Liquid eliminate M80 from EPL in map three overtime
In a contest between NA's own M80 and American star Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, it was the latter who stayed alive in ESL Pro League Season 23.
M80's map pick seemed to betray them as Liquid dominated Anubis with a near-perfect T side. EliGE would go 12-6 in the first half alone, and Liquid would easily win 13-3.
EliGE went on to open the first half of Inferno with a pistol 3K and close it with an AWP kill, giving Liquid an 8-4 lead. However, M80 took the second pistol and quickly tied the score 8-8. Fritz "slaxz" Dietrich stepped up with 11 AWP kills and six opening frags, combining with Joshua "JBa" Barutt to lead M80 to match point, where Michael "Swisher" Schmid would successfully tie the series via 1v2 clutch.
Mirage ended up being the closest of all three maps. Liquid would answer M80's five consecutive rounds with four straight, and the first half saw M80 escape with just a slim two-round lead. Liquid would erase that advantage in the second, though.
At 7-9, M80 would steal a defuse to bring themselves within one, but at 9-10, they'd let EliGE win a crucial 1v3. At 10-11, Swisher and Elias "s1n" Stein somehow recovered a 2v5 before retaking the lead and securing match point for M80. However, Guy "NertZ" Iluz just barely stopped Mason "Lake" Sanderson from sticking the game-winning defuse.
Unfortunately for M80's tournament lives, Liquid stabilized in overtime, with several players snagging multi-kills and Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak ending the match with an AWP in hand.
LiquidM80| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
51 - 44 | +7 | 85.0 | 82.4% | 1.33 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
53 - 40 | +13 | 85.1 | 76.5% | 1.32 |
 Guy 'NertZ' Iluz |
44 - 39 | +5 | 74.5 | 80.9% | 1.26 |
 Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek |
40 - 44 | -4 | 69.0 | 73.5% | 1.01 |
| Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
49 - 44 | +5 | 65.4 | 69.1% | 0.88 |
| M80 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'JBa' Barutt |
48 - 47 | +1 | 85.0 | 77.9% | 1.21 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
44 - 48 | -4 | 68.1 | 66.2% | 1.04 |
 Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich |
45 - 41 | +4 | 68.5 | 76.5% | 0.96 |
| Elias 's1n' Stein |
36 - 49 | -13 | 58.7 | 69.1% | 0.82 |
| Mason 'Lake' Sanderson |
37 - 53 | -16 | 64.4 | 73.5% | 0.78 |
Liquid will face 3DMAX in their final do-or-die match of the opening stage.
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