Team Liquid have finally defeated Astralis in a best-of-three series at a major Counter-Strike tournament.
The North Americans defended their title of the best team in the world today by beating Astralis in the ESL Pro League season nine quarterfinals.
Liquid picked Overpass, which is one of their best maps, but Astralis looked absolutely prepared for it. The Danes won 10 straight rounds on their CT-side. Emil “Magisk” Reif and Nicolai “device” Reedtz were shining stars while Astralis claimed all of the clutches. With a 12-3 advantage heading into the second half, Astralis simply had to close out the game.
Liquid gained extra life after the second pistol round when Jake “Stewie2K” got four kills, calmly tapping Astralis’ heads. The North Americans played better on their CT-side and were pursuing the comeback. But Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen ended the game at 16-12 with four kills in the B bombsite.
Inferno, Astralis’ best map at the moment, was the second map in this series. But Liquid prevailed on their CT-side with at least five excellent B bombsite retakes, winning nine rounds in a row (almost like Astralis on Overpass). Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella and crew dominated the first half to pick up a 14-1 partial win.
Magisk and dupreeh performed well to claim the second pistol round in favor of Astralis. Although Astralis won five straight rounds in the second half, they didn’t have the necessary buffer to pursue the comeback and Liquid tied the series with a dominant 16-6 victory.
Everything was decided on Vertigo, the newest map in the competitive CS:GO rotation. Astralis started playing as Terrorists, the stronger side of the map, and they delivered a good performance by mainly opting for plays on the B bombsite. They really took off after dupreeh won a one-vs-two clutch in round nine.
Liquid had to immediately fight back in the final half of the series to recover from an 11-4 disadvantage. The North Americans quickly turned the game around by winning 10 rounds in a row, dismantling Astralis’ defense. Jonathan “EliGE” was killing anyone that appeared on his screen and finished with 28 kills.
Liquid will join G2 in the semifinals tomorrow after the French squad convincingly defeated FaZe 2-0 earlier today. It’s the first time G2 have reached the top four of a big event since EPICENTER in October 2017.
This loss hurts Astralis, who are no longer the unstoppable team of 2018. The Danes won’t return to the No. 1 spot in HLTV’s rankings anytime soon following their run at ESL Pro League season nine.
The semifinals will kickoff tomorrow first with the NRG vs. G2 matchup at 8am CT. Liquid will go head-to-head with mousesports next at 11:50am CT.
