Qudos Bank Arena shook with the roaring chants of thousands of fans on semifinal day of IEM Sydney 2019.
Fans witnessed four huge semifinal matches played across two stages. The main stage saw two heart-stopping CS:GO matches, where Team Liquid defeated MIRB 2-0 and Fnatic defeated NRG eSports 2-1.
Meanwhile, the second stage hosted the Overwatch Contender Australia (CA) 2019 Season 1 semifinal; wherein the Sydney Dropbears and Order secured spots in tomorrow’s grand final.
Overwatch Contenders Australia Semifinals
The first semifinal match was between Melbourne Mavericks and Sydney Dropbears. While the Dropbears were the easy favourite, speculation swirled of a Maverick upset victory.
Affairs kicked off fairly promising for the underdogs, with Melbourne coming within an inch of locking in the first map point. However, Sydney drew on their international experience and overwhelmed Melbourne to take the opening map and the lead.
Not to be outdone, Melbourne fought back to claim the second map for themselves; equalising the score at 1-1.
But Melbourne‘s valiant efforts weren’t enough and the boys went down 3-1 to Sydney; thereby securing the Dropbear’s a spot in tomorrow’s grand final.
All Hail the (New World) Order
It was an entirely different story for the second semifinal of the Overwatch Contender Australia.
Both Blank eSports and Order put up a tough fight on the first map, though ultimately it was Order who secured the first map point. However, events got even more dicey for Blank from there.
Despite giving everything they had, Blank blinked and gave crucial ground to Order, allowing them to sweep the second semifinal match and win 3-0.
Liquidfied
MIRB brought their A-game during yesterday’s quarterfinal match against Mousesports, however, it wasn’t enough to topple Team Liquid.
The boys who dazzled the main stage yesterday fought hard to deny the US-based team the first map point; though their efforts were moot as Team Liquid walked away 16-10.
MIRB’s fortunes looked more promising on the second map as they took a narrow lead at half-time on map two. Well, Team Liquid wasn’t going to stand for that and pushed back hard, ultimately winning the second map and the match.
The Masters Return
Fnatic‘s IEM Sydney 2019 quarterfinal match against Ninjas in Pyjamas will long be remembered in eSports history. The gruelling match lasted over 5 hours across 3 maps, so will the boys have the endurance to face the fresh0faced NRG eSports?
The Swedish team came out swinging, claiming the first map for themselves 16-11. But NGR eSports mounted a comeback and pushed to take map two.
This extended the match into the all-importance third map. Fnatic who seemed refreshed from their second map loss, dominated the first half of map three to take a commanding 5-point lead at half time; which they converted into a 2-1 victory over NRG eSports.
Fnatic will now face Team Liquid in tomorrow’s grand final.
Jayden Williams travelled to Sydney, Australia as a guest of Acer. All accommodation and meals were provided by Acer.
