Liquid sent to Showdown by Astralis; what went wrong?
The stakes were high in the faceoff between Liquid and Astralis, with the winner qualifying for Fall Finals and the loser being sent to the Fall Showdown. Things operated familiarly when these two teams clashed, with Astralis looking levels ahead of Liquid in the BO3 matchup.
No star presence
Liquid's long-time star rifler Keith "NAF" Markovic has been a pillar of consistency for Liquid essentially since joining the team. Given the high stakes of the series, there was an expectation that NAF would need to play to his familiar star level to beat the surging Astralis. Unfortunately for Liquid, this did not come to fruition. He ended both maps negative in K/D and below ADR, showing serious signs of struggle throughout the series.
Playing from behind
Liquid found themselves in a deficit early in many rounds across both maps, losing the entry-kill battle 20-32 to Astralis. A five-round gap was the final tally on Overpass, a key in their 11-16 loss on Astralis' pick. Shockingly, Astralis was even more dominant in this metric on Liquid's choice of Inferno, with Liquid losing 9-16 in entry frags. Winning 38.4% of opening duels alongside a 26.1% 4v5 event win rate was a recipe for disaster for Liquid.
Second-half stomps
The two teams were neck and neck throughout the first half in both maps, with the first fifteen ending 8-7 two times over. In the second halves, however, round win streaks of seven and eight were far too much momentum for Liquid to counter and more than enough for Astralis to seal a rather dominant 2-0.
LiquidAstralis| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Robert 'Patsi' Isyanov |
34 - 34 | +0 | 76.1 | 75.0% | 1.10 |
 Aleks 'Rainwaker' Petrov |
32 - 35 | -3 | 71.5 | 69.2% | 1.00 |
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
33 - 34 | -1 | 64.2 | 65.4% | 0.91 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
24 - 36 | -12 | 60.9 | 53.8% | 0.76 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
24 - 39 | -15 | 59.7 | 53.8% | 0.70 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
41 - 28 | +13 | 89.4 | 73.1% | 1.29 |
| Victor 'Staehr' Staehr |
35 - 29 | +6 | 86.5 | 73.1% | 1.21 |
| Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer |
32 - 27 | +5 | 73.8 | 75.0% | 1.20 |
| Johannes 'b0RUP' Borup |
39 - 32 | +7 | 63.3 | 69.2% | 1.09 |
| Christian 'Buzz' Andersen |
30 - 32 | -2 | 60.9 | 69.2% | 0.96 |
What's next?
The two teams will have a few days off to rest before gearing up for a rematch in a completely different context. After some rest, the two teams will face off in a BO1 at the IEM Cologne Play-In, with the winner facing off against the winner of Apeks and BIG.
