What to expect from Liquid v. HEROIC

Team Liquid will take on HEROIC for the second straight match at the IEM Katowice Play-in, after losing to the Danish organization's new roster at BLAST Bounty Season 1.

In just his third match with Team Liquid, new signing Guy "NertZ" Iluz will face his former team for the second time. Liquid were considered the favorite as higher seed at BLAST, but ultimately lost to HEROIC. HEROIC, despite fielding an entirely new roster, managed to reach the LAN finals at BLAST before falling to the red hot Team Spirit roster.

Liquid not gelling yet

Against HEROIC, second half struggled doomed Liquid, who stole away their opponent's Mirage pick, but let Anubis and Ancient slip away from them. NertZ and jks Justin "jks" Savage were excellent against 9Panads, but while NertZ showed up against his old team, jks was nowhere to be found.

• NertZ is a clear and obvious upgrade from YEKINDAR

• All five players are capable of having big individual performances

• Mid-rounding needs serious improvement

The Sun(Payus) shines on HEROIC

HEROIC got back Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia after sending a trio of players to Falcons, and the Spanish star is looking like a steal for the Danish organization. SunPayus has been the standout man for HEROIC, even putting up some fine numbers in a losing effort against Spirit.

• SunPayus comeback year?

• Extremely dangerous on Anubis

• Showing great cohesion for a completely new stack

Previous Matchup

As mentioned earlier, HEROIC defeated Liquid last week during the BLAST Bounty Season 1 closed qualifier.

Likely Vetoes

The map veto will likely be the same as the one at BLAST Bounty, as both teams likely aren't switching their pool after such a short time.

• HEROIC ban Inferno

• Liquid ban Train

• HEROIC pick Mirage

• Liquid pick Anubis

• HEROIC ban Nuke

• Liquid ban Dust2

• Decider is Ancient

Liquid may have the higher ranking according to Valve, but after BLAST they can't be considered the favorite anymore. If Liquid can't convert on their Anubis pick again, they will surely find themselves in the lower bracket very soon.