Liquid secure final EPL S17 playoff spot over Astralis

Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's men recovered from an early trip down to the lower bracket to make the playoffs of ESL Pro League.

Liquid are through to the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 17 after dispatching of Astralis in the last chance bracket of Group D, sending the Danish team packing from the event following wins on Nuke (16-8) and Mirage (16-12).

nitr0 and company had a rocky start to their run in Malta, dropping their opening series to Rare Atom and then dropping to the last chance stage after faltering to Spirit in the lower bracket. Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis pointed towards poor practice opportunities coming into the tournament as one of the reasons the team struggled upon arriving at EPL, but the triple-elimination format gave them enough time to warmup into the tournament and make it through to the playoffs.

Liquid's 0-13 record on Nuke versus the Astralis core of Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth, and Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander painted a grim picture for the North American team heading into the series, but with years gone by since the cores last clashed, it was up for debate whether the Danes would be able to extend their dominant streak.

Early into the map, it indeed looked like Astralis would hold their ground; a triple kill from Xyp9x gave the Danes a victory in the pistol round, and they wasted little time in converting that into a 3-0 lead on the T side. However, their edge rapidly dwindled from that point onward, and they failed to get back into the lead as Liquid remained a step ahead on the defense. Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic and Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski repeatedly put a halt to Astralis attempts to split A or convert smoke walls into lower site hits, and Liquid pushed up to a 7-4 scoreline before Astralis finally were able to respond.

Even that response left much to be desired, though, with gla1ve and company only stringing together three more rounds before Liquid secured the last of the half to narrowly pull ahead at the break. The second half marked a complete capitulation from Astralis as Liquid wasted no time in cruising to a 16-8 finish, conceding just one round en route to victory thanks to consistently better executes and decision-making in midrounds.

It looked as if Astralis could change the conversation surrounding the series as they got off to a hot start on Mirage, posting a stalwart defensive streak of rounds to start the map. Consistent grenade damage against YEKINDAR and a lock-out of bombsites allowed the Danish team to post a 8-1 lead, only for Liquid to finally find a solution and run back four rounds in a row, helped by a post-plant triple kill by YEKINDAR. Astralis remained firmly in the driver's seat, however, adding the last two rounds of the half to their tally for a 10-5 lead, and further adding to that with a pistol round victory following the side swap for a strong start to their T side.

Despite being in pole position to force a third map, Astralis again completely capitulated from that point; a force-buy in round 17 allowed Liquid to gain the upper hand, and the North American side were indomintable on the CT side for the remainder of the map. Astralis' uninspired T side, consisting of weak map control in middle and poor midrounds, left much to be desired, and Liquid cruised to a 16-12 finish to eliminate the Danish team from EPL playoff contention.