Liquid edge past Vega to reach New Legends stage in London

In a close overtime match, Liquid bested Vega Squadron 19-17 on Cache to become the first team reach 3-0 and move on at the FACEIT Major.

The North American/CIS matchup marked the first time we've seen Cache played at the initial stage of the Major. Vega Squadron won the pistol round as terroists and converted the two following anti-ecos with ease.

Dmitriy "⁠jR⁠" Chervak's men won an additional fourth round before Liquid put themselves on the board with a tactical hold on A. Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's troops won their second before Vega Squadron put together two to make it 6-3. The teams traded rounds for a while before Liquid tightened up their defence to reach a respectable 7-8 deficit at halftime.

Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov lead the way to a second pistol round win for his team with a brilliant 3k, as Vega Squadron added another round in following anti-eco. Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo and co. then found their footing and brought it back to 10-10.

Liquid won two more rounds before jR's troops won a pair of their own. Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken and co. had plenty of money in the bank to buy up once more, as they seized control of the match to reach match point.

The North Americans lost that control, though, as Vega Squadron put together five rounds in a row to reach overtime. Like the entire match up to that point, the first extra rounds were close as Liquid won the first two. jR squeezed out the win in the next pair of rounds, once again tying the score at 17-17.

Twistzz became the hero on the next round as he managed a 4k to give Liquid another match point. The North American squad then finally ended things, as they defended a A hit from Vega Squadron to win 19-17.

With Liquid moving on to the New Legends Stage with a 3-0 score, here are the standings in the New Challengers stage so far: