Liquid win ESWC USA qualifier

Team Liquid have qualified for ESWC 2015 after seeing off Cloud9 2-1 in the grand final of the USA qualifier (16-14 on de_train, 6-16 on de_overpass and 16-13 on de_cache).

Hosted by CEVO, the USA qualifier for this year's ESWC event featured 16 teams, half of whom were invited, while the remaining half were determined through a preliminary open bracket.

The opening round was rather uneventful as all the favorites managed to move past their respective opponents without too much trouble, but the quarter-final stage saw some exciting matches take place, with eLevate beating Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin's Nihilum 2-0 and Team Liquid seeing off CLG on just two maps.

Liquid qualify for ESWC finals 

In the last-four stage, the new Luminosity Gaming roster, featuring Jacob "⁠pyth⁠" Mourujärvi and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic, were simply no match for Cloud9 as they were downed 0-2 while picking up a mere six rounds throughout the series. On the other side of the bracket, Liquid edged past eLevate without dropping a single map either.

Eric "⁠adreN⁠" Hoag's side took the lead in the grand final following a 16-14 victory on de_train. Cloud9 then picked themselves up and equalised the series with a 16-5 thrashing on de_overpass, but issues with Ryan "⁠freakazoid⁠" Abadir's internet connection forced the team to field a stand-in on the final map, de_cache, where Liquid ended up prevailing by a 16-13 scoreline.

MSI ESWC USA Qualifier #1Best of 3 LiquidMatchpage 2 1 1st June 2015 Cloud9 16Train 14 6Overpass 16 16Cache 13

The list of participants for ESWC 2015, which will take place from July 9-12 in Montreal, Canada, currently looks as follows:

fnatic	NiP
Team SoloMid	EnVyUs
Keyd Stars	Vox Eminor
Team Liquid

Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir Age: 22 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 48 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.73 Spencer 'Hiko' Martin Age: 25 Team: Nihilum Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 189 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.61 Jacob 'pyth' Mourujärvi Age: 21 Team: Luminosity Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 222 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 17 Team: Luminosity Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 59 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Eric 'adreN' Hoag Age: 25 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 104 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.66