Astralis overrun Liquid to book playoff spot at ECS

Astralis are the first team confirmed for the playoffs at the ECS Season 5 Finals after defeating Liquid 16-6 on Inferno in the Group A winners' match.

Starting out as Terrorists, Liquid found themselves in a 3v2 situation in the pistol round after Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken had secured a triple-kill to his name, but Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif and Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen still managed to pull off the round for their team.

With a very tight defence and excellent utility usage, Astralis shut Liquid down over and over again. The Danes were simply too hot to handle — the North Americans rarely found entry-kills throughout the half — and took a 13-0 lead before finally caved in.

Up 13-2, Astralis started the second half with a fast B execution, which Liquid countered with a successful retake to find a lifeline in the game. After building up their economy, Astralis won their 14th round fairly easily, but Liquid did not let them follow that up. With nothing but CZs, however, the Danish squad hit match-point, and it would not take long for them to wrap things up.