Team Liquid Takes Victory In Quake Champions 2v2 QuakeCon Tournament

In one of QuakeCon 2018’s spotlight showdowns, teams of two battled it out all day in Quake Champions to prove themselves the best. But only one duo could be crowned in the end, and that duo was Team Liquid’s Shane "rapha" Hendrixson and Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty. The duo reached the Finals against Blind Trust and laid down a powerful and conclusive 4-0 victory for the championship.

Blind Trust was no slouch. The team features QuakeCon 2017 Duels Champion Nikita “clawz” Marchinsky and Johan “toxjq” Quick, who laid down his share of stunning kills. The first match of the competition was hotly contested in a first-to-fifty-kill match which ended with Team Liquid squeaking out in a stunning 50 to 49 win over Blind Trust. 2v2 is Team Liquid’s bread and butter of matches, but a solid gameplan and a very narrow early victory may have shaken Blind Trust’s branches.

“We knew that Blind Trust was an amazingly talented group of players,” admitted rapha. “But I think we went in with a little extra confidence based on the talks we had about certain champion bans and how they would play in our favor going into the first map. I also feel like the fact that the first map was so incredibly close at 50-49 in our favor, may have tilted them a bit or thrown them off their game in general. I may be reading too much into it, but it felt like they started making more mistakes in the maps that followed.”

Indeed, in the following maps, Blind Trust trailed further and further behind Liquid in kills, never quite finding the momentum they carried in the first match-up. Liquid’s DaHanG attributes this to the level of communication and coordination between he and rapha. The two had a one-two punch of flanks, engagement, and escape that created plenty of 2-on-1 opportunities in their favor throughout the series.

“I think the added pressure that we bring and our style of communication allows us to secure more two-on-one situations than pretty much any other team,” DaHanG explained. “Even so, despite winning 4-0 over Blind Trust, I feel this is one of the hardest matches we had to play just because of how strong their aim and mechanics are. There were some maps where we took it, sure, but toxjq was outdoing us by absurd amounts of damage, even in a loss, so that says a lot about how much they deal. In the end, I feel our strategies of when to group up and when to split and flank is what is really hard for teams to deal with.”

The victory was decisive and well-earned for the team, and QuakeCon 2v2’s has left Team Liquid looking forward to what comes next in competition.

“I feel optimistic,” rapha told us. “I think the game is getting better and better as time goes on. I know Bethesda wants to launch a major esport and Quake Champions is going in the right direction, so I’m looking forward to future tournaments.”

That said, Team Liquid isn’t sitting on their laurels when it comes to upcoming competition. Outside of their respect for Blind Trust, there were quite a few other players that raised threats for rapha and DaHanG to remember in the future.

“I think Team Myztro was really strong,” DaHanG claimed. There were others that played out of their minds, like k1llsen and av3k of BIG, but RAISY and Spart1e gave us a lot of trouble. Between those two teams I don’t know who’s going to be stronger in the long run, but both of them are worth looking out for.”

.@liquidrapha and @liquiddahang are your #QuakeCon2018 2v2 Champions!#LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/XylnLs0euR

— Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 12, 2018

It’s competition worth looking forward to, but for this particular competition, DaHanG, rapha, and Team Liquid can raise the check and the trophy proud as QuakeCon 2018’s 2v2 champions.

Be sure to catch our further coverage with Team Liquid’s rapha and DaHanG in our interview about the state of Quake Champions and the possibilities for the game in the future.