ESL One New York was everything that the Major Grand finals should have been. It was a contest between two almost evenly matched teams and the series itself was as thrilling as a final should have been. The Grand finals saw Mousesports and Team Liquid match up against each other in a Best of Five series.
The Five Maps in the Grand finals were :
- Cache
- Nuke
- Inferno
- Dust 2
- Mirage
Despite Cache being a Team Liquid pick, Mousesports is well-known for its efficiency on the map. The first map displayed the high amount of efficiency by Mousesports as they hardly gave away anything in their anti-eco rounds. The Mousesports roster was able to win the anti-eco rounds often with four or more members alive. This meant that they were always able to keep a very good economy and never really faced a serious prospect of having to decide whether to eco or not.
Mousesports won Map 1, Cache with a score of 16-12 comfortably taking a lead in the Grand finals. The subsequent maps saw Team Liquid demolish Mousesports, first with a strong CT half on Nuke and then a very good T side on Inferno. Mousesports did not have the space required to mount a sustainable comeback on either map. Despite ChrisJ trying his best to make do with what they have, Mousesports was never really able to make an impact in the 2nd and 3rd maps. They trailed Team Liquid 1-2 with two more maps still to go.
Some of the esports betting sites predicted the winning of mousesports.
The highly competitive Dust 2
The fourth map, Dust 2 could have been the end of the ESL One New York road for Mousesports. Dust 2 is a very good map for Mousesports, but Team Liquid are no slouches on the map either. With Twistzz in excellent form throughout the series [ he finished the Grand finals with a +39 KDA ] it would be a tough challenge for the Mouz team to win the map. But they were able to hold their own and win the map in Overtime. It was a very close affair with both sides being extremely strong on their Terrorist side. The halftime score was 11-4 but despite Team Liquid winning both pistols, Mousesports was able to bring it back to 15-15. They would eventually go to win the match and take the series to its final map, Mirage
The decider – Mirage
Mirage as the decider is fitting for Mousesports who toiled through the initial maps to make it so far in the tournament. The Mouz roster continued with their momentum from Dust 2 and was extremely comfortable on Mirage. They won the map and the series in a fitting manner. However, it is important to mention Twistzz and his contribution to Team Liquid’s chances at the Grand FInals. The player has definitely shown up in a strong way so far at the Major as well as ESL One New York. For his personal brand, he is someone that teams and organisations will take notice.
Mousesports – Path to growth
Before the addition of Snax, Mousesports was constantly a team that would make deep runs at big tournaments. They would not always win tournaments, mostly because of the quality of their opposition [ which included the likes of Astralis, Faze Clan etc]. With the new roster, there have been problems within the team, especially when it comes to team communication and synergy. They are still not perfect when it comes to their performance at the ESL One New York. But this win will definitely boost their efforts to play together as a roster and regain confidence in their abilities to win big tournaments. For now, Mouz will prepare for their upcoming tournaments with the hopes of reaching the playoffs.
Here is the final prize pool breakdown for ESL One New York :
1. mousesports – $125,000
2. Liquid – $50,000
3-4. Gambit – $25,000
3-4. NRG – $25,000
5-6. Natus Vincere – $8,500
5-6. G2 – $8,500
7-8. fnatic – $4,000
7-8. FaZe – $4,000