Betclic defeats Liquid to win Stake Pulse Beat I

Betclic overcame Liquid 2-1 in the Stake Pulse Beat I grand final at the Swedish LAN in Stockholm, dropping Cache 11-13 before winning Anubis 13-10 and Nuke 13-7 to claim the title.

Cache opened the final with Liquid jumping to a 9-2 lead. The North American trio failed to convert a late 5v2 and lost several clutch rounds after the switch, closing the map 13-11. Keith NAF Markovic described the team as having “just threw” and added they “should’ve won 13-6.”

On Anubis Liquid led 6-2 on attack and reached 10-8 after a recovery, but Betclic turned the map with several multi-kills from Wojciech Prism Zięba and a 1v2 clutch from Konrad Qlocuu Klocek to win 13-10 and force a decider.

Betclic controlled Nuke from the start. Prism and Sebastian fr3nd Kuśmierz repeatedly disrupted Liquid’s setups to build an 8-2 lead. Prism secured a triple kill to convert a 2v4 pistol after the swap and Betclic closed out the map 13-7.

Betclic reached the final with playoff wins over Acend and Johnny Speeds. Liquid’s run included a narrow Group B winners match win over Betclic and sweeps of 9INE and fnatic. Liquid added Georgi Jorko Mitev and Johnny JT Theodosiou during the tournament break; the new lineup had recorded online wins over Vitality and G2 to qualify for the BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals and travelled to Stockholm after an earlier LAN loss to Spirit.

Individual match figures show Betclic contributors: fr3nd finished 52-36 with an ADR of 70.5 and a 1.19 rating; Prism was 50-47 with an ADR of 84.1 and a 1.13 rating; Mateusz ex1st Witman posted 47-43 with a 75.8 ADR. For Liquid, Jonathan EliGE Jablonowski led with 51-46, a 79.1 ADR and a 1.17 rating; Mario malbsMd Samayoa was 42-45 with a 71.5 ADR; Jorko was 43-45 with a 69.8 ADR; JT finished 40-47 with a 64.1 ADR.

Betclic’s win moved the team up 34 places in the VRS into the top 50. Liquid rose into the VRS top 20 over the event. Both teams are scheduled to compete in the Esports World Cup Open Qualifier, which begins Friday.