What to expect from Liquid v. Virtus.pro

Well, this article was written one way, but now it's gone a complete other as Liquid have seemingly pulled a rabbit out of a hat and had Robert "Patsi" Isyanov land in Malta two hours before game time. Now, as of this publication it is possible he might miss the match because of delays in the Maltese customs, but regardless, let's pretend he is at least there for a second game. It's a boon to a team that has struggled lately who are also going up against a team that have struggled and also not played as much. Virtus.pro v. Liquid is going to be a match of two teams that are in an evolutionary phase, trying to establish themselves just before CS2 comes out.

Is it Liquid Luck?

Liquid's luck over these last few months has been tough. They started out strong with their new roster, only to stumble in BLAST and then tumble at Cologne. The one-and-done at Riyadh was not much better either. However, that luck might be changing as Patsi was initially thought to miss the whole group stage, but will now be in attendance.

• Patsi and YEKINDAR need to rework their aggression

• oSee has to find his place as the AWPer

• Rainwaker and NAF have to be reliable anchors this morning.

Virtus.professionally need a win

Virtus.pro are easily the favorites in this matchup, but with that comes the higher expectations of such a win. The pressure to perform against a team that many in the community deride for leaving North America can sometimes be too much. Okay, maybe that is a bit of a stretch, but the idea of being too favored and having the pressure of not losing can affect some teams. Will it impact VP? Too soon to tell.

• Jame time has to be on point today against YEKINDAR and Patsi

• Deal with the over-aggression and hyper-defensiveness of Liquid

• Is mir ready for LAN on this new team?

Previous Matchups

These two cores have only played each other once, back at the BLAST Premier World Finals in 2022 where Liquid were inches away from claiming one of their only trophies in years. The squad were dominant and turned around the match after dropping Map 1. Now, can Liquid hopefully have a similar performance?

Likely Vetoes

Vetoes will be weird, with both teams changing up their styles. Liquid knows that Patsi and YEKINDAR need space and have already made one change on Inferno. Could that be the key to winning?

• Liquid bans Overpass

• Virtus.pro bans Ancient

• Liquid picks Vertigo

• Virtus.pro picks Anubis

• Nuke will definitely be banned by either team after this, but I can see a final map of Mirage coming into play here.