The Grand Finals matchup at IEM Chicago as part of Season XIV was supposed to be something that could have been called the head-to-head of the year. Instead, it was once again the Team Liquid show on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive mainstage.
In a best-of-five map set, it was all Team Liquid at almost every single turn of the game. Their opponents looked like an online qualifier team as ENCE hardly able to win rounds let alone getting anywhere near winning a map.
ENCE wasn’t all thumbs throughout the series, however, as the team did make a bit of a stand against Team Liquid on Inferno as Map 3. All could have been chalked up to an embarrassing Sunday in the windy city, but luckily for ENCE and their fans, they managed to overcome the brutal pressure of getting walked all over by the best team in CS:GO right now.
However, with players like Twistzz on Team Liquid making plays like this, how is any squad supposed to truly hold their own against the 2019 Grand Slam winners.
Just when you thought @ENCE had control of the site @Twistzz pops up out of nowhere...#IEMhttps://t.co/JCaCtOvQYi pic.twitter.com/1zUCDBRK4t
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 21, 2019
With the win at IEM Chicago, Team Liquid continue to write their legacy in modern Counter-Strike. Looking at all of their tournaments so far in 2019, Team Liquid has nine 1st Place finishes out of fourteen attempts.
In fact, they haven’t lost a tournament since the end of May. IEM Chicago makes it seven championships in a row.
? CHAMPIONS ? #IEM @TeamLiquid pic.twitter.com/kOmkKcqyr7
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 21, 2019
Even though the final map in the sweep of ENCE had a closer ending than the first two, there was just no getting over the fact that Team Liquid was devastatingly dominant out of the gate. Huge kudos goes to ENCE for making a last-ditch effort, but the Team Liquid dynasty is only just getting started.
With their eyes on the CS:GO Major in Berlin at the end of the next month, Team Liquid will land in Germany as the team to beat.
