Liquid vs. Fluxo, what to expect

As much as there is a rivalry between North and South America, the meeting of two teams from the American side of the globe in the 0-2 match is certainly of concern for both regions given their shared Major berth distribution. A loss here means an 0-3 embarrassment, while the winner remains a ways away from qualifying for the next stage, possibly creating yet another matchup between American regional opponents in the 1-2 series.

Liquid's day of reckoning

Liquid have had a disastrous start in the upset-prone, best-of-one format to start the final Major in CS:GO history. The main takeaways from these two games are:

• Cut the anchors, Liquid can't afford to have anyone weighing the team down today

• Lean on experience, this team has been here before and needs to play like it

• Remain focused, Liquid can't be on the wrong side of momentum-shifting clutches

• Punish mistakes, Fluxo has looked disjointed at times and Liquid should prey on these moments

Fluxo look flat

The Brazilian side has managed just ten rounds total in their first two games and hasn't consistently looked like a threat since the Americas RMR. Even then, they weren't winning games in convincing fashion, so toppling a North American titan like Liquid in any capacity would surely give them a huge morale boost if they are to have any hope of challenging in the later stages of this tournament. Key points for Fluxo will be:

• No fear, if you lose mentally you lose in the server

• Play loose, weaponize the lack of familiarity that Liquid has with your roster

• Crack a site, averaging 3.5 rounds on T-side won't cut it at a Major

Previous Matchups

This will be the first meeting between these two sides.

Likely Vetoes

This veto could get interesting. The first few steps with permabans should be relatively intuitive and both teams like Mirage, however Liquid were willing to let Ancient through against Apeks and Fluxo is currently sporting a four-game losing streak on the map. However, if Fluxo tries to take away that perceived weak spot in their map pool, that likely means that Liquid would get Overpass as a decider, a map that they are certainly more comfortable on than Fluxo, who ban the map second most behind Anubis.

• Liquid remove Vertigo - typical permaban

• Fluxo remove Anubis - typical permaban

• Liquid pick Mirage - both teams are comfortable here

• Fluxo pick Nuke - their most-played map

• Fluxo remove Ancient - would they rather play this or Overpass against Liquid?

• Complexity ban Inferno - we're sick of map 3 Inferno anyway

• Overpass is left - Or will this be Ancient?

Extras

Over 84% of users on HLTV have picked Liquid to get their first win of the BLAST Paris Major.