Team Liquid knocked out the record winner of the PGL “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” Major in Antwerp with Astralis. The Americans secured one of the last places in the next round of the tournament with a narrow but convincing 2:0 (16:14; 16:13).
“We’ve had a crazy schedule since the start of the year and didn’t get much practice before the major,” Liquid player Richard “shox” Papillon said in a post-game interview. “We have to play with what we have and a 2-0 win is a good sign. We’re getting better and better.”
Although Astralis have lost a trio to Team Vitality since the Major wins, the Danes are the biggest name eliminated from the tournament to date. Even a brilliant performance by Benjamin “blameF” Bremer, who managed a total of 40 eliminations on the first map, couldn’t change that. Liquid, on the other hand, is the last organization from North America represented in the tournament.
The Bad News Eagles from Kosovo, whose qualification had already been a big surprise without the support of an organization, defeated MIBR 2:1 (13:16; 16:8; 16:10). Their Swiss player Rigon “rigoN” Gashi is only the second player in his country to be in the legend phase of a major.
Last place went to Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo’s Team Imperial, whose core at SK Gaming was once among the best teams in the world. The team won against forZe and meets BIG, the only German team in the tournament, in the legend phase.