Team Liquid downs TYLOO to stay alive at Champions Shanghai

Team Liquid won't go down that easily. With a 2-1 win over TYLOO , the EMEA squad extended its stay in Shanghai by at least another match.

The series was played out on TL's Split, TYL's Summit, and the decider map of Lotus. In the map ban veto, Liquid banned Sunset and Ascent, while TYLOO banned Haven and Abyss. Liquid won Split 13-8, TYLOO won Summit 13-7, and Liquid won Lotus 13-2.

Liquid's pick of Split seemed to highlight its most recent roster changes best. With GSR on Yoru and kamo on Raze, the team was able to implement a double-Duelist look that played into its strengths. However, it wasn't all easy all the time. After getting out to a 4-0 lead, TYLOO snatched seven straight rounds with its own double-Duelist, Jett-Raze comp, but that momentum wasn't held up.

kamo got out to a blistering start on Split, going 16/8 in the first half on Split.

Liquid's attack side, led by the aforementioned pair of Duelists, was utterly dominant. The pair combined for 25 kills on that side alone, dropping just one round en route to what ended up being a smooth 13-8 win.

On its pick of Summit, TYLOO rolled out its Phoenix-Waylay two Duelist comp, but Liquid rolled out an all-new comp, one that was seemingly made possible thanks to the GSR signing. With yet another Yoru-Raze look, the team adopted a solo Harbor comp with in-game leader nAts on Vyse. On defense, Liquid's comp put in work. Behind GSR and kamo once again, Liquid won the early engagements, entering halftime up 7-5, but the second half was a different story.

To this point, China had been winless in Shanghai as a region, both in matches and in maps. That changed with TYLOO's attack, led by slowly 's Waylay. The Duelist player had 10 kills in the half, with great retake protocols shutting down Liquid's attack, with eight straight rounds closing out a 13-7 win.

The Jing'An Sports Center gets loud for TYLOO.

While TYLOO had all of the momentum heading into Lotus, it ran into a brick wall. Reminiscent of its map two struggles against G2 Esports last week, TYLOO surrendered a 12-0 halftime lead to a defending Liquid, seemingly unable to get much of anything going at all. Facing a 10-2 deficit in first engagements, four Liquid players finished the first half with no fewer than 10 kills, highlighting the all-round dominance by the experienced EMEA side.

[twitchTriumphantInnocentCrocodileSoonerLater-VnouJoW3gk_qPC0x] kamo finds four on the retake.

TYLOO managed to convert the second-half pistol and anti-eco, but the bonus did not go its way, resulting in a 13-2 scoreline on the map and a 2-1 score in the series.

kamo was the standout performer for Liquid for the second straight series, recording match-high marks with a 1.31 rating and 53 kills. Alongside GSR , the pair combined for 24 first kills.

From the Press Room

splash to his TYLOO teammates: "I appreciate all the moments I have spent with you guys. I hope that we can power for next year and do even better than this year."

LohaN on getting to the playoffs: "It's going to be a hard game [against G2]. We won't have time to prepare a lot of anti and they're a team that we should have more anti prepared. We need to make sure to have the correct mindset, correct attitude in the server. And, no expectations. At worse, we go again 1-2, the curse is not broken. But hopefully this is the time that we can do it."

Up Next

While Liquid has set up a date with G2 Esports in Group C's Decider match, TYLOO will be the first team in Shanghai to head home, ranked 13th-16th and taking $20,000 in prize money.

Champions Shanghai will continue with the following matches:

• Xi Lai Gaming vs. Nongshim RedForce (Group D Elimination)
• Global Esports vs. EDward Gaming (Group B Elimination)
• T1 vs. JD Gaming (Group A Elimination)
• G2 Esports vs. Team Liquid (Group C Decider)