Liquid to SuperNova Malta grand final over BIG

After beating BIG on two intense maps (16-14 on Inferno and 16-10 on Overpass), Liquid have reached the grand final of SuperNova CS:GO Malta, where NRG await them for a rematch.

The series kicked off on Inferno, where BIG defended a split B hit from their North American opponents to win the first pistol round. The Germans opted for a dual-AUG setup in the following anti-eco and easily won it on the back of a quad-kill by Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz.

Liquid fired back as soon as they got their hands on rifles, winning their own pair to even out the score with two succesful bomb plants. Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik's men then secured the following two as time ran out to reach a 4-2 lead. Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo and co. took the next, but BIG made it to five as Johannes "⁠nex⁠" Maget and gob b each managed double-kills defending B, which reset Liquid's economy and paved the way for a 7-3 German advantage.

Twistzz topped the scoreboard on Overpass with 21 kills

BIG also secured an eighth round, but Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's men then put themselves on four as TACO killed three, resetting their opponents' economy. The North Americans won the next to reach five, but two impressive retakes by BIG rounded out the half and put them at 10-5.

Now on the offensive, Tizian "⁠tiziaN⁠" Feldbusch and co. secured the second pistol round by succesfully hitting the A site, and also won the following anti-eco with a triple-kill from Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield. Finally, Liquid put themselves on the board again after retaking A with only pistols, Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic and co. also won the next two to reduce the deficit to 8-12.

BIG then won a single round, before Liquid secured three in a row to reach 11. The following four rounds unfolded in a similar manner, 3-1 in favour of nitr0's men, who evened out the score at 14-14. Liquid eventually completed the comeback by winning the final two rounds and took Inferno 16-14 to lead the series 1-0.

EliGE and co. will get another chance to beat NRG in the grand final

Next up was Overpass, where Liquid took the first pistol round as Terrorists in spite of a valiant 1v3, post-plant effort by gob b. The North Americans also won the followup, but BIG struck back as soon as they could buy up in the third round. The Germans won the next two on the back of two tripe-kills by tabseN, before nitr0's men evened out the score in the sixth. Liquid continued their run by winning seven of the remaining seven rounds in the half, which ended 10-5 in their favour.

nitr0 clutched a 1v1 post-plant situation in the second pistol round to win it, with Liquid also taking the next two to put themselves in a comfortable position to run away with the map and series. BIG had other ideas, though, as they found their footing on the attacking side and strung together five rounds in a row to reach double digits.

Finally, the North Americans put the lid on the map by winning three in a row to secure Overpass 16-10 and the series 2-0.

SuperNova CS:GO MaltaBest of 3 LiquidMatchpage 2 0 1st December 2018 BIG 16Inferno 14 16Overpass 10

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	45 - 34	+11	94.3	1.42
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	41 - 29	+12	72.1	1.23
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	38 - 28	+10	68.9	1.21
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	41 - 33	+8	75.9	1.11
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	37 - 32	+5	72.0	1.06

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	42 - 38	+4	79.2	1.06
Johannes 'nex' Magetnex	34 - 42	-8	78.6	0.90
Fatih 'gob b' Dayikgob b	32 - 41	-9	66.6	0.83
Owen 'smooya' Butterfieldsmooya	26 - 40	-14	52.9	0.77
Tizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschtiziaN	22 - 41	-19	51.3	0.69

Liquid #3 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken BIG #10 Fatih 'gob b' DayikJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschJohannes 'nex' MagetOwen 'smooya' Butterfield Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 818 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.64 Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz Age: 23 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1125 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.71 Tizian 'tiziaN' Feldbusch Age: 22 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 942 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.66 Owen 'smooya' Butterfield Age: 19 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 307 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.66 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 998 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 21 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 933 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Johannes 'nex' Maget Age: 26 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 917 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 Fatih 'gob b' Dayik Age: 31 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 0.85 Maps played: 876 KPR: 0.56 DPR: 0.67 NRG #8 Damian 'daps' SteeleJacob 'FugLy' MedinaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov