G2 Through To IEM Winter Playoffs; OG See Off TYLOO

G2 have secured a playoff berth at IEM Winter after besting Liquid in a two-map series in the upper bracket semi-final, taking the North American team’s map pick of Vertigo before coming back from a deficit in the second half of Dust2.

The win sets Nikola “⁠NiKo⁠” Kovač and company up against Vitality in Group A’s upper bracket final, where the winner will advance directly to the playoff semi-final, and the losing team will start their bracket run in the quarter-final.

NiKo and huNter- were unrelenting against Liquid

OG, meanwhile, saw to the elimination of TYLOO with wins on Mirage and Inferno, picking up a pair of 16-10 victories to keep themselves alive in the tournament.

A much tougher test awaits Aleksi “⁠Aleksib⁠” Virolainen‘s side in their next lower bracket match as they are set to face NIP, who beat Astralis in their opening match before falling to Vitality in a rather one-sided series.

valde put up a 1.82 rating to help OG close out Inferno

A pistol win allowed Liquid three early rounds to kick off Vertigo, but G2 were quick to respond off the back of multi-kills from NiKo, momentum which they converted into edging out an 8-7 lead at halftime. G2 further extended their edge by five rounds after the break, before Nemanja “⁠huNter-⁠” Kovač put a firm halt to a comeback effort from Liquid, scoring a quad kill with a solo AK buy to take the map over the line for his side.

Dust2 got off to a similar start as G2 responded to an early string of rounds from Liquid, going up 5-2. This time around though, Liquid gained the upper hand and went on a tear, winning ten of the ensuing eleven rounds for a dominant 12-6 lead. However, that still wasn’t enough to secure victory as G2 battled back with eight in a row to tie the match, before outlasting Liquid in the closing moments to take a 16-14 map win.

OG made short work of TYLOO in their series, racing to a 6-0 start on the CT side of Mirage. The Chinese team answered back with four rounds of their own, helped in part by an ace from Zhenghao “⁠DANK1NG⁠” Lv, but were left trailing in the latter moments of the map as OG kept up the pressure before closing things out, 16-10.

TYLOO‘s woes continued on Inferno, although they kept the scoreline closer at the start of the first half and even held a brief lead, 7-5, before OG pulled ahead at the break. Hopes of forcing a third map by YuLun “⁠Summer⁠” Cai‘s side were swiftly crushed shortly after the side swap as OG once again took control and didn’t relent, conceding just three rounds en route to a 2-0 series finish.