Shox is the only player who has reached top 16 at all CS: GO Majors till date.
Before Day 5 of the PGL Antwerp CS: GO Major, there were only two players that have reached the top 16 of every Counter Strike Major. Shox and Xyp9x have been legends in this game and this record highlights their consistency throughout the years. The PGL Antwerp CS: GO match between Team Liquid and Astralis today was an elimination series. The winner would advance to the Legends stage while the loser is out of the tournament.
Liquid picked Vertigo while Astralis went with Ancient as their map pick. With the final map as Overpass, this series promised fireworks and did not disappoint.
I am really happy about the team. I think we did pretty good just qualifying for the next stage. Our schedule's been pretty insane since the beginning of the year. To be honest, we barely had any practice time before the Major. Which is very sad, because when you come into the Major, you want to be in the best preparation possible.
Vertigo: One Man army falls short
Vertigo was Team Liquid’s map pick and they looked very comfortable on the 51st floor on Vertigo. Liquid had a very strong start going up 7-1 with oSee playing a dominating role in the first few rounds.
But Astralis were able to mount a comeback and managed to bring the score back to a 7-8 (lead for Team Liquid). A big reason for Astrals’ performance was BlameF who finished the first map with 40 kills.
Over on Team Liquid, NAF and Shox were contributing heavily to the team’s performance, often outmaneuvering the majority of Astralis. Astralis started the second half with three straight round wins, but then Team Liquid’s defense looked unpenetrable once they had guns. Team Liquid marched ahead to a 14-10 score and it looked like victory was within grasp. Astralis won the next round but Team LIquid’s defense tightened in the 26th round. It took a 1v3 clutch by the Danish captain, Glaive to bring Astralis within arm’s length of Team Liquid.
The next round was an equally exciting 3v5 that Astralis had no business winning. Astralis had several such rounds that saw them come agonizingly close to going to Overtime.
Ultimately, BlameF’s 40 kills were just not enough for Astralis to win the map. The player had a phenomenal performance on Vertigo and despite that Astralis fell short.
Ancient: Team Liquid are your Legends
The second map of Ancient was a very close affair, although both teams managed to string together batches of series of rounds.
Nitro and Elige led Team Liquid’s performance on Ancient, often catching their opponents off-guard. Team Liquid’s awareness about Astralis flanks and their movements was clearly visible as they were hold off-angles to catch these flanks. In most cases, they were very successful.
BlameF continued to have a great performance even though he was not the highest-fragger on the squad. The map saw Astralis give tough competition, but Team Liquid managed to rein it in when it mattered the most.
With this victory, Team Liquid have found them a Legends berth and a top 16 finish at the PGL Antwerp CS: GO Major.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest CS: GO news and updates.