Betclic are the champions of Stake Pulse Beat I after reverse-sweeping Liquid in the Swedish LAN's grand final (11-13 Cache, 13-10 Anubis, 13-7 Nuke).
The Poles gained 34 spots on the VRS to enter the top 50 as a result of the victory, which also serves as a confidence boost ahead of their Esports World Cup Open Qualifier campaign starting on Friday.
Conversely, the loss to the Poles is a slight blow to a Liquid side that was showing early promise following the additions of Georgi "Jorko" Mitev and Johnny "JT" Theodosiou during the tournament break and ran out of gas in the final, with little time to recollect themselves as they head to Paris for the same qualifier.
The roster had debuted with online wins over Vitality and G2 to qualify for BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals, and endured an early gauntlet as it made the trip to Stockholm the day after losing to Spirit on LAN.
A narrow win over Betclic in the Group B winners match, and clean sweeps over 9INE and fnatic, continued their uptrend, leaving Liquid with a decent showing overall as they rose into the top 20 of the VRS. But it was Betclic, who had romped past Acend and Johnny Speeds in the playoffs, that got the last laugh in the grand final rematch.
Liquid's North American trio dominated early doors on Cache as the team jumped out to a 9-2 lead, but started losing ground after squandering a 5v2 at the end of the half. They narrowly lost four more clutches after the swap and ended up only barely closing out the map 13-11, with Keith "NAF" Markovic stating afterward that they "just threw" and "should've won 13-6."
The same could be said for Anubis, where Liquid led 6-2 on the offense and 10-8 after recovering from a pistol and conversion loss in the second half, but this time, they couldn't convert. A loss to pistols spelled their doom as Betclic came roaring back off a few multi-kills from Wojciech "Prism" Zięba and a 1v2 clutch by Konrad "Qlocuu" Klocek, which ultimately helped seal a 13-10 win and force a Nuke decider.
There, Betclic were in control from the outset, with Prism and Sebastian "fr3nd" Kuśmierz repeatedly dismantling Liquid's defaults and executes to lead 8-2. Hopes of Liquid recovering after the swap were dashed as Prism found a triple kill to convert a 2v4 in the pistol, and Betclic immediately hit match point before closing out a few rounds later.
Betclic
Patryk 'Demho' Tomaszewski
Wojciech 'Prism' Zięba
Mateusz 'ex1st' Witman
Konrad 'Qlocuu' Klocek
Grzegorz 'SZPERO' Dziamałek
Wojciech 'Prism' Zięba
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Konrad 'Qlocuu' Klocek
fnatic
Rodion 'fEAR' Smyk
Dmytro 'jambo' Semera
Nikita 'jackasmo' Skyba
Artem 'cairne' Mushynskyi
Volodymyr 'mazay' Iorhachov
Miks 'Independent' Siliņš
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Spirit
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev
Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Sergey 'hally' Shavaev
Johnny Speeds
William 'draken' Sundin
Hampus 'hampus' Poser
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Sebastian 'fr3nd' Kuśmierz
9INE
Rasmus 'raalz' Steensborg
Tobias 'kraghen' Kragh Jensen
Maciej 'b1elany' Biliński
Alan 'flayy' Krupa
Emir 'rim3' Dönmez
Danny 'BERRY' Krüger
Liquid
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
Acend
Teodor 'SPELLAN' Nikolov
Hristiyan 'REDSTAR' Pironkov
Kalin 'KalubeR' Erenditsov
Deyvid 'h4rn' Benchev
Dimitar 'Skrimo' Yanulov
Milen 'milky' Iliev
G2
Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač
Guy 'NertZ' Iluz
Artem 'r1nkle' Moroz
Nikita 'HeavyGod' Martynenko
Matúš 'MATYS' Šimko
Eetu 'sAw' Saha