Liquid versus Into the Breach was a tough game to watch for UK CS fans, but the hope is still alive with ITB having one more chance to qualify. The British team looked strong in the first map, but the Americans took control on Anubis to dispatch Into the Breach 2-0. After the win Damian “daps” Steele spoke to UKCSGO regarding his thoughts on his defeated opponent.
Talk me through the game, did ITB come out with anything unexpected or was it a simple win?
We prepared for ITB the same as we do for any other team, we didn’t underestimate them by any means. They’ve shown good form here. In terms of Overpass, we lost a lot of rounds we shouldn’t have because we knew rallen likes to play aggressive on A. They played the same as they usually did and we just kept getting caught off-guard, not trading, making a tone of mistakes as well and they kept getting free rounds essentially off our mistakes.
But overall the game kind of went as we expected. I think them picking Anubis was a huge shock to me personally, I mean that’s probably one of our favourite maps and we were even considering picking Anubis instead of Overpass versus them. So I think they made a mistake in the veto personally, that was the only surprise I guess.
So according to the BLAST stream CRUC1AL and rallen are statistically, before that map, the two best Anubis players in the world. How were you able to stop their impact?
I think even though they may have the highest stats, I also don’t think they’ve played the best teams on Anubis. I’m not trying to talk shit or anything, but I think there is a huge difference macro wise when you are playing a tier one team on Anubis versus a tier two team on Anubis. I feel like, from watching their Anubis beforehand, that macro wise we are a step ahead of them. They played the same on Anubis as we watched, it was a more comfortable win for sure. We messed up a couple clutches at the end of Anubis, but other than that it went as we expected.
Just one more question about Into the Breach, you know I’m from UKCSGO so I have to ask, overall what was your opinion of playing them?
It’s hard to say just because I’ve never really watched them before, I watched like Endpoint before because I’m friends with Joey [CRUC1AL] and I’ve known him for a long time. I mean they showed good form versus the teams we watched at the event, they played pretty versus us, they definitely gave us a scare on Overpass. You know they are hitting shots, they are not players who just fall over in the server and die, they can aim, they can fuck you when they want too. Overall I’m impressed with their team, they are on a good trajectory. Even if they don’t end up making playoffs this event, they are on a good path and that’s all that matters.
For Liquid is a bit sigh of relief that you have made it through to Legends after a shaky start earlier in the tournament?
For sure. Before this event this is our only actual bootcamp we had before this event in the second half of the year. So our results have been pretty up and down, a lot more inconsistent than the first half of the year, or six months together. We are just happy that we are finding our consistency again, getting our confidence back again. Hopefully we are able to make the finals.
