Liquid Top Group A, ZPG Stay Alive in DreamHack Open Summer NA

Team Liquid have been able to set themselves on top of Group A DreamHack Open Summer NA in a brilliant team effort. Ze Pug Godz have been victorious over Triumph, making the latter the first to exit the event. So far, Liquid’s newest roster addition has performed exceptionally and appears to gel well with the rest of the roster.

ZE PUG GODZ SCRAPE PAST TRIUMP

ZPG have just recently transferred back from playing VALORANT. Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro and his companions attempted to find success in RIOT’s new shooter game, but they quickly took back to the old and established Counter Strike. Their short absence seems to have done them no favors. ZPG have had to fight hard in order to scrape past Triumph. On the first map, Inferno, the teams went to overtime and ZPG only narrowly got the victory there. Triumph got their revenge on Mirage. Their opponents were up 15-3, when Triumph started to mount an immense comeback. Unwilling to concede that one missing round, they strung together 12 rounds to get into overtime. There, they ran away with a victory that should have been ZPG’s an hour ago already.

While Zellsis’ team soundly defeated Triumph on Vertigo and finally got their Best-of-Three victory, the overtime loss must have hurt like hell. How could they have possibly let go of 12 rounds straight? They need to find an answer to this soon, as they are still competing for a playoffs spot in DreamHack Open Summer. Their next opponents will be Chaos, who will certainly abuse their weakness to close out games.

TEAM LIQUID ARE BACK IN ACTION

Team Liquid, on the other hand, have had no trouble dispatching of the Chaos side. A few days ago, they debuted their new roster with Michael “Grim” Wince to amazing results. The player immediately delivered a perfect performance against ZPG. A one-sided affair, the match ended with a 1.72 HLTV rating for Grim. Yesterday, they had to go up against Chaos, arguably a much stronger team than ZPG.

Liquid still held their own. This time, however, Grim wasn’t the top performer – but he didn’t need to be, anyways. All of the Liquid players contributed and posted positive ratings. Their solid teamwork allowed them to dispatch of Chaos in 16-11 and 16-8 games. This performances secures them a spot in the DreamHack Open Summer NA playoffs.

So far, they haven’t been tested by any top-tier roster. They should be able to win against the likes of Chaos and ZPG purely on the basis of individual skill. With the departure of their IGL, Nick “nitr0” Canella, it remains to be seen whether they can deliver on the strategical end as well. Against the likes of FURIA, individual prowess won’t be enough to carry them over the finishing line.

Group A continues today with the Decider Match between ZPG and Chaos. In Group B, either FURIA or Team oNe will advance in the Winners’ Match.