Astralis evaporate Liquid, proceed to Major grand final
Liquid's journey at the Major has been a relatively short one, despite them starting in the New Challengers Stage. Going 3-0 in both Swiss groups, Liquid stood out as one of the strongest teams at the Major, even besting Astralis in a best-of-one. But after a somewhat shaky series against HellRaisers, Liquid were matched up with Astralis, who have consistently taken down Liquid in previous playoff encounters.
The series kicked off on Nuke, which is not only Astralis' map pick, but also stands as the Danish team's strongest map. Despite starting on the T-side, Astralis picked up the lead with a fast A-rush on the pistol round. Liquid retaliated, taking the second round with upgraded pistols, before Astralis returned the favor with their own upgraded pistols.
Following up with two more rounds, Liquid finally found a break after Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski and Keith "NAF" Markovic broke through Astralis' B-site defense. Unable to follow up in the next round, Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken gave his team yet another clutch round, winning a 1v3 post-plant with a CZ-75 Auto. Both teams continued to trade rounds, until Astralis finally broke the cycle, taking two rounds in a row to set the score to 8-4.
Liquid finally broke out of their eco round curse, taking two rounds in a row and closing the gap 8-6. However, with only upgraded pistols, Astralis swiped away the last round of the first half, leaving the halftime scoreline at 9-6 in favor of the Danes.
In spite of a dominant pistol round by Liquid, Astralis find double-digits with CZ-75's, with the Danish team stringing together two more rounds. 12-7, Liquid finally found another break with a 1v2 clutch from Nick "nitr0" Cannella halting Astralis' momentum. Astralis started back up almost immediately however, taking the last four rounds to close Nuke 16-8.
The series moved on to Mirage, which was Liquid's map pick of the series. Emil "Magisk" Reif immediately kicked off the map with an ace in the pistol round, propelling Astralis into a five-round streak. Liquid put a round on the board finally in the sixth round, but Astralis rebounded, stealing a round from Liquid in the post-plant kickstarting a six-round streak.
Liquid finally found two more rounds of their own in the late rounds of the half with Astralis closing out the half with a strong 12-3 lead.
Down by eight rounds, Liquid found a great start in the second half, with EliGE sticking a defuse to win Liquid the pistol round. But while Liquid were able to edge out the first round, they were shut down in the followup with Astralis eventually taking match point 15-4.
Taking eleven straight rounds on the CT-side was no easy feat, but Liquid seemed to be up to the challenge. Taking three rounds, Liquid seemed to be off to a straight start, but Astralis' lead was far too great to overcome, with the Danes ultimately closing the map 16-7 and taking the series 2-0.
LiquidAstralis| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
33 - 39 | -6 | 82.7 | 57.4% | 0.95 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
31 - 33 | -2 | 63.3 | 68.1% | 0.92 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
26 - 33 | -7 | 62.0 | 66.0% | 0.84 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
23 - 37 | -14 | 66.4 | 57.4% | 0.72 |
 Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
17 - 39 | -22 | 44.1 | 46.8% | 0.52 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth |
40 - 21 | +19 | 92.6 | 85.1% | 1.44 |
| Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
40 - 26 | +14 | 87.3 | 74.5% | 1.42 |
| Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen |
38 - 28 | +10 | 88.8 | 76.6% | 1.38 |
| Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
32 - 26 | +6 | 65.0 | 70.2% | 1.12 |
| Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander |
31 - 29 | +2 | 74.6 | 72.3% | 1.10 |
Astralis move on to the grand finals, where Natus Vincere currently await. The two teams are currently rated as #1 and #2, respectively, by HLTV's global rankings. Both teams have won a multitude of events in recent months, with both considered the best in the world.
