In their most recent ESL Pro League 13 match, Astralis managed to snag victory from rival Team Liquid.
The Astralis vs. Liquid rivalry
Team Liquid and Astralis have been rivals since both teams peaked at number one. At the Counter-Strike Berlin Major, Team Liquid was favored to win, but Astralis surprised them by preparing Vertigo. Since then, Team Liquid has struggled to beat Astralis. Finally, the two teams met again during ESL Pro League where Astralis were able to best Liquid. However, Liquid did look better compared to previous matchups.
Map One: Overpass
On their CT side, Astralis looked dominant with both device and dupreeh playing the best Counter-Strike they’ve ever played, while Liquid only got two rounds on the board off of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo in the first half. Astralis looked to close out the map with a dominant pistol round in the first round of the second half. However, the American roster was not ready to give up. Liquid started using a double AWP setup with Stewie AWPing on B. Round after round, he shut Astralis’ T Side down entirely with 24 kills on his CT side. He led the comeback to force overtime. However, in overtime, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Nicolai “device” Reedtz shut down any hopes of Liquid coming back as the Americans couldn’t convert their post-plant situations and lost 19-17.
Map Two: Dust2
On Dust2, Liquid’s normal slow CT side was replaced by a hyper-aggressive playstyle as Liquid immediately pushed mid. But, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski is the reason Liquid got a strong start. Elige got two 4k’s in the first two rounds, and Liquid was poised to get an early advantage. However, in Astralis’ first gun round, they struck back and took down all of Liquid apart from Michael “Grim” Wince. But, Grim refused to let his team lose and pulled off an amazing 4k to push Liquid up 4-1. After that, Astralis kept getting the early picks in rounds, while Liquid and Grim kept trying to keep it even. The half ended with Liquid up 8-7, despite their early lead.
The second half started with Astralis asserting their dominance over Liquid. The rounds were still close, but Astralis quickly pulled ahead with device and dupreeh, getting the openings and converting rounds. But, with Astralis up 9-12, they refused to lose. Grim and Elige stepped up to get opening kills while FalleN kept getting at least one a round. Off of that, Liquid strung together five rounds before device and magisk pushed Astralis forward and forced overtime. In overtime, device led the charge and Astralis quickly closed out the series 2-0
While Astralis still won against Liquid, Liquid looked better compared to the two’s previous matchups. Instead of a convincing win, Astralis struggled and Liquid almost had them on both maps. When the two teams meet again, perhaps Liquid can finally beat Astralis. You can view the match page here.
