The Group B upper bracket finals see Team Liquid taking on their arch nemesis Astralis. The two logged heads recently at ECS Season 8 final. Astralis came out victorious on that occasion beating Liquid 2-1 in a B03 series.
The two have come head to head 9 times this year with Astralis winning 6 out of those match ups. Liquid have historically struggled against the Danish giants and have no answers to their style of play. It was Astralis who displaced Team Liquid from their #1 world ranking. Astralis currently occupy #1 ranking with Team Liquid right behind at #2 .
Both these teams as usual have looked sharp, strategically solid and are hitting their shots. Team Liquid so far managed to beat North 16-12 on Vertigo and then defeated Mousesports 2-1 in a B03 series.
Liquid won Nuke and Dust II while dropping Vertigo to Mouz.
There were rumours about Keith “Naf” Markovic being replaced due to poor from in mid 2019 but all those rumours are now put to rest. “Naf” has looked pretty solid. Liquid is team full of superstars and all of Nicholas “nitr0” Canella, Rusell “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Jake ”Stewie2k” Yip ,Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and “Naf” are expected to perform upto their potential.
Their opponents are however the greatest team Counter Strike Global Offensive has ever seen: Astralis. Poor displays after the Katowice Major had led many to believe that the Astrlais era was over but the team has bounced quite remarkably . Their IGL Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander has made Astralis unpredictable in the mid rounds with teams left confused on what they are upto. Supported by the ever reliable Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen the Astralis core is on point. Then coming in is the firepower of Emil “Magisk” Reif and the clutch minister Andreas “Xyp9x”Højsleth.
With Liquid not playong Train and Astralis not playing Mirage we can expect the same 3 maps which were played at the ECS Season 8 final. It is a game which could be decided on presence of mind rather than emotions. This could either happen with cluchtes and 1 vs X situations going in favour with the team less expected to make it happen.
Predicting the winner is not easy given the rivlary and the level of players out there on the server. But expect Astralis to take the match 2:1, well because they are Astralis. It is a match that shouldn’t be missed with the Top 2 best CsGo teams going head to head. Broadcast timing- 13:10 EDT(23:40) IST.
