CSGO: Liquid won Cologne 2019, bringing back $1 million Intel Grand Slam

Liquid won ESL One Cologne 2019 after beating Vitality 3-1 in the final of the $300,000 tournament.

If you doubt the strength of Liquid, then you will definitely have to reconsider your doubts at Lanxess Arena – where the North American team defeated the opponent 3-1 without having to go all out. Liquid outperformed almost every game against a Vitality that always needed the individual brilliance of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut.

The young French talent once again showed why he is one of the best CSGO shooters in the world, able to challenge s1mple, but not able to take on the whole Liquid force alone.

Winning overtime at Dust2 is a small consolation for Vitality. The French boys couldn’t find a solution to the team play of their opponents in the remaining three maps – they were constantly outplayed and made too many mistakes in focebuy.

“Last year we were in the shadow of Astralis, which boosted the morale of the team. We knew we were going to be the best team this year, and we will continue to do so,” said Twistzz emotionally after the game. Liquid won the fourth ESL/DreamHack event to claim the $1 million Intel Grand Slam tournament.

ZywOo created a buzz with a USP treble early in the game, giving Vitality a pistol round at Overpass. It didn’t last long: Liquid responded immediately with a treble from Stewie2k, the only player with an item on the team.

The man who shoots faster than his shadow!@zywoo #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/MTd0fyiJFb

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 7, 2019

During the first half, the French team kept making mistakes in the group stage and they were pointed out by ALEX earlier. They only managed to win 6 rounds in CT, but things could have been completely different had it not been for the 3 losses to a weak build – especially the magic 1v4 clutch from Twistzz.

Liquid took advantage of the morale advantage and got the perfect pistol round, stopping Vitality’s B hit. Since then, the North American team has completely dominated, easily winning 16-6.

It seemed that Dust2 would play out similar to Overpass when Vitality lost the next anti-eco round, helping Liquid find a way to attack the game. NAF helped his teammates win rounds continuously, but Vitality refused to surrender, reducing the gap to only one round at the beginning of the half.

The 4 kills from the RPK in the pistol round gave him fire, who gave Vitality a 14-12 lead. EliGE struggled at the beginning of the game before, finally waking up and empowering Liqud to hit the map point before the French team equalized in the final round.

Regaining morale, the French team applied pressure and won 2 rounds on the CT side. An unlikely 1v2 clutch from Stewie2k revived hope for Liquid, but Vitality continued to play steadily, with ZywOo confidently clutching to help the team win.

ZYWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ?

He ends overtime with a 1v3 CLUTCH ?@zywoo #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/uopAE2uZB2

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 7, 2019

Inferno’s first half turned into a disaster when Vitality couldn’t keep winning. Whichever round they got, they were won by Liquid in the next round. Liquid led 11-4 despite ZywOo’s shining performance – he hit 15 frags in the first half, just 2 short of the team’s total kills.

Vitality raised hopes when it won the second pistol round, but the old problems continued, when Liquid countered shortly after. The French team fought back a bit as they were led 15-4, but their efforts quickly fell apart, as Twistzz and EliGE clutched 2v4 in round 26.

Liquid got off to a solid start in Mirage, taking an early 3-0 lead on CT’s side. But as soon as Vitality got the money, the game changed immediately. The French team crushed CT 7 rounds in a row, then suddenly fell silent. The North American team tightened their defenses to finish with 5 extra rounds for themselves.

Once again, ZywOo was the one to rescue Vitality with a 4 in Inferno’s second pistol round. But it was too late, Liquid continued to hit fast and hit chapionship points, no money left, the French team was hopeless to stop the opponent.

With the championship of ESL One Cologne 2019, in addition to the prize money from the tournament, Liquid also took home $ 1 million Intel Grand Slam tournament when having the 4th victory in this tournament system.

Final rankings of teams at ESL One Cologne 2019:

first. Liquid – $125,000
2. Vitality – $50,000
3-4. Astralis – $22,000
3-4. Natus Vincere – $22,000
5-6. NiP – $11,000
5-6. NRG – $11,000
7-8. mousesports – $7,500
7-8. Heroic – $7,500
9-12. FaZe – $6,000
9-12. fnatic – $6,000
9-12. BIG – $6,000
9-12. FURIA – $6,000
13-16. ENCE – $5,000
13-16. MVP PK – $5,000
13-16. Renegades – $5,000
13-16. MIBR – $5,000