The melayu lucah tublrLatvian dropped a 2.00-rated performance to earn Liquid their second win of the Paris Major's Legends Stage.

Liquid are the first team to move to the BLAST.tv Paris Major Legends Stage 2-0 pool following a comfortable and never-in-doubt 16-8 victory over Natus Vincere.

The victory was largely thanks to a heroic performance from Mareks "?YEKINDAR?" Ga?inskis, who was firing on all cylinders for the entirety of the best-of-one affair with clean entries, clinical calling, and crisp shooting.

The Latvian, who is acting as part in-game leader for the tournament, ended proceedings with a monstrous 2.00 rating, fueled by his 29-14 K-D and 124 ADR.

YEKINDAR's 2.58-rated T-side was one for the history books

Liquid were quick to make their presence known in the server, with an in-your-face and unrelenting showing from YEKINDAR keeping Natus Vincere under wraps for much of the half. It was this stellar performance from the Latvian that allowed Liquid to lead 14-1 at the break; the 23-year-old ended the attacking phase with a 23-8 K-D and 2.58 rating.

Natus Vincere rallied somewhat once it was their turn to go on the offensive, with Oleksandr "?s1mple?" Kostyliev picking up the mantle to spearhead a late-map recovery to eight rounds. Alas, Liquid's overbearing lead ultimately proved to be too tall a mountain to climb, with the North Americans closing things out before it ever got close, 16-8.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023Best of 1 LiquidMatchpage 16 8 13th May 2023 Natus Vincere 16Inferno 8

?Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Ga?inskisYEKINDAR	29 - 14	+15	124.1	2.00
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	12 - 11	+1	80.0	1.25
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	16 - 13	+3	51.2	0.98
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	9 - 14	-5	39.5	0.82
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	12 - 17	-5	51.7	0.78

?Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	22 - 12	+10	103.0	1.62
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiyb1t	14 - 16	-2	60.0	0.99
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	11 - 19	-8	69.0	0.94
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	11 - 14	-3	47.1	0.83
Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyinpl	10 - 18	-8	58.6	0.74

The win will serve as a major boost of confidence for Liquid, who almost missed out on a spot in the Legends Stage altogether, requiring a 0-2 to 3-2 recovering in the augural phase of play to ensure a top-16 showing. The Latvian-led lineup now need just one best-of-three win to book an appearance in the Accor Arena, with that all-important game set to be on Sunday.

Natus Vincere, by contrast, will lament letting YEKINDAR lay down the law, with the Ukrainian-majority roster looking completely outclassed in the server. Denis "?electroNic?" Sharipov's men will certainly be looking for redemption in their 1-1 game, which is scheduled for some point on Sunday morning.

Group Legends Stage 2W - 0L Liquid 1W - 0L HEROIC Monte ENCE Apeks fnatic Vitality 1W - 1L Natus Vincere 0W - 1L G2 Ninjas in Pyjamas Into the Breach GamerLegion Bad News Eagles 9INE FURIA FaZe Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 24 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1422 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.66 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Ga?inskis Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1233 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.70 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 25 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.24 Maps played: 1675 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.63 Natus Vincere #3 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' VakhovskiyAndrii 'npl' Kukharskyi Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy Liquid #7 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Ga?inskis Damian 'daps' Steele