Du Dominates DreamHack Montreal

September 11 2017




It was another successful weekend for NuckleDu and Team Liquid as the Capcom Cup titleholder claimed a strong regional tournament win. The event had a host of different competitions, and we earned spots on the podium in two other games. Snute claimed another second place in WCS Montreal for StarCraft II, propelling himself to 4th in the WCS rankings with his second straight silver. Over in Smash, ChuDat took home the bronze to maintain his momentum throughout the year. Even Coach Crunch performed well, missing the Top 8 of Melee due to a team kill against Chu.


The highlight of the weekend, of course, was Du.






The King in the North


When you think of Canada some obvious things come to mind: apologies, poutine, hockey. But after today, something new may pop into your subconscious when someone mentions our neighbor to the north: NuckleDu with a trophy in hand. With his 3rd victory in as many tries, NuckleDu has swept Canadian events this year with his near perfect performance at DreamHack Montreal.

The Run


Canada represented well at this event with two local players making Top 8. In the end however, NuckleDu’s signature clean and methodical play was too much to handle. The road to the grand finals had NuckleDu going against familiar faces. First up was fellow Floridian and long time ‘frienemy’ Evil Geniuses Kenneth ‘K-Brad’ Bradley. These two have some of the most ridiculous banter in the FGC, so anytime they get to face off in tournament, it’s a real treat for viewers. K-Brad fought well and has really stepped up his game lately, but NuckleDu's hit confirms off of whiff punishes were so damn crispy. K-Brad was toast.



The Winners Finals and Grand Finals featured the same opponent, fighting game legend Echo Fox Justin Wong who NuckleDu eliminated via double jeopardy with a (3-1) winners final and (3-2) grand finals thumping. This was an interesting series of matches that saw both competitors break their comfort zone and try something new. NuckleDu showed off his rarely seen Birdie in attempt to counter pick Justin Wong’s Karin—a character NuckleDu has struggled against in the past. In grand finals, feeling the desperation, Justin sent out Menat, a brand new SFV character released only weeks ago. This was a hail mary gamble; that NuckleDu hadn’t done his homework and Justin might be able to sneak a gimmicky win. Fortunately for us, NuckleDu was ready and Justin’s Menat is going to have to spend more time in the lab.

The Love


It always feels great when our players win an event but the win itself wasn’t the highlight. Shortly after winning DreamHack Montreal, NuckleDu tweeted that he will be donating all of his prize money (his share of the $10,000 pot) to Hurricane Irma relief efforts. We couldn’t be more proud of our young star and his consistent desire to help his community at home and within the FGC.





Over on the other side of the Atlantic, our CS:GO squad claimed second place at ESG Tour Mykonos. Our semifinal sweep of SK Gaming looked especially promising, but we narrowly missed out on the title 2-3 against mouz in the final. Against strong competition, Mykonos gave us a glimpse of how good our group can be. With ESL One New York coming up in just a few days, Liquid looks in good form to electrify the home crowd.

Overall, the weekend was a productive one for Team Liquid, and we'd like to thank our fans for cheering on us at the events and for watching us online. We hope to see more of you at our next stop!