Liquid toiled hard and ultimately managed to eke out a narrow 2-1 (16-14 Inferno, 12-16 Dust2, 16-7 Mirage) series win over favorites Natus Vincere to book a direct slot in the semi-finals of the Playoffs Bracket at BLAST Premier Fall Finals.
Let us take a deep dive into how each player fared, both in terms of the match performance and with respect to the fantasy points on FanClash.
Natus Vincere
s1mple
The lone carry as he often turns out to be in situations like these, s1mple clutched at every straw he could find on the decider, Mirage. But, his team fell way short, managing just 4 CT rounds despite a K/D record of 18/11 from the world number 1. He scored 97.61 fantasy points but it wasn’t enough on the day.
Perfecto
The best of the rest for Natus Vincere, Perfecto had a lowly ADR of 65.2 with a negative Kill/Death differential of 6. His worst performance came in the decider, where he could only register an ADR of 44.9. His display earned him 54.02 fantasy points on FanClash.
electroNic
The brother-in-arms for s1mple in Natus Vincere’s journey to the top, electroNic was underwhelming on the day. While his ADR of 77 wasn’t poor, he failed to convert the damage into decisive kills, pocketing 68.7 fantasy points.
sdy
Somedieyoung has been out of form from the time IEM Rio Major 2022 rolled in and it continued against Liquid at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals. A Kill/Death score of 45/58 meant he could only muster up 40.52 fantasy points.
b1t
The Natus Vincere academy graduate and the new golden boy of the team, b1t became a third pillar in the team’s successes. But, a day to forget for the youngster, with b1t netting only 39.61 points on FanClash.
Liquid
YEKINDAR
The former Virtus Pro member’s Liquid addition has felt like adding water to a car battery, making the team more functional, fluid and difficult to predict. He continued to trouble Natus Vincere with his unorthodox decisions, ending up with 87.67 fantasy points.
EliGE
The North American rifler maintained his form with 56 kills over the three maps and almost an ADR of 80. His performance meant he scored 76.41 points on FanClash.
NAF
An upturn in form for the former OpTiC member, NAF has taken up bit of the AWPing duties for Liquid, who maintain a hybrid system in their team. Seeing as he was matched against s1mple for several duels, NAF delivered and his fantasy score of 71.1 points is evidence of the same.
oSee
oSee managed to do what he does best, provide amicable support to the team and make sure the gaps are properly filled. He scored 61.91 fantasy points and would be happy to see his team gain a direct entry into the semis.
nitr0
Duty called and Captain America rose to the occasion. The Liquid IGL dominated the server against Natus Vincere, producing a total of 65 kills for his team, with his Inferno performance a particular highlight.
Winner’s Perspective
The winning squad on FanClash made all the right moves, gaining 575.33 points. The decision to put the captaincy on s1mple paid off, even though the user went with 3 Liquid players in their squad. YEKINDAR as vice-captain was a good choice but the user did lose a point by putting the wrong booster on EliGE. Electronic and nitr0 completed what looks like a team that packs a powerful punch, even on paper.
Manipulus Optimus (OP Squad)
There was a minor difference between the winning squad and the best squad possible on FanClash for the match according to the results. It would have been better to put nitr0 as the vice-captain since he had the second-highest fantasy points for the match while a correct booster on YEKINDAR instead of EliGE would have gained the winning user a net benefit of 6 fantasy points.
