NA on the ropes: Liquid fall to G2 at PGL Antwerp Major

G2 Esports obliterated Team Liquid (16-6) in the first round of the Challengers Stage at the PGL Antwerp CS:GO Major today. This is the second loss for North America at the tournament following Complexity’s one-sided defeat to Team Vitality earlier in the day.

In the veto process, Inferno, a map that is often played by both sides, was picked. It was G2 that started on the favored counter-terrorist side and perfect utility usage paid dividends after a dominating 13-2 half.

In most won rounds on the CT-side, G2 created advantages by damaging Liquid’s health bars with well-placed HE grenades. They also aggressively took banana control with smokes and molotovs, limiting Liquid’s playground to the bare minimum. The North American representatives were often left with last-minute, desperate offensives, but G2 held firm.

Liquid managed to grab the pistol round in the second half after successfully taking mid. This victory allowed them to secure their fourth round as well, but once G2 got their hands on some guns, their mechanical ability once again overwhelmed nitr0 and his teammates.

With the win, G2 move to the 1-0 bracket, while Liquid join Complexity in the 0-1 bracket. Both squads will play another match against opponents later today.