What to expect from Liquid v. GamerLegion

Earlier today, Liquid made every NA fan quiver in their boots with a shaky performance against a donk-less Spirit. It wasn't a confidence-inspiring match with three maps going the distance against a team neutered with the diplomatic removal of the most hyped player in years. Nonetheless, it was just one match against a team Liquid were obviously ill-prepared for. Now, Liquid must regain their confidence.

They should find this match against GamerLegion a blessing. After all, if not for their upset, Liquid would be facing the goliath of FaZe. Now, Liquid are just one BO3 away from the group final, which offers two BO3 attempts to make the seasonal final, an achievement that coach Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado admits would be a "cool goal for us, but no expectations set."

Also read: Liquid survive donk-less Spirit

Liquid: a stumble but not a fall

Obviously Liquid's near-loss to Spirit is not conducive to the goals this roster has set for themselves. Nonetheless, a win is a win and they move forward in the bracket. A loss against GamerLegion would be just as bad as losing to Spirit, though. The stakes are just as high as the previous match. The team cannot let up against a supposedly weak opponent. After all, that almost spelled doom for them against Spirit.

Felipe "skullz" Medeiros is online, averaging a 1.23 rating against Spirit in hard anchor roles
Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken continues to be a shining star, fragging out in the RMR qualifiers and now at BLAST
Casper "cadiaN" Møller's individual form was dreadful against Spirit. With Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand across the server, he needs to pick up the performance

I Can't Believe It's Not FaZe Clan

GamerLegion are, on paper, the worse team, but they did just take down FaZe in, admittedly close, but still 2-0 fashion. Relative newcomer Sebastian "volt" Maloș was solid against FaZe nearly posting a 1.30 rating. He again will be the deciding factor. Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski continues to be a smart choice for IGL without dragging down the team in the fragging department, but he will need some exceptional calls to outwit cadiaN.

terminAcor has to own the server with the big green. His 1.02 rating over the past three months is not terribly inspiring
volt dominated FaZe Clan. Very impressive. Let's see it again
Map pool is fairly shallow

Also read: New ESL World Ranking ranking formula devalues NA region

Previous Matchups

As one would expect, because this is only Liquid's second match in Europe, they haven't had the chance to build up a solid body of matches against European opposition quite yet. Liquid have not played head to head against GamerLegion with this core.

Likely Vetoes

GamerLegion remove Anubis (Permaban)
Liquid remove Vertigo (Permaban)
GamerLegion pick Overpass (Comfortable map for the EU squad that Liquid recently were dominated by M80 on)
Liquid pick Ancient (Fairly comfortable pick considering Anubis is banned, GamerLegion have a terrible winrate on it)
Decider Nuke (GamerLegion have a decent amount of reps and Liquid just beat Spirit on this map)

Extras

Liquid are favorites to win this match according to bookmakers, sporting 1.6:1 odds compared to GamerLegion's 2.2:1. A win from either side would put them in the finals for the group. A successful campaign there against the consolidation match winner tops the group and qualifies the victor for BLAST Spring Final. The loser of the final still goes to the Play-In stage where they face the #2 of Group A, which will end up being Astralis, Vitality, or Falcons. The winner of that match also qualifies for the Spring Final.