On Saturday, Team Liquid and Team oNe will clash in the Brasileirao 2022 Finals, in hopes of progressing to the grand final against the winner of the w7m esports vs FURIA Esports match.
This will be the first BO3 series between Team Liquid and Team oNe since the Copa Elite Six Stage 1, where Team Liquid won 2-0 (7-2, 7-4). Team oNe’s only victory against Team Liquid this season was in the first stage -- an 8-6 BO1. Save for that anomaly, Liquid has always won 7-4 or better.
Paluh is back to his best
Luccas “Paluh” Molina heads into the match as the top-rated Brazilian player with a SiegeGG Rating of 1.37. His season started with strong performances in Brazil and at the Charlotte Major, where he was the second-best rated player just behind Stéphane “Shaiiko” Lebleu.
However, a drop in form in Stage 2 meant he only had the 12th-highest SiegeGG Rating in Brazil even though he was still the best player on Liquid. Consequently, the team finished in sixth place, the worst in Liquid’s history.
But in Stage 3 was completely different. Paluh was unstoppable on the entry and he only lost his first and only entry duel in Stage 3 in Liquid’s penultimate match. At the end of the stage, he thus ended with an outstanding entry record of 14-1 (+13).
After such a rock-solid third stage, Paluh heads to the match against Team oNe with the best SiegeGG Rating, the best K-D (+50), the best Entry K-D, the best KOST percentage (77), and, perhaps surprisingly, the best SRV ratio (50).
Lagonis gives AsK wings
Lorenzo “Lagonis” Volpi facing his former team, Team oNe, is not only meaningful for him personally, but also to Liquid as a whole. Not only did his signing change the IGL for Liquid, it also freed Gabriel “AsK” Santos from the hard breach and support role.
As a result, AsK has been in lethal form all through Stage 3. He had the best stage in his professional career with a SiegeGG Rating of 1.20 and ended up as the third-best player in the final split of the Brasileirao.
It’s also worth noting that AsK used 30 different operators throughout the whole stage, using 16 different attackers and 14 defenders. His polyvalence, combined with a more fragging role has thus given Liquid an incredible amount of versatility in strategy.
Maia, the golden kid
Gabriel “Maia” Maia only debuted in the BR6 this year, but he has not missed a beat while taking the step up to the top-flight. In his first stage, he immediately became the fifth-best player in the competition by SiegeGG Rating. With 96 kills to his name, he was the key to Team oNe’s qualification to the Charlotte Major.
Maia’s consistency was also evident throughout the second split, though he was seventh-best by SiegeGG Rating in Stage 2. Finally, in the third stage, Maia ended up as fourth-best, just behind Paluh, AsK, and FURIA Esports rookie Thiago “handy” Ferreira.
He will need to perform to the level he has displayed in order to give his team a chance at matching the firepower Paluh, AsK, and André "nesk" Oliveira -- a situation he will be well aware of.
Dotz and Dash go from relegation finals to Brasileirao finals in one year
In Nov, 2021, the former SuperNova Team duo Leonardo “d4sh” Lopes and Joao “Dotz” Miranda lost to Santos e-Sports in the BR6 Relegation Finals. A year later, after a full top-flight season, the players have proven their quality against some of the best teams in the world.
Dotz has proven to be a really good support and hard breacher throughout Stage 3 after Lagonis’ departure. Meanwhile, Dash’s fragging numbers have been decent in his rookie season, despite some struggles in the entry killing department.
It’s uncertain what Team oNe will do heading into the next season, but exciting times are ahead – especially with the recent news regarding Los Grandes acquisition of Team oNe.