, saw Liquid emerging victorious in the 5 map affair after the following scorelines.
Final Score :
- Liquid won Overpass (16-6)
- Vitality won Dust 2 (19-17)
- Liquid won Inferno (16-10)
- Liquid won Mirage (16-8)
The BO5 finals were played on Overpass, Dust 2, Inferno, and Mirage after the following vetoes:
- Liquid removed Nuke
- Vitality removed Train
- Liquid picked Overpass
- Vitality picked Dust2
- Liquid picked Inferno
- Vitality picked Mirage
- Vertigo was left over
The first map of the finals was Overpass, something most people would refer to as home soil for Vitality. However, the North Americans were too heavy for the French and plucked out 9 rounds at half time. As the sides switched, Liquid hit the gas and racked out 7 rounds in a row and Liquid emerged victorious in the first map with a 16-6 scoreline.
However, Vitality were quick to reply on Dust 2. Two extremely close halves, following a 7-8 scoreline on both the games, saw the game move to overtime. In the overtime session, Vitality emerged victorious after a spectacular 1v3 clutch by Zywoo on match point closed out the game for the French.
The teams headed to Inferno, a map both teams have shown strength on. However, it was Liquid that dominated Vitality with an 11-4 scoreline. Liquid broke all dreams of a comeback for Vitality and closed the map out with a scoreline of 16-10.
Mirage was the last map of the series where Liquid wrapped the series with a 3-1 scoreline. The first half of the neck hinted of a neck to neck finish with an 8-7 scoreline with Liquid in lead. However, Liquid zoomed past the French side and a 1v2 clutch by Elige pushed the North-Americans to championship point. Liquid displayed really good methodical CounterStrike and wrapped the game with a scoreline of 16-8.
With this victory, Liquid have taken home 1 million dollars for successfully completing Season 2 of the Intel Grand Slam along with 125,000$ for winning ESL One Cologne.
