Heading into the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier, Na’Vi had won three consecutive events. The CIS team ran into Team Liquid today, however, which proved to be the downfall for Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and his teammates.
In the first game, Dust II, a complete team effort led the North American squad to victory despite Denis “electronic” Sharipov’s efforts for Na’Vi. Liquid started off the map with a strong first half on the attack, but struggled more once the teams swapped sides. Unfortunately for Na’Vi, they couldn’t make up ground quick enough to steal Liquid’s map pick, losing 16-13.
Na’Vi had a slightly better first half on Overpass than they did in game one, but their second half was much worse this time. An all-around poor showing from the mostly-Ukrainian team made it relatively simple for Liquid, who had three separate players finish with at least 23 kills. Liquid support player Epitacio “TACO” de Melo was one of them, surprising some due to his traditionally-selfless playstyle.
The 16-9 win on Overpass pushed Liquid into the grand finals of the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier—their first finals appearance since losing to Astralis in the ECS Season Five finals.
Liquid will have the chance to avenge that loss, and their 2-0 defeat earlier in the tournament, in a rematch against Astralis tomorrow. The Danes have looked strong throughout the event, winning all six of the maps they’ve played in.
Related: Astralis beat Mousesports to advance to the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier final
In their meeting with Liquid in Group A, Astralis’ Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz shined as the driving forces behind the Danish win. Both players finished with a 1.40 rating or better, making it look frighteningly easy against some of the best players in the world.
It remains to be seen if Liquid can stop Astralis and their red-hot play, but there would be no better time to prove it than in the finals with $700,000 on the line. Tomorrow’s action will begin at 1pm CT.
Published: Jul 28, 2018 08:24 pm