What to expect from Liquid v. Astralis

Well, the earth goes around the sun and it's time for another Liquid vs Astralis game. Historically, Astralis have been on the winning end of this matchup by far. Heck, even recently Astralis have been on the winning end. But it's a new day and with that come new opportunities. Can Liquid exorcise their demons in the stars?

Liquid's upward swing

Liquid seem to be in fairly decent shape. Despite rumors of cadiaN's potential exit, Liquid are still on top of their game, making it to these semifinals without dropping a game. Though, to be fair, their games were against OG, AMKAL, and ENCE, none too strong of an opponent. Coming off a reasonable top-eight finish at EPL, a strong finals appearance at CCT would finally give us reason to look forward to the future of this lineup.

• Twistzz continues his remarkable form, 1.24 rating this event

• cadiaN, somehow, tops the board for this event with a 1.35 rating

Astralis, still looking good

Astralis have looked good ever since device became IGL but have been shut out in the playoffs of events due to unfavorable matchups. Here, at CCT, with a weaker pool of opponents, they should finally break that playoff curse and cement themselves a top team. That is, unless, some plucky Americans have something to say about it.

• device and jabbi combine for two of the top three best opening duelists this event

• stavn's group stage performance is superb as always, can he show up in this important match?

Previous Matchups

Astralis took the last BO3 between these teams in a 2-0 fashion. With more data on device's style of calling, Liquid may be able to wrench some more rounds, and hopefully some more maps, this time around.

Likely Vetoes

In all likelihood, we should see the same style of veto as the last matchup. However, with Dust2 in and Overpass out, that may throw a wrench in Astralis' plans.

• Liquid ban Vertigo

• Astralis ban Anubis

• Liquid pick Inferno

• Astralis pick Nuke

• Decider Ancient