Liquid blow Astralis out of IEM Winter

The second elimination match of the day featured Team Liquid and Astralis. The clash of two former titans who now met each other in a lower bracket elimination match.

With the first pick of the match, Astralis unsurprisingly went with Nuke, the map that has looked like the cornerstone of their new lineup.
The Americans got their foot in the door very early on taking x rounds, but always with the Danes making it interesting, and keeping the TL economy in check. Astralis were able to get several bomb plants throughout the first half, but “FalleN” and co. were simply too skilled in the retakes. Astralis had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps in the second half, as they only entered it with 1 round, while Liquid was sitting on 14.
Team Liquid kept their gas pedal down and swiftly finished what they had started, and took the win at 16-1, handing Astralis their biggest loss ever on Nuke.

The second map to be played was Mirage picked by Team Liquid. This was a bit surprising since Overpass was open, and they have a 100% win rate on the map recently.
Astralis started out much better on map #2, showing that they would not be deterred by the battering they took on Nuke. After ten rounds it was split down the middle with no team able to pull away. A very brawly half ended as close as possible with the Americans just barely taking the lead at halftime 8-7.
Astralis briefly reclaimed the lead after winning the pistol, but after several rounds with time troubles, it was again the Americans in front. They kept the lead until the final whistle, taking eight rounds in a row to close out the map at 16-10.

With this result, Astralis is eliminated from IEM Winter 2021, while Team Liquid live to fight again tomorrow versus the winner of the OG vs. NIP matchup.

Highlight of the BO3-series:

Liquid – Astralis (1-0) | IEM Winter 2021 

16-1 (Nuke) |

Grim – 1.76 Rating / 18-9 K-D / 123.2 ADR

16-10 (Mirage) |

blameF – 1.45 Rating / 26-19 K-D / 112.0 ADR

IEM Winter 2021 overview – Gambit vs. Virtus.pro (0-2)

While Astralis were getting their asses kicked by Liquid, Gambit was taking on Virtus.pro in the Grop B upper semi-final. Here it was Virtus.pro that ran away with the win after two very long and close games.
This sends Virtus.pro on to the Upper Final of Group B, while Gambit has to fight for survival versus FaZe.

15-19 (Dust2) |

Jame – 1.43 Rating / 25-13 K-D / 82.1 ADR

14-16 (Vertigo) |

Jame – 1.32 Rating / 22-11 K-D / 70.8 ADR