Team Liquid advances as the first seed after going through multiple overtimes on Ascent to take down XERXIA 2-1.
Team Liquid weathered a brutal APAC storm last night to qualify for the VCT Masters Reykjavik playoffs. TL took down APAC's second seed XERXIA in an exhilarating best-of-three which saw multiple overtimes to decide a winner.
For a team that wasn't meant to be at Masters 1, Team Liquid are taking full advantage of the opportunity VCT has given to them. The EMEA side topped their group with a 2-0 record and will now make their way to the playoffs.
TL puts on excellent defensive display on Split
Map one would go the way of Team Liquid after an excellent defensive display saw them breeze past XERXIA on Split to go 1-0 up in the series. The map started off with XERXIA winning the opening two rounds. This would be all XERXIA would do for some time as Team Liquid would go on to win the next five.
Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom was on fire on this map and put up some massive kills for his side. Despite a strong start for TL, XERXIA would fire back towards the end of the half to tie up the game at 6-6. Although XERXIA would win the opening pistol round, this would be the only round they would win in the second half. Incredible kills from Jamppi on the Spectre saw TL snatch the second round away.
From this moment onwards it was pure domination from the side of Team Liquid. The EMEA side would win seven straight rounds to win the map 13-7. XERXIA's strategy to play through the B site was thwarted by TL every time and the APAC side had no answer.
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XERXIA clutches out on Icebox to force third map
XERXIA needed a victory on Icebox to keep their playoffs hopes alive. The APAC side did just that in a closely contested map. XERXIA would win the map 13-11 and force this best-of-three into a third and final map. Akin to the first map, the tie was dead even going into the half. XERXIA came out strong but TL put together multiple rounds to ensure they were still within touching distance.
Team Liquid would get the early rounds in the second half but XERXIA's offence was too strong on this one. Surf put up a monstrous performance when his team needed it most. Surf lead his side in first kills with 5, the next closest was Sushiboys at 2. The EMEA star also had the third-highest ACS in the lobby at 256.
Team Liquid secures VCT playoffs in quadruple overtime
In what turned out to be one of the maps of the tournament thus far, Team Liquid clutched it out in quadruple overtime to secure their spot in the playoffs. The story of this map was the offence side for both teams, in the first half XERXIA Esports took the offence side by a 7-5 scoreline. When it was TL's offensive half, they won the half by a 7-5 scoreline meaning this series would be decided in overtime.
Overtime did not disappoint as both teams jockeyed for position, trading rounds on their offence side and forcing the map into three overtimes. Eventually, one team had to win and that would be Team Liquid. Jamppi was by far the best player in the lobby with over 30 kills on the Jett to help his team move onto the playoffs.
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