Liquid pull off massive win over MOUZ on day one - PGL Masters Bucharest recap

Liquid picked up an eye-catching win at a time when they really needed one, as they knocked MOUZ down to the 0-1 bracket at PGL Bucharest.

MOUZ took map one in overtime as Spinx showed up massively in the final three rounds to close out a tightly contested map and put MOUZ on the brink of what they must have felt like would be a simple win. MOUZ have been pretty clearly a top five team all year, and Liquid have, well, not at any point looked better than the team in 15th.

Oh, we almost forgot to mention why that map went to overtime.

NAF, who himself has had trouble for the last 18 months, put together one of the craziest sequences of all time to quite literally 1v5 MOUZ in round 24 to take the game to overtime. In a full buy, round 24, 12-11 down, NAF does THAT and they still lose the map. Unforgiveable.

Liquid made up for it, though, with back-to-back wins in equally tight fashion. An overtime win on Inferno equalised the score, and Liquid had EliGE to thank for his crucial 1v2 to put Liquid on match point just before MOUZ won three in a row to force overtime.

Liquid's CT side in overtime was near-flawless, winning with 3, 4 and 5 alive in the three rounds to once again have three chances to win, and this time converting first time. JT's 4k was the pick of the bunch in overtime, mowing down MOUZ and putting the nail in the coffin.

That just left Mirage, where Jorko had what could be a bit of a breakout performance for him. Obviously we know how talented he is, but a big map against a top team in a decider is the sort of map that can change the course of your career. His first half 4k was a particular highlight, though him finding the opener and a 2v2 kill in an important round on the T side as MOUZ threatened to run away with it was pretty important.

MOUZ were up 10-7, but failed to find an 11th until Liquid were on match point - and then a well-timed triple from the unusually quiet malbsMd sealed their fate.

MOUZ aren't alone in the 0-1 bracket, of course, and they're joined by Spirit - who lost 1-2 to BETBOOM.

Yes. Yes it is.

Though it must be said, zorte going off like this is not a reliable way to win. This was a bit of a freak game in that sense, but BETBOOM beating one of the best teams in the world without Magnojez carrying has to mean something good?

zorte was the best player on BETBOOM for all three maps, though Mirage was probably the most stand-out. On the decider, the AWPer helped turn around a 4-8 deficit to overtime, and then in the final round of overtime won a superb 1v3 against Spirit's triple threat to close out the series in memorable fashion.

We can't quite believe what we saw.

For Spirit, the big worry is how hard they got spanked on Ancient. BETBOOM won Ancient 13-3, with zont1x having a stinker, and it just felt way too easy all day for BETBOOM, really. Spirit continue to frustrate.

The MongolZ pulled off a big win against Aurora to create a very stacked 0-1 bracket, thanks to 910 still looking like one of the best AWPers in the world. XANTARES' patchy form persists, and it's dragging Aurora down - though he certainly was not alone in this game. Nuke was disastrous.

NAVI won a marathon map two to complete a very tight 2-0 over G2. w0nderful's ability to level up against top teams is admirable, and he once again took over in a game where NAVI really needed him. We still can't figure out how to place him, but we're certain he's better than most people think. NAVI would have lost map two with most other AWPers in his stead. In fact, they'd have lost 0-2.

Legacy lost to Nemiga, which is a bad sign with the Major in sight. Map one was the length of two maps, in fairness, so it was basically a 1-2 loss rather than 0-2, which we're sure is comforting. They'll need dumau in better form than this.

Shock horror, Vitality won, 2-0 over 9z, though it was a decently close game. 9z are no mugs, and Vitality avoided the favourites curse in Bucharest.

FUT rolled over TYLOO with SunPayus looking in fabulous nick, and molodoy powered FURIA to a 2-0 over DENDELE.