Liquid demote ATK to last-chance bracket

The North American juggernauts were not at their best but got the win regardless.

Liquid secured their first victory at ESL Pro League S17 against ATK, defeating them in a two-map series. They won a closely contested Mirage opener (16-12) before closing out the match on Overpass (16-7).

Liquid, who have been demoted to the lower bracket after their shock loss to Rare Atom in the opening round, are now set to continue their recovery against Spirit in the lower bracket semi-final. The match will be played on Friday at 16:00 .

ATK drop down to the last-chance bracket after the loss and will face off against the loser of Astralis versus Natus Vincere in the eighth-place decider match on Saturday.

ATK started the series well, winning the pistol and following conversion to get to a quick 3-0 lead. Liquid didn't let them stay in the lead for long, though, and found themselves 4-3 up after a couple of Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm multi-kills on the AWP. The match then descended into a back-and-forth affair with neither team being able to string round together, all until Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis defended the A site with aplomb as he aced the opposition. That put some life into the Liquid CT side which was lacking at times, allowing them to take a three-round lead into the second half.

Winning the second pistol allowed Liquid to increase the lead to six rounds, putting them within arms reach of the map victory. Their struggles from their previous loss once again reared their head, and the North Americans' lead started to dwindle as ATK soon found themselves within one round of their opponents. With their backs against the wall, Liquid had oSee to thank for bailing them out. The sniper won a 1vs2 clutch with a picked-up AWP to break ATK's streak and economy, paving the way for a Liquid map victory. The North Americans didn't let the chance slip, closing out the map 16-12 and moving the series to their map pick.

Liquid decided to pick Overpass despite getting demolished 3-16 on the map by Rare Atom earlier in the tournament. Their start was less than ideal after losing the pistol, but the North Americans recovered well. Liquid strung together seven before going for a Monster rush that Jonathan "⁠djay⁠" Dallal stopped with a quad-kill spray down. The remainder of the half was streaky, meaning the halftime score stood at 9-6 in favor of Liquid. Their lead would have been much larger if not for Michael "⁠Swisher⁠" Schmid, who was ATK's star performer with 18 kills on the defense.

Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski's rare P2000 provided a triple-kill in the pistol round to give Liquid a leg up at the start of their CT half, and they never broke a sweat after that. ATK were able to get just one round on their offense — a victory against Liquid's bonus round. Liquid proved that the loss against Rare Atom was simply a blip in form on the map, as they put up a wall on their way to a comfortable 16-7 victory.