Spirit are through to the semi-finals of BLAST Bounty after a 2-0 win over Liquid in the first round of the single-elimination bracket. Danil "donk" Kryshkovets led all players in the series with a 1.76 rating, 107.4 ADR and a +7.03% swing, according to HLTV.
The quarter-final opened on Dust2, Spirit's map pick, and began badly for them. Liquid took a 2-0 lead through the pistol round and a following anti-force buy, the second of which Georgi "Jorko" Mitev closed out in a 1v1 on the B site against Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov. Spirit answered after the side switch, taking eight rounds on the attack to finish the map 13-7.
Anubis slips away from Liquid
Liquid could not convert their own map pick either. On Anubis they managed only three rounds on the defensive half, with Jorko again producing one of the few bright moments by turning a 1v2 on an A-site defence. donk opened the second half with four kills while holding B with dual Berettas, and two rounds later Spirit reached match point at 12-3.
Liquid extended the map with an A execute and cut the deficit to 12-5 before the closing round put the two standout players against each other directly. Jorko planted on A in a 1v1 against donk and hit him in the leg as donk stepped out of Main, but donk survived the exchange, traded with a headshot and defused with the round running down.
Jorko was the exception in an otherwise one-sided series for the rebuilt Liquid roster. The 17-year-old Bulgarian AWPer, who sits 28th in the HLTV Prospects ranking, finished as his team's highest-rated player on his LAN debut with a 1.62 rating and a +9.61% swing, and took both of the 1v1 situations HLTV singled out from the two maps.
Spirit advance to the BLAST Bounty semi-finals. Liquid are eliminated from the single-elimination bracket.
Join the conversation — sign in to comment.
Sign in