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By winning the ESL One: Cologne 2020 – Oceania, Renegades further solidified themselves as the most dominant Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team from their region and did so in an extremely convincing fashion. Throughout the whole tournament, Renegades did not drop a single map out of six played and produced an outstanding 96-52 round differential, showcasing they are a level above their regional rivals in ORDER, Avant Gaming and Chiefs Esports Club.
Christopher “dexter” ?Nong and co. entered the ESL One Cologne 2020 with all guns blazing and humiliated Chiefs ESC on Nuke (16-1) and Vertigo (16-4) in what was one of the most one-sided CS:GO fixture in recent history. To that, Regenades added another convincing 2-0 win against ORDER, who put up a solid resistance, but in the end, had to admit defeat with 14-16 on Vertigo and 10-16 on Dust II.
After taking down Chiefs ESC and ORDER, the only team left to beat for Renegades were Avant Gaming, yet even they did not have it in them to challenge the ex-Grayhound Gaming core and lost with 10-16 on Dust II and 13-16 on Mirage.
ESL One: Cologne 2020 marks Renegades’s fifth consecutive tournament title after winning ESL One: Road to Rio – Oceania, DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Oceania, DreamHack Open Summer 2020: Oceania and ESL ANZ Champs Season 11. Earlier in 2020, Renegades also finished second at the DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020 and won the regional Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship qualifiers, however, had to settle for a 13th-16th place finish in Katowice.
Unsurprisingly, all five of Renegades’ players topped the tournament’s rankings, claiming five spots in the top six. Joshua “INS” Potter ended the tournament as the highest-rated player with 1.39 rating, followed by Jordan “Hatz” Bajic (1.37), dexter (1.29), Simon “Sico” Williams (1.18) and Liam “malta” Schembri (1.09). The only player in the top six that is not a member of Renegades was Avant Gaming’s AWPer Euan “sterling” Moore who averaged 1.28 rating.
Given Renegades dominance in the Oceanic region, the Australian side looks set to contest international titles once the CS:GO scene moves back to LAN competitions. Having said that, it’s difficult to know just how well prepared Renegades are to face off against teams hailing from other regions since they have been playing the same teams for over six months now, none of which have properly challenged them yet – as talked about Renegades’ IGL dexter.
“It’s the exact same opponents again and again, so we just did what we did last time – and it worked,” said dexter.
“We are always expecting change but it never really comes, at least not yet, so we are preparing ourselves, our mentalities, for overseas competitions.”
Renegades are now 22-2 in series across the last six months and hold an impressive 46-13 map differential since they crashed out of IEM Katowice in February. Their next competitive endeavour is slated to begin on Wednesday, September 2, when dexter and his men take a swing at the Perfect World Oceania League Fall 2020. At the end of the month, Renegades are also confirmed to attend ESL Pro League Season 12 Oceania, where they are set to face the same four teams in Avant Gaming, Chiefs ESC and ORDER.
]]>Being one of the most successful esports organisations in the world, FaZe boast a massive following across a number of popular game titles. That popularity comes at a cost, however, and we have seen this week what happens when those high expectations are not met.
Although FaZe Clan are perhaps best known for their involvement in the Call of Duty esports scene, their most successful project remains their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. In the past few years, however, the FaZe CS:GO team have struggled to make an impact at the highest level.
Most recently, FaZe Clan attended the prestigious ESL One Cologne tournament, which features Europe’s very best CS:GO teams and US $325,000 in the prize pool. After losing 0-2 to Heroic and beating MiBr 2-1, Janko “YNk” Paunovi?’s side then suffered an agonising 2-0 defeat to Team Vitality to bow out in the second round of the lower bracket.
FaZe’s poor performance in their series against Vitality caused a fair amount of backlash from their fans on social media, who called out NiKo and his crew for falling short yet again. Most of the hate, however, was pointed towards Markus “Kjaerbye” Kj?rbye, who just recently took over for Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras.
And with all our playoff teams locked in we have to say goodbye to the final two teams from the European division.@MADLions_CSEN & @FaZeClan unfortunately just came up short but the show must go on!
GGs boys!
#ESLOne pic.twitter.com/6cDjND1IPR
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 26, 2020
Many of the FaZe Clan fans are under the impression that their team are not taking their matches seriously and need to completely overhaul their roster. The criticism did not go down well with FaZe Clan’s captain, who addressed the internet trolls just hours after his team were eliminated from the competition.
“Enough with the hate on my team and Kjaerbye, we had 5 days of practice and we nearly won against nr 2. team [Team Vitality] in the world who has been bootcamping over 2 weeks,” said NiKo.
“Give us some time to work on our mistakes before judging, we are doing everything we can to improve asap.”
FaZe fans have been especially critical of the team’s makeup, with a particular focus on the absence of a specialist in-game leader. Nevertheless, it’s highly unlikely another roster change will happen anytime soon given they have already parted ways with two players in the past three months, most notably with Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson in May.
FaZe now have only a couple of days to prepare for ESL Pro League Season 12, which is slated to kick off on Tuesday, September 1. There, they will face Astralis, Complexity Gaming, Fnatic, mousesports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Spirit and Team Vitality in Group B.
]]>ORDER vs AVANT GAMING CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
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ORDER vs AVANT GAMING ESL ONE COLOGNE 2020 BETTING PREVIEW
ORDER and Avant Gaming will clash in the second fixture of ESL One Cologne 2020 Online Oceania this Wednesday, marking their 15th meeting of the year and their third in August.
ORDER are aiming for their second title of 2020, having claimed the ESEA Season 33 Premier Division Australia crown in March. Besides that, Jireh “J1rah” Youakim and his team also completed runs through ESL Pro League Season 12 and DreamHack Open Summer 2020 qualifying, and they reached the grand finals of the Asia Minor Championship Rio 2020 Oceanic Closed Qualifier, ESL ANZ Champs Season 10 and ESL One Road to Rio Oceania.
Most recently, ORDER made it to the last stage of DreamHack Open Summer 2020 Oceania, where they lost 0-2 to the eventual champions, Renegades, in the upper bracket finals and 0-2 against Avant in the lower bracket finals to finish third.
ORDER hold a 78.6% win rate across the last three months and are 17-3 from their last 20 games. Their only losses in that time came against Renegades and twice against Avant, but they also registered a 3-1 win against Renegades and two triumphs against Avant.
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Avant Gaming enter ESL One Cologne 2020 as the fourth-ranked team in the region behind 100 Thieves, Renegades and ORDER. However, given that the tournament includes only the four strongest Australian CS:GO teams besides 100T, Avant and Chiefs Esports Club are the undisputed underdogs in this field.
At the start of August, Avant announced the arrival of ex-Chiefs Esports Club player Hugh “HUGHMUNGUS” Anderson as a replacement for Chris “ofnu” Hanley, who left for Chiefs in July. While the signing was viewed as a massive positive for Peter “BL1TZ” Athanasatos and his crew, their results since have been mediocre at best.
Since the CS:GO esports scene resumed earlier this month, Avant have won only three out of nine fixtures. This is only an extension of their struggles this year, as they have won only 56.7% of their matches across the last three months.
Avant recently attended ESL ANZ Champs Season 11, where they left a lot to be desired. After losing to Paradox Gaming (1-2) in the upper bracket quarter-finals, Avant bounced back with a 2-0 win against Rooster but fell apart in the second round of the lower bracket when they lost 0-2 against Renegades on Saturday.
That match was as one-sided as it can get, with Renegades outclassing Avant Gaming on both Nuke (16-9) and Mirage (16-4). Not a single Avant player produced a positive rating, as Euan “sterling” Moore was their best with a 0.96 rating and +1 kill/death differential. Meanwhile, Jared “HaZR” O’Bree had an off-day and ended the series with a lowly 0.64 rating.
ORDER vs AVANT GAMING ESL ONE COLOGNE 2020 BETTING PREDICTIONS
Avant Gaming have won eight of their 14 meetings with ORDER, which should, in theory, give them an edge this Wednesday. However, it’s hard to be too optimistic about this roster��s chances after a series of shaky displays this month. Having said that, ORDER are not looking too sharp either.
Avant are 1-4 in their last five games and hold a poor 5-10 map differential, whereas ORDER are 2-3 with a 5-7 map differential. Given that iffy form and their history of even contests, we can expect another close one here.
Neither squad inspires much confidence in the result markets, so we are tipping a three-map series that could go either way.
Over 2.5 maps
RENEGADES vs CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
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RENEGADES vs CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB ESL ONE COLOGNE 2020 BETTING PREVIEW
The Oceanic sector of ESL One Cologne 2020 Online will kick off this Tuesday with a clash between two regional rivals in Renegades and Chiefs Esports Club.
After losing their entire roster to 100 Thieves in October 2019, Renegades needed only a few months to rebuild and solidify themselves as one of the strongest Australian CS:GO organisations. While the current version of the team is not nearly as good as the previous one, Chris “dexter” Nong and co. deserve a lot of praise for their firm hold of the no.2 spot in the regional rankings.
Looking back at what Renegades have achieved throughout 2020, it’s hard to not be impressed. They started the year by qualifying for the Intel Extreme Masters XIV World Championship, where they later finished 13th-16. At the end of January, they made it to the grand finals of DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020.
Since then, Renegades have won every single tournament they’ve attended: DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 Oceania, Asia Minor Championship Rio 2020 Oceanic Closed Qualifier, ESL One Road to Rio Oceania, and DreamHack Open Summer 2020 Oceania. That form comes as part of a 17-2 run after crashing out of IEM Katowice.
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There was a time when Chiefs ESC were a force to be reckoned with, both on their home soil and internationally, but those days are long gone. They have gone through quite a few roster changes in recent times, albeit with far less success than Renegades.
The most recent personnel change happened only a couple of weeks ago when Hugh “HUGHMUNGUS” Anderson left for Avant Gaming, leaving Chiefs with a roster consisting of Tom “apocdud” Henry, Charlie “zeph” Dodd, Ju-young “soju_j” Jeong, Chris “ofnu” Hanley and a relative unknown in Declan “Vexite” Portelli.
Even though that looks fairly solid on paper, Chiefs are not performing at the level you would expect of them. Their only notable accomplishments this season are third place at ESL One Road to Rio in May and fourth at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 a month later.
Most recently, Chiefs took a swing at ESEA Season 34 Premier Division Australia, where they had to settle for seventh-eighth place after they were forced to forfeit their game against TRUCKERS WITH ATTITUDE due to an incomplete roster. Despite that, Chiefs are 9-3 in their last 12 games, although they have not played any tough fixtures outside of their losses to Avant and ORDER.
RENEGADES vs CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB ESL ONE COLOGNE 2020 BETTING PREDICTIONS
The CS:GO betting odds for this match paint a clear picture of how this game will go. Renegades are undoubtedly one of the top dogs in own region, while Chiefs Esports Club are a shadow of their former selves.
There is always a chance we might see an upset, but there are many things that would suggest otherwise. Besides the mismatch in form and quality, Chiefs have not played for over a month and will field coach Yaman “yam” Ergenekon instead of ofnu in this clash.
All signs point to a clean sweep for Renegades. If you can get your hands on odds higher than $1.40, load up on the favourites to cover the -1.5 line.
Renegades -1.5 maps
SPROUT vs OG CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
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SPROUT vs OG ESL ONE COLOGNE 2020 ONLINE BETTING PREVIEW
A spot in the playoffs will be up for grabs when Sprout and OG clash in the second round of the Group A upper-bracket fixtures at ESL One Cologne 2020 Online Europe.
Sprout began their campaign with an impressive 2-0 win over their regional rivals and the current no.1 CS:GO team in the world, BIG, and are now only one win short of securing a guaranteed $11,500 in tournament winnings and 220 ESL Pro Tour points.
That bout took place on Tuesday and started on Mirage, where BIG failed to show up despite their 58.6% win rate on the map. Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz and his crew found themselves 6-9 down by the end of the first half, and while they found their stride early into the second half and won five out of the opening six maps, Sprout turned on the jets to win six of the next seven rounds and close out the game 16-12.
The second map, Nuke, was a thriller to watch. BIG jumped out to a commanding 10-5 lead by the end of the first half only to choke on C-side, thus allowing Sprout to tie the match at 15-15 and force overtime. Timo “Spiidi” Richter and co. maintained that momentum to seal the series with a 19-16 win.
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Sprout’s only match since then came against AGO at FunSpark ULTI 2020 Europe, where they lost 1-2 after an 18-22 overtime defeat on Mirage. That was just their second defeat of the month, having lost to the same side 1-3 in the ESEA Season 33 Premier Division Europe Finals on Monday.
OG started their road through ESL One Cologne 2020 with a close 2-1 win against the young and talented roster of Ninjas in Pyjamas, who forced the series into two overtimes. Casper “ruggah” Due’s side took the lead with a 19-16 overtime win on Inferno, lost 12-16 on Train, and eked out a 22-19 win on Mirage despite trailing by five rounds at half-time.
Much of OG’s success that day came down to the performances of Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Valdemar “valde” Bj?rn Vangs?, who averaged 1.31 and 1.20 ratings respectively. Their teammates, however, failed to pass the 0.96 mark, with Issa “ISSAA” Murad and Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt both ending the series with 0.92 ratings.
Throughout August, OG played eight games and won four. Since their win against NiP, however, they have not played a single competitive fixture.
SPROUT vs OG ESL ONE COLOGNE 2020 ONLINE BETTING PREDICTIONS
The only previous meeting between these teams took place in June at the cs_summit 6 Online Europe Closed Qualifier, where OG secured a 2-1 win with convincing performances on Train (16-5) and Nuke (16-12). Neither side have made any roster changes since, so it’s fair to assume the balance of power remains much the same.
While Sprout defeated the no.1 CS:GO esports team in the world only a couple of days ago, that result isn’t a true reflection of their quality. They have proven to be BIG’s kryptonite in recent times, winning seven of 14 meetings (7-2-5) with their German rivals. Besides that, Sprout have not beaten any top-15 team since they edged out FURIA 2-1 at the Games Clash Masters in September 2019.
The online format could make this bout a bit closer than it should be, but we have to side with OG. They are a far better team and have Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen as their in-game leader, which should give them a significant edge on the more tactical maps.
OG -1.5 maps
100 THIEVES vs GEN.G CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
100 THIEVES vs GEN.G ESL ONE: COLOGNE 2020 ONLINE – NORTH AMERICA BETTING PREVIEW
The opening round of Group A matches at ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America will see 100 Thieves clash with Gen.G for the first time since cs_summit 6 at the start of July.
That previous encounter marked both teams’ final competitive match before a month-long break. While it ended with Gen.G pocketing a 2-0 win, the fixture was much closer than the final score would lead us to believe.
100 Thieves opened the series with a strong start on Nuke and secured a 9-6 lead by the end of the first half, but Gen.G reversed that score line after the break to force overtime. The two sides then went back and forth for 12 OT rounds, but it was Gen.G who pulled ahead to seal the first map with a 22-20 win.
The series continued on Vertigo, where 100T started slow and ended the first half 5-8 down on their own map pick. The Australian side made up ground on T-side by taking eight of the next 12 rounds, but Gen.G’s advantage proved too great as they wrapped up the series with a 16-13 result.
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That outcome summed up a disappointing campaign for 100 Thieves at cs_summit 6, where they beat Chaos Esports Club (2-0) and Cloud9 (2-0) but lost to Team Liquid (1-2) and Gen.G. Before that, they ran third at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: North America and seventh-eighth at the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Showdown.
A bronze medal from the DreamHack Masters might look good on paper, but a closer look at the results tells a different story. While they defeated Gen.G (2-0) and Cloud9 (2-0) in the group stage, Aaron “AZR” Ward and his crew ended up losing to Evil Geniuses (1-2), FURIA (1-2) and Team Liquid (0-2).
Much like 100 Thieves, Gen.G did not impress anyone with their performances before the break. We can give Damian “daps” Steele and his side some praise for their grand final appearance at cs_summit 6, but even that success was quickly overshadowed by their fourth placing at the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Showdown and fifth-sixth at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020.
Despite their lack of any real success of late, 100 Thieves and Gen.G are still highly respected in their region and sit inside the top 20 in the CS:GO esports world rankings. That said, they can hardly compare to Counter-Strike powerhouses such as G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, Evil Geniuses and Team Vitality.
100 THIEVES vs GEN.G ESL ONE: COLOGNE 2020 ONLINE – NORTH AMERICA BETTING PREDICTIONS
In terms of quality, there is not a lot to set Gen.G and 100 Thieves apart. They are both strong enough to compete with any team in the world, yet they are also inconsistent and usually underperform when faced with the top dogs.
Esports bookmakers have 100 Thieves priced as solid favourites for this clash, but we think the odds should be tighter. Not only have Gen.G defeated 100T before, we must also consider that both teams should be a little rusty after a month off. That usually results in coin-flip matches, so it makes much more sense to side with the underdogs.
It’s also worth noting that Gen.G hold an edge over 100 Thieves in the majority of the maps. While the difference in win percentages is marginal, it’s enough for us to place our money on the outsiders.
Gen.G to win
FNATIC vs ASTRALIS CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
FNATIC vs ASTRALIS ESL ONE: COLOGNE 2020 ONLINE – EUROPE BETTING PREVIEW
Astralis and Fnatic will meet for the fourth time this year in the first round of Group B fixtures at ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – Europe.
With Andreas “Xyp9x” H?jsleth and Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander on leave, Astralis will enter the upcoming competition with a new-look roster featuring the recently signed Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen alongside Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, Emil “Magisk” Reif and Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz.
While the current roster includes most of Astralis�� core, there are questions as to how well es3tag and Bubzkji perform at the highest level of play.
Another thing that may spark some concerns is that Astralis will be playing without their usual in-game leader, gla1ve, with Magisk taking over as the temporary captain of the team. That said, the IGL role does not matter as much in the current online ecosystem as coach Danny “zonic” S?rensen is the one who guides his players through their games.
Unlike Astralis, who have made several adjustments to their roster, Fnatic have not made a single change since acquiring Maikil “Golden” Kunda Selim and Robin “flusha” R?nnquist in September last year.
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Fnatic have seen a fair amount of success from that point on, including gold medals from DreamHack Masters Malm? 2019, Esports Championship Series Season 8 – Europe: Series 5 and ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe. They’ve also made grand final appearances at StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8, Esports Championship Series Season 8, and the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals.
That form saw Fnatic climb to no.2 in the CS:GO global rankings in June, which is their highest placing since April 2018. In recent weeks, however, the Swedes have not been looking too sharp.
Across the last two months, Fnatic managed only a seventh-eighth finish at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe, fifth place at the cs_summit 6 Online: Europe Closed Qualifier, and sixth place at cs_summit 6 Online: Europe after losing to BIG (0-2) in the upper bracket semi-finals, Heroic (1-2) in the second round of the lower bracket and GODSENT (1-2) in the fifth-place decider.
Fnatic’s form before the player break was not too promising, and it’s hard to believe they will look much better this week. The hiatus might have allowed them to rethink their strategies, but the lack of confidence among the squad is the real issue.
FNATIC vs ASTRALIS ESL ONE: COLOGNE 2020 ONLINE – EUROPE BETTING PREDICTIONS
Fnatic and Astralis have met three times this year. The first clash took place at the Intel Extreme Masters XIV World Championship in February, where Astralis came away with a 2-0 sweep. The Danes did not see the same level of success in the next two meetings with their north-eastern neighbours, losing 1-2 at ESL Pro League Season 11 and 1-2 at the ESL One: Road to Rio group stage.
Astralis fielded their core roster in both of those losses, so seeing them enter this match with es3tag and Bubzkji might suggest they will struggle to turn the tables on Fnatic. However, there is more to the story than meets the eye.
Even though es3tag is a huge question mark, Bubzkji has proven time and time again he is worthy of the Astralis banner. His performances at MAD Lions (1.13 rating) alone indicate the young Dane has the potential to become a future CS:GO star. As long as he can keep playing at the same level he has shown across the last eight months, Astralis should not be deprived of any firepower with Bubzkji on the squad.
CS:GO betting sites have Astralis priced around $2.07 for the win, which is huge value that cannot be ignored.
Astralis to win
ESL One: Cologne was scheduled to start on July 23 at the Lanxess-Arena, but those plans were scuppered with Germany’s announcement that lockdown measures would remain in place until the end of August at least. Instead, the CS:GO event will be played behind closed doors during the final weeks of the European summer.
“In the spirit of esports and to keep the competition for players going, this summer��s ESL Pro Tour Masters Championship in Cologne will be transformed into a broadcasted tournament without a live audience on 21-30 August,” read the announcement.
While some parts of Australia could begin easing restrictions in the next few weeks, the state government of Victoria has taken a conservative stance and appears unlikely to budge anytime soon. As such, IEM Melbourne will not take place until August next year.
“IEM Melbourne will no longer take place in 2020, and instead has been rescheduled to 2021. The decision has been reached in light of the current global health situation, and is in line with local restrictions on gatherings,” said the ESL statement.
“We will be heading to Rod Laver Arena at the 2021 edition of the Melbourne Esports Open, which will take place over the weekend of August 21-22, 2021.”
The ESL also declared that fans who have already bought their tickets will be able to use them for next year’s editions. If a ticketholder cannot attend the rescheduled event, they can claim a full refund by the end of 2020.
Meanwhile, the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) and various tournament organisers are currently in talks about changing the dates of the summer and winter player breaks. The summer break was originally scheduled for June 29 to July 31, but it could be shifted to July 15 until August 15 now that ESL One: Cologne has been moved.
]]>SEE ALSO: BETTING ON ESPORTS TOURNAMENTS
Entering the tournament as the second favourites after Astralis, Liquid fought their way to the finals with a streak of dominant performances. The North American giants took down MVP PK, NRG, and NaVi twice to set up a date with Vitality in the finals.
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The deciding series stretched out over four maps, but it was Team Liquid who triumphed with wins on Overpass (16-6), Inferno (16-10) and Mirage (16-7). While the whole Liquid team played well throughout, it was Vitality’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut who took home the ESL One Cologne MVP thanks to an average rating of 1.33 across 17 maps and a high watermark of 1.87 against NRG in the playoffs.
By winning the event, Liquid not only took home $125,000 prize money but also managed to win the Intel Grand Slam and its $1,000,000 reward after only five events. To put it into a perspective, the first IGS season lasted over 500 days and featured 15 events, which shows how good Team Liquid are compared to all other CS:GO esports teams in the world right now.
How exactly Team Liquid found their winning rhythm is up to debate, but there is no denying they have been on a roll since they won IEM Sydney in May. The North American powerhouse seems to get better and better with each passing event, so it seems clear that ‘Astralis era’ is over and ‘Liquid era’ has begun.
NaVi��s road to the last eight was not an easy one. While they took care of FURIA with relative ease (2-0), the third-round match against mousesports on July 4 was a close one that could have gone either way.
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The series took off on Inferno with a fast start from NaVi, who ended the first half 11-4 ahead. They let down their guard in the second half, however, leaving the doors wide open for mousesports to make a comeback. A streak of strong rounds got mouz back on the horse as they managed to mirror NaVi’s first-half score to force overtime at 15-15. The rounds in extra time were closely contested, but it was the Russians who regained their rhythm to close out the map 22-19.
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Mousesports responded well on Dust II, blitzing the early rounds to take a 10-5 lead at the break. Six wins from nine rounds in the second half gave the Germans a 16-8 win to level the series and push it to a third map.
Talking about one-sided performances, Train was just that. After a disappointing display on Dust II, NaVi woke up and outplayed mousesports in all aspects. They won 9-6 in the first half and 7-3 in the second to seal the deal and go one step closer to the $125,000 grand prize which awaits the ESL One champion.
MVP of the match was NaVi star Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, who walked away with an impressive 1.39 rating and a sore back after carrying his team through to the quarter-finals. The 21-year-old is now hoping to reach the semis and tee up a grudge match with his former employers, Team Liquid, against whom NaVi have some unfinished business.
“It does not matter who we face in the quarter-finals, the team I want to face is Liquid,” he said in an interview.
NaVi will play Ninjas in Pyjamas on Friday, July 5, for the right to face Team Liquid in the last four.