Liquid fall to Astralis 3-1 in EPL grand final
Astralis have been crowned the champions of the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals after defeating Liquid 3-1.
The series kicked off on Dust2, Liquid's pick. The North American side surely immediately regretted their decision, as Nicolai "device" Reedtz led his team to a 16-1 demolition.
Undaunted, Liquid moved onto Nuke, where they secured the opening pistol. Despite being on the CT-side, Astralis proved to have Liquid's number, taking the first half 9-6. Liquid took the second-half pistol as well, going on a five round run before Astralis were able to answer back. Though Liquid regained the lead to make it 14-3, the Danes pushed across the line to take the map.
Moving onto Mirage, Liquid claimed another pistol but were immediately reset by the Danish squad. Both teams would go on one prolonged streak each in the half, with the score ending up 7-8 to the detriment of the North Americans.
The second half played out much the same, with a five round streak for the Danes followed up by seven rounds in a row for the Americans. With the score at 15-14, Keith "NAF" Markovic secured three kills to make the series 2-1.
Liquid got off to a great start on Inferno, taking the pistol and ending up with a 10-5 Counter-Terrorist half. Unfortunately, the defense of Astralis was even stronger than that of Liquid, and the Danes closed out the map, series, and tournament.
LiquidAstralis| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
71 - 80 | -9 | 79.0 | 63.8% | 0.98 |
 Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
71 - 80 | -9 | 73.2 | 69.5% | 0.96 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
68 - 82 | -14 | 72.4 | 63.8% | 0.93 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
57 - 72 | -15 | 65.5 | 61.0% | 0.90 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
61 - 79 | -18 | 65.2 | 64.8% | 0.88 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
92 - 62 | +30 | 92.2 | 73.3% | 1.38 |
| Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander |
83 - 64 | +19 | 86.8 | 75.2% | 1.21 |
| Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen |
75 - 76 | -1 | 82.0 | 73.3% | 1.12 |
| Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth |
71 - 62 | +9 | 74.9 | 77.1% | 1.09 |
| Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
71 - 65 | +6 | 71.2 | 70.5% | 1.06 |
Next up for Liquid will be StarSeries i-League Season 5 in Kiev, where they will look to continue their upward trajectory since incorporating Epitacio "TACO" de Melo.
