Liquid drop close series to Vitality; advance to EPL S20 playoffs in Ro12
Liquid have been bested in a close series against Vitality, being felled 2-1 by the European squad to drop their first series at the Maltese LAN. While the loss denies Liquid an express lane into the quarterfinals, Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and co. are still safely in playoffs due to coming from the upper bracket of Group D, with the team set to start in the round of twelve.
The series against the Franco-Israeli squad began on Liquid's pick of Anubis, with Liquid starting their T-side up 3-0 before contesting the rest of the half closely to secure a small 7-5 lead. After switching over to the CT-side Liquid won the opening pistol before Vitality would answer back with five of the next six rounds to secure the lead for the first time on Anubis. However, Liquid were able to close out the map by winning the next four rounds in a row thanks to the team coalescing around a great performance from Keith "NAF" Markovic on the CT-side.
Moving onto Nuke, while Liquid won their third pistol round in the series, Vitality were largely in control for much of the opening half, as Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut powered his squad to a modest 7-5 lead on their own on the T-side. While this opening would suggest a close map overall, a continued huge performance from ZywOo completely locked Liquid out as the French star went 15-1 with a staggering 204 ADR on Vitality's CT-side to claim a perfect half, thus taking Nuke 13-5.
With the series tied up, Liquid began Dust2 with a confident 5-2 lead on their T-side before Vitality found their rhythm, winning the final five rounds of the half to take it 7-5 once again. After switching sides, things began to go awry for Liquid despite their best efforts as a deadly duo of ZywOo and Dan "apEX" Madesclaire led the charge on Vitality's T-side, overpowering Liquid to take Dust2 13-9 to close out the series 2-1.
LiquidVitality| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
42 - 40 | +2 | 72.9 | 66.7% | 1.07 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
40 - 40 | +0 | 76.8 | 65.1% | 1.01 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
36 - 46 | -10 | 68.6 | 69.8% | 0.92 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
34 - 48 | -14 | 69.2 | 60.3% | 0.87 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
34 - 42 | -8 | 61.1 | 63.5% | 0.81 |
| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi |
53 - 40 | +13 | 97.4 | 73.0% | 1.34 |
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
46 - 38 | +8 | 84.5 | 76.2% | 1.28 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
40 - 37 | +3 | 72.4 | 71.4% | 1.14 |
 William 'mezii' Merriman |
39 - 38 | +1 | 62.5 | 74.6% | 1.01 |
| Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan |
38 - 36 | +2 | 57.6 | 69.8% | 0.96 |
