paiN v. Liquid, what to expect

paiN and Liquid faced off not too long ago at ESL Pro League Season 17 playoffs and the series went the Brazilians' way in a quick 2-0 affair. For the North American side, the players hope they can answer back with a series win of their own, this time at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 Americas semifinals.

Last year, counting for the same stage of the competition, paiN and Liquid came together, with the Brazilians coming out on top 2-1, another extra motivator for IGL Nick "nitr0" Cannella and his team.

Stumbling but not falling

Despite paiN's good form, with just two losses in the past 10 games, the Brazilians are no strangers to three-map series, as 50% of those eight wins required a decider map. The team dropped maps against LOS + oNe, OG, Grayhound, and MIBR, but managed to beat Liquid, only breaking just a little sweat. A game is a game, and if paiN don't want to risk losing to an experienced Liquid team, they should aim to replicate their result from ESL Pro League, because if Liquid reach a third map, there will be trouble, as Liquid won seven out of the last 10 series that have gone to the decider.

• Ride the good form wave, but don't get too confident

• Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt has been hot recently

• Quick and painless or probably suffer a long and tiring loss

The past is the key to the future

If history has shown society important things, one is that cycles happen and repeat themselves. The world shall come together again in the distant future, just like the old Pangea from the Triassic Era, and Liquid shall perform well in this tournament. The Liquid squad has been very inconsistent since the PGL Major Antwerp 2022, there have been some roster changes, but it feels like one good event precedes a bad one, with few exceptions. Fortunately, kind of, Liquid's performance at ESL Pro League Season 17 was below average, so, BLAST Premier Spring Showdown should be a good one. SHOULD.

• Carry the momentum from the last series against Nouns

• It's always best to play against a team you have lost before

• Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis needs to perform better than in the game against Nouns

Likely vetoes

Liquid are the top seed, and the NA side is able to choose whether to start the bans or leave it for paiN to do it. If Liquid choose to be the first to ban, the vetoes should be as follows:

• Liquid ban Vertigo

• paiN ban Overpass

• Liquid pick Mirage

• paiN pick Nuke

• Inferno is left as the decider

paiN vs. Liquid will happen today at 01:30PM and will decide the first finalist for BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 Americas.