Liquid to EPL playoffs over Space Soldiers

Liquid have guaranteed their place in the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals playoffs with a 2-0 victory over Space Soldiers.

The series began with Space Soldiers taking control of proceedings on their map pick, Mirage, after a successful T-side pistol that they followed up with a sloppy anti-eco. But then Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo came up huge with an MP9, finding three opponents to halt Space Soldiers.

Space Soldiers rarely found opening-kills from there, and Liquid kept shutting their strategies down. The North Americans simply did not let the Turks gain any momentum, winning 13 rounds in a row to bag an 11-round half-time lead.

Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli's men did not want to back down from the fight, and winning the second pistol gave them some breathing room. When Liquid secured their 14th round, Ahmet "⁠paz⁠" Karahoca responded with a huge quad-kill with an AWP, inspiring his team to keep on trying to turn the game around. Still, Liquid eventually sealed the deal with nothing but CZs, 16-11.

nitr0's Liquid will take on the winner of SK vs. Astralis for a place in the semis

Liquid's map pick, Inferno, kicked off with Space Soldiers winning yet another pistol round, this time as CTs. Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella and co. did not let their opponents capitalize on that and responded with two rounds of their own, but the Turkish team remained in charge.

Down 2-5, Liquid won two more rounds before Space Soldiers went on to hit 7 rounds. That was when Liquid pulled off their fifth round on a shoddy buy, however, which marked the beginning of a four-round streak that put them in the lead by half-time, 8-7.

Liquid carried that momentum into the second half, which was all about the North Americans, who strung eight rounds together to finish things off, 16-7, and secure a spot in playoffs.

 Space Soldiers K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating2.0
40 - 42 -2 87.0 74.0% 1.11
28 - 34 -6 63.8 64.0% 0.89
28 - 37 -9 61.7 60.0% 0.79
26 - 44 -18 57.8 56.0% 0.71
20 - 37 -17 48.1 62.0% 0.69
 Liquid K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating2.0
41 - 25 +16 79.1 86.0% 1.39
41 - 31 +10 103.5 80.0% 1.35
44 - 28 +16 76.5 78.0% 1.22
37 - 28 +9 79.0 74.0% 1.22
31 - 30 +1 73.7 80.0% 1.20

Brazil Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo
Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo
Age:
23
Team:
Rating 1.0:
0.95
Maps played:
670
KPR:
0.62
DPR:
0.64
Turkey Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli
Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli
Age:
27
Rating 1.0:
0.97
Maps played:
551
KPR:
0.66
DPR:
0.67
United States Nick 'nitr0' Cannella
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella
Age:
22
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.03
Maps played:
849
KPR:
0.71
DPR:
0.68
Turkey Ahmet 'paz' Karahoca
Ahmet 'paz' Karahoca
Age:
21
Rating 1.0:
1.10
Maps played:
581
KPR:
0.74
DPR:
0.64
#1
 | 
United States ascendaNt88
Top5
2018-05-16 21:19
0
4 replies
#5
 | 
Palestine zwe
expected
2018-05-16 21:19
0
2 replies
#7
leman | 
Yugoslavia w13lan
so ez
2018-05-16 21:20
0
1 reply
#24
 | 
Austria shaak!
Absolutely expected
2018-05-16 21:27
0
BOTACO more like GODTACO
2018-05-16 21:23
0
#3
 | 
Palestine zwe
expected
2018-05-16 21:19
0
#4
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
DeM | 
Italy Brian_Furious
Niixe
2018-05-16 21:19
0
#6
 | 
Portugal ItsAvenn
TAQUINHO <3
2018-05-16 21:19
0
SS are a bigger dispointment then Mussolini
2018-05-16 21:20
0
8 replies
#31
 | 
Turkey hxlo
they played with stand-in and only worked for 2 days with him you know that right?
2018-05-16 21:33
0
7 replies
#52
 | 
Turkey DiPLo0o
Win is a win. No one cares.
2018-05-17 01:23
0
FaZe played with a stand-in and won iem sydney
2018-05-17 02:07
0
5 replies
+1
2018-05-17 05:33
0
...forever destroying the standin excuse
2018-05-17 15:48
0
#59
 | 
Turkey hxlo
they brought xist a month ago and started to practice him till iem sydney,ss only had 2 days
2018-05-17 18:32
0
2 replies
They bought xizt in less than a week to compete for iem katotwice,faze manage to get to playoff with a stand-in
2018-05-17 18:33
0
1 reply
#62
 | 
Turkey hxlo
its faze and all of their player is skilled,space soldiers has only 3 skilled player and they lost 1 of them,also they are playing teamgame mostly and after fail to attemp at iem sydney they lost their mental. if you watch their faces they all feel bored and tired. also its pretty fun that you compare space soldiers with faze,space soldiers is tier 2 and faze is top 3 team. also still they had more time to play with xist. +++ despe is going to university his not playing csgo that much. i mean there is lot of reason why ss sucked at pro league. but i believe they will be better at future events
2018-05-17 18:37
0
#9
 | 
United States CheeseHead
Liquid won 21/23 CT rounds, thats nuts.
2018-05-16 21:20
0
get rekt by taco LUL space kebaps more like online soldiers
2018-05-16 21:21
0
#11
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
kNgV- | 
Brazil HomemLaranjaMau
Wtf taco
2018-05-16 21:21
0
TACO > Baitzera. What now?
2018-05-16 21:22
0
VAMOS VACO
2018-05-16 21:22
0
When taco dont need to be the bait...
2018-05-16 21:22
0
#15
 | 
Brazil m4ri
vamos taco
2018-05-16 21:22
0
They got shit on hard.
2018-05-16 21:22
0
#17
NiKo | 
Montenegro G1EX
Taco 1.39 rating PogChamp
2018-05-16 21:22
0
3 replies
#22
 | 
Poland sitarskee
yeah, he played very well but another thing is SS were just jumping into his crosshair all the time
2018-05-16 21:25
0
2 replies
well that a stupid thing to say
2018-05-16 21:48
0
1 reply
#45
 | 
Poland sitarskee
maybe, but that's how i see it i'm not saying taco was bad because he played great, really nice performance from him but if u watched mirage you would see ss jumping out of b apps right into taco's crosshair one after another and so on
2018-05-16 22:41
0
#19
 | 
Poland sitarskee
wp
2018-05-16 21:24
0
GOD TACO
2018-05-16 21:24
0
Boa taquinho
2018-05-16 21:24
0
God job my brother, TACO GOD! We smart, we loyal, we friendly, we are from BRAZIL! Kreygasm
2018-05-16 21:26
0
7-4 when I checked 7-16 now Nice choke
2018-05-16 21:27
0
Going to Playoffs by beating Grayhound and SS..... :D
2018-05-16 21:28
0
4 replies
Yeah, because they specifically chose the easiest path. Notice how easy NaVi's path was too. Benefits of getting first in the league
2018-05-16 22:27
0
1 reply
+42
2018-05-16 23:02
0
#50
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
North America noahB_
Yeah well LIQUID came first in the league with only 1 loss all season. They rightly got good seed so their opponents weren't as tough
2018-05-17 01:16
0
1 reply
II'm not taking anything away from them, this seeding system is much better than the swiss system for example.
2018-05-17 16:14
0
#27
malta | 
Malta vfXy0
SK was the problem 4head
2018-05-16 21:30
0
TACO TOPFRAG LMAO
2018-05-16 21:30
0
GOD TACO
2018-05-16 21:31
0
#32
 | 
Turkey hxlo
i love how every spaces hater talks shit about them even tho they played with stand-in haters gonna hate i laugh cause you fake
2018-05-16 21:35
0
3 replies
Haters would appear if they won. Lots of people here hate ss for some reason
2018-05-16 22:29
0
2 replies
#51
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
North America noahB_
Many euros are very racist against turks. It goes back hundreds of years to the ottomans, and crusades and shit.
2018-05-17 01:17
0
1 reply
#60
 | 
Turkey hxlo
sad people still live in past
2018-05-17 18:33
0
Nice! Good job Liquid.
2018-05-16 21:52
0
#35
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Liminha | 
Brazil Gaiolero
GOD TACO
2018-05-16 21:52
0
ss haters appeared
2018-05-16 22:01
0
This is what Taco is like when he's not getting baited by botzera
2018-05-16 22:10
0
Expected from online soldiers.
2018-05-16 22:15
0
#39
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
f0rest | 
Serbia dankooo
Kebabs
2018-05-16 22:18
0
#43
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Brazil pedroucb
taco > kebab
2018-05-16 22:31
0
#44
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Brazil gbz1^
Taco was the problem?
2018-05-16 22:35
0
#47
 | 
Brazil LucaS10
TACO > SK
2018-05-16 23:31
0
1 reply
#48
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Norway ripazha
It honestly was one of the dumbest moves I've ever seen. I knew as soon as it was announced that it wouldn't work. Honestly, Stewie might just have ended his career.
2018-05-16 23:55
0
TACO Poggers
2018-05-16 23:56
0
#54
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
s1mple | 
Azerbaijan MetalFace
I wasn't able to watch the game but did Liquid give Taco a different role than he has on SK? I never thought he was suited as an entry fragger, but I see his stats and he had a very good series so I'm just wondering what role he's playing because he is a skilled player with the potential to get better.
2018-05-17 03:03
0
#56
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Poland sajlent
ONLINE SOLDIERS
2018-05-17 14:11
0
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