Vitality crush North American hearts as Liquid are eliminated
The final American team has been eliminated from the PGL Antwerp Major, going completely winless in the New Legends stage after a difficult draw that saw them play Heroic, FURIA, and Vitality. This ends the run for the new-look American team who had high hopes and a spectacular comeback in the first stage of the Major by advancing after being down 0-2. It was a great run for Nick "nitr0" Canella who showed signs of former dominance with his impressive clutches over Astralis to secure advancement, however it was not enough. Questions will be had for some of the underperforming players in the squad as Liquid look to IEM Dallas at the end of the month for a little bounce-back.
The start of the end began on Mirage where Vitality obliterated Liquid in the first half with every player on the team putting up good stats. Going into their CT-side 13-2 down, Liquid needed to pull something out of the bag and for a moment there seemed to have fight left in them. But this was fleeting. Vitality tightened the choke-hold around the American teams' neck and finished the game 16-7. Keith 'NAF' Markovic once again tried to put his teammates on his back but his 1.27 rating on Mirage could not make up for the lack of energy from the rest of his team.
The second map was a little less painful to watch as Liquid put up a fight against the Danish and French onslaught but it was not enough. Yet again one Liquid player stood above the rest, this time it was Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski, and yet again Vitality were well-rounded with each player playing their part in the victory. The first half was competitive, with Liquid only being down 8-7 on Dust2 but Vitality just looked the better side and in the end ran away with the result, winning 16-11.
VitalityLiquid| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
42 - 26 | +16 | 93.0 | 74.0% | 1.47 |
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
43 - 26 | +17 | 79.1 | 76.0% | 1.33 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
37 - 27 | +10 | 91.2 | 78.0% | 1.32 |
| Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen |
36 - 33 | +3 | 78.6 | 84.0% | 1.22 |
| Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier |
31 - 24 | +7 | 64.2 | 82.0% | 1.13 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
34 - 37 | -3 | 83.4 | 68.0% | 1.01 |
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
32 - 34 | -2 | 57.3 | 62.0% | 0.90 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
31 - 39 | -8 | 67.5 | 52.0% | 0.82 |
| Richard 'shox' Papillon |
23 - 39 | -16 | 53.4 | 54.0% | 0.62 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
15 - 41 | -26 | 47.0 | 56.0% | 0.56 |
Liquid’s 0-3 exit is a disappointment for many, as the team was aiming to prove their worth as the top team in the region. The early Legends exit for the American hopefuls means NA fans will be left clinging to the efforts of Brazilian teams FURIA and Imperial to represent the region. For Liquid, the best way for them to move on from their Major shortcomings is by capitalizing on their next event, IEM Dallas. The action in Dallas kicks off in two weeks on May 30th and looks to be a stacked post-Major event featuring nine of the top ten teams.
