What to expect from Liquid v. SAW

For the BLAST Spring Showdown, Liquid have had to fly over to Europe with next to no time to lick their wounds after missing out on the PGL Major Copenhagen. Meanwhile, SAW are playing from home and are in high spirits after being the first Portuguese team to qualify to the Major. While Liquid has the edge on paper, there's a number of factors that will make this an interesting match as two similarly ranked teams will look to advance in this single-elimination tournament.

Flaming Liquid

Liquid are going to be looking to smash SAW as they are a mix of frustrated, furious, and fatigued after missing out on the Copenhagen Major. Heading into this match, Liquid have the better squad on paper, however a combination of jet-lag, self-doubt, and an incomplete game plan may complicate things.

• NAF and Twistzz are looking as good as ever

• YEKINDAR has continued to struggle on this roster

• Liquid legitimately just landed in Europe and will need to shake off the jet-lag

SAW trap

Portuguese squad SAW have a lot to be happy about recently, having made the Major while also breaking into the top 30 HLTV rankings. While they are the clear underdogs, a win over Liquid would be a great sign ahead of the Major, and with most of their core seeing strong form against the European tier-two scene in recent months, it is definitely possible.

• SAW constantly play online matches and are well-rested

• ewjerkz and arrozdoce are in excellent form lately

• SAW made the Major but avoided facing any true tier-one squads in the EU RMR

Previous Matchups

These two teams have never played each other.

Likely Vetoes

Liquid head into this match with the slighter stronger map pool on paper, however it is inflated by wins over NA squads including low-level mixteams from open qualifiers. Meanwhile, SAW have been playing higher caliber of competition in the European scene. As always, these vetoes come with the caveat that they are highly speculative as they depend on whether Liquid, as the higher-ranked team, chooses to pick first or ban last.

• SAW ban Mirage (Permaban)

• Liquid ban Vertigo (Permaban)

• SAW pick Nuke (86% Winrate, most played map)

• Liquid pick Inferno (91% Winrate, most played map)

• Decider could be Anubis (16% Winrate Δ between teams, both squads have an over 60% Winrate and are therefore unlikely to ban)

Analysis: Overall, it does not feel like Liquid head into this series with a map that is a definite ace in the hole. Therefore, they will need to count on heading into the series with better strats and individual performances if they want to cross their first hurdle against the upstart Portuguese squad.

Liquid will face SAW tomorrow at 09:30AM.