Cloud9 beat Liquid to win iBP Cup

Cloud9 won the iBUYPOWER Invitational following a 2-1 victory over Team Liquid (16-5 on de_cache, 4-16 on de_inferno and 19-15 on de_cobblestone).

The first map of the grand final was de_cache, the exact same map where Liquid had defeated Cloud9 earlier in the tournament, but this time around the game was almost the polar opposite.

Cloud9 got off to a great start in the match and won eight of the first ten rounds, forcing Liquid to call a tactical pause to discuss strategy for the remainder of the half. The move worked to perfection as Liquid finally rallied and picked up momentum to close out the half down by just five rounds.

A massive blunder from Liquid saw them spurn a 5-vs-2 situation in the pistol round as CT as Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert and Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek set up a perfect crossfire in the A bombsite site. Cloud9 were able to carry the momentum into the buy rounds, cruising to a 16-5 victory.

Cloud9 scoop domestic title 

The second map, de_inferno, began with Liquid winning the pistol round and the following anti-eco rounds to take a 3-0 lead. The next couple of rounds then went Cloud9's way, but Liquid regained control and brought the scoreline to 8-2 in their favor. The game was threatening to spiral out of control for Cloud9, but clutch rounds from Ryan "⁠freakazoid⁠" Abadir and Sean "⁠seang@res⁠" Gares gave them some breathing room. However, Liquid still managed to close out the half with an 11-4 lead thanks to some great rounds from Jacob "⁠FugLy⁠" Medina in the final stages.

Now playing on the defensive side of the map, Cloud9 were unable to hold off their opponents, who won five rounds in a row to equalise the series and take the game to a third map.

The final map was de_cobblestone, where Liquid once again stormed into a 3-0 lead. A quad kill from Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski then allowed Liquid to further grow their lead, but Cloud9 responded with a quad kill of their own, from freakazoid. Rounds went back and forth until the end of the half, with Cloud9 enjoying a narrow 8-7 lead going into the break.

Liquid will find solace in IEM San Jose qualification 

Cloud9 came out strongly from the restart and won the pistol round, only to be caught off-guard in the first anti-eco round as Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin won a 1vs3 clutch with a Tec9. Liquid took the reins of the game and brought the scoreline to 10-9, but then a triple kill from seang@res restored parity at 10 rounds.

The following three rounds also went to Cloud9 before Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella made sure to keep his team in the game with a quad kill. With the momentum having swung in their favor, Liquid eventually forced overtime, but then Cloud9 were simply far too hot to handle as they won four rounds in a row to take the title.

iBUYPOWER Cup 2015Best of 3 LiquidMatchpage 1 2 15th November 2015 Cloud9 5Cache 16 16Inferno 4 15Cobblestone 19

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamSkadoodle	56 - 51	+5	-	1.06
Mike 'shroud' Grzesiekshroud	61 - 59	+2	-	1.06
Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadirfreakazoid	53 - 52	+1	-	1.03
Sean 'seang@res' Garesseang@res	48 - 51	-3	-	0.97
Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbertn0thing	46 - 56	-10	-	0.85

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Eric 'adreN' HoagadreN	60 - 54	+6	-	1.11
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	55 - 51	+4	-	1.08
Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaFugLy	58 - 54	+4	-	1.07
Spencer 'Hiko' MartinHiko	48 - 49	-1	-	0.93
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	48 - 56	-8	-	0.88

iBUYPOWER CS:GO Invitational Final Standings:

1. Cloud9 - $65,000
2. Team Liquid - $25,000
3-4. CLG - $5,000
3-4. Luminosity - $5,000
5-6. Renegades
5-6. compLexity
7-8. Conquest
7-8. Winterfox 

Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir Age: 22 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 171 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.71 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 18 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 206 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.72 Spencer 'Hiko' Martin Age: 25 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 324 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.60 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella Age: 20 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 235 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.68 Jacob 'FugLy' Medina Age: 20 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 232 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.65 Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert Age: 25 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 291 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.67 Sean 'seang@res' Gares Age: 27 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.89 Maps played: 292 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.67 Mike 'shroud' Grzesiek Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 229 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.67