Liquid roll Party Astronauts, Players survive GODSENT storm on day four of ESL Pro League Season 15 Group C
The fourth day of play has wrapped up, solidifying the three squads who have qualified for the playoffs stage. Movistar Riders secured first in the group after a strong showing throughout the group, while Liquid and Players will be duking it out on the final day to decide who will take second place. These three teams qualified at the expense of BIG, GODSENT, and Party Astronauts, who all put up middling performances over the past few days.
Party Astronauts and Liquid squared off against one another in the second game of the day, following the conclusion of Movistar Riders versus BIG in which the Spaniards fended off their opponents 2-0. The American brawl kicked off on the Astronauts' selection of Dust2, with Ben "ben1337" Smith's men hoping to at least do some damage against their compatriots. Unfortunately for them, Liquid was not interested in a close affair, as Keith "NAF" Markovic and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski put up staggering numbers in the first half to secure a 14-1 lead for Liquid. A pistol round win with some additional rounds to boot was a nice consolation prize for the Astronauts, but there was little they could do to stop Liquid from closing out the map 16-5.
Liquid looked like they were going to keep their dominant performance up on their pick of Mirage, leading at one point in the first half with a strong 8-1 lead. This time though Party Astronauts did a solid job at keeping Liquid honest, snatching five of the last six rounds to narrow Liquid's lead to a manageable 9-6. Liquid snagged the second pistol and the subsequent round, but then the Astronauts strung together three of their own rounds, closing the gap further to an 11-9 score for Liquid. In the end, strong individual rounds from Josh "oSee" Ohm and Richard "shox" Papillon shut down any momentum the Astronauts were building, as Liquid closed out the series with a 16-9 win on Mirage.
LiquidParty Astronauts| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
46 - 27 | +19 | 102.2 | 71.7% | 1.48 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
36 - 19 | +17 | 83.4 | 84.8% | 1.38 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
34 - 24 | +10 | 81.4 | 76.1% | 1.35 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
34 - 26 | +8 | 72.7 | 73.9% | 1.18 |
 Richard 'shox' Papillon |
30 - 26 | +4 | 69.9 | 71.7% | 1.12 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
29 - 33 | -4 | 71.9 | 60.9% | 0.93 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
26 - 39 | -13 | 80.1 | 52.2% | 0.80 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
28 - 34 | -6 | 54.6 | 58.7% | 0.71 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
22 - 36 | -14 | 49.7 | 54.3% | 0.63 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
17 - 38 | -21 | 48.7 | 65.2% | 0.60 |
GODSENT and Players ended tonight's matches with a three-map brawl that pushed both squads to their absolute limits. The two teams began the battle on GODSENT’s pick of Inferno and were neck-and-neck throughout the entire exchange. Outside of Player’s pistol round victory, the two teams were identical in round win streaks. GODSENT won four rounds following the pistol round and Players answered back with four of their own to reclaim the lead 5-4. After winning three straight to claim a 7-5 lead, the Brazilians looked prepared to win out the first half. However, Players had plans of their own, winning three straight in return to secure the 8-7 lead at the half.
Things started off smooth for GODSENT on their CT-side, as they managed to take the second pistol to tie up the game 8-8. Just as GODSENT did in the first half, Players went on a streak of their own after losing the pistol round, ripping off five straight rounds to earn a comfortable five-round lead at 13-8. With the Russian squad nearing match point, the Brazilians took back four rounds to bring the Players’ lead down to one. The two teams would exchange rounds until the very end, with Players securing round 30 off of a well-executed A-site wrap to win GODSENT’s pick of Inferno, 16-14. Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmer’s 28-16 K/D and 82.6 ADR kept GODSENT in the game throughout the first map but weren’t enough to stop the team play of Players in its entirety.
The 8-7 scoreline trend continued as the first half of Players’ pick of Overpass came to a close. Players won five of the first six to take an early 5-1 lead, but GODSENT had no intention of going out quietly. GODSENT would go on a streak of their own, winning six of the next seven rounds to bring it to a 7-6 scoreline in their favor. Just like Inferno, GODSENT looked well-suited to secure the first-half lead, but Players recouped to win the final two to take the half 8-7.
Entering the second half once again behind, GODSENT needed to find a streak of rounds to pull away from their opposition. They started off on the right foot by winning the pistol round and the two rounds after but quickly lost the lead after allowing Players to take five of the next six rounds. Down 11-13, GODSENT turned up the intensity, winning the next five rounds to secure a 16-13 victory to avenge their Inferno loss and to take it to a third map.
By the time the two teams got to the decider map of Mirage, GODSENT had nothing left in the tank. Starting on the CT-side, they were steamrolled by Players who looked like they had something to prove in map three. Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov led the charge on his teams’ T-side with a 14-5 K/D and 79.7 ADR showing through the first fifteen. Down 2-13 and on the brink of defeat, GODSENT needed to put something together to get back into the game. Unfortunately, things were too far gone for the Brazilians and despite their best efforts, they could not rally back. Players quickly quelled the comeback to secure the 16-3 map win and the 2-1 series victory.
PlayersGODSENT| Players |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov |
55 - 38 | +17 | 74.8 | 71.8% | 1.20 |
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
58 - 56 | +2 | 80.0 | 67.9% | 1.13 |
| Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov |
50 - 44 | +6 | 67.7 | 70.5% | 1.06 |
| Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov |
52 - 60 | -8 | 71.4 | 66.7% | 1.01 |
| Timofey 'interz' Yakushin |
37 - 47 | -10 | 54.6 | 70.5% | 0.87 |
| GODSENT |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
54 - 42 | +12 | 79.9 | 79.5% | 1.27 |
| Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmer |
55 - 45 | +10 | 73.1 | 64.1% | 1.01 |
| Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto |
47 - 57 | -10 | 76.4 | 67.9% | 0.98 |
| Bruno 'b4rtiN' Câmara |
46 - 53 | -7 | 66.2 | 71.8% | 0.94 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
42 - 56 | -14 | 60.2 | 71.8% | 0.81 |
Players’ victory over GODSENT puts them in third place in Group C with a 3-1 record. Their final match of group play will come against Liquid, who currently sits in second place with a 3-1 record. With minor discrepancies separating the two teams in placing, it is fitting they will compete in the final group match to determine the true second-place team inside of Group C.
The final games of Group C are:
Liquid vs Players Party Astronauts vs 
Movistar Riders GODSENT vs 
BIG
Although GODSENT is eliminated from playoff contention, they will aim to close group play on the right foot with a victory over fellow 1-3 team, BIG. The final three games of Group C will kick off today at 01:30PM.
