Liquid knock out Apeks, survive elimination

The second day of elimination matches continued today, with Apeks Apeks Europe Rank #2 florescent Ava Eugene hype Tautvydas Paldavicius MOLSI Michał Łącki AvovA Auni Chahade batujnax Mehmet Batu Özaslan being the first of the two squads sent home from EMEA's Kickoff winless. On the other hand, Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #25 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak kept their hopes and dreams of attending Masters Bangkok alive, setting up a duel with GIANTX GIANTX Europe Rank #18 purp0 Semyon Borchev Cloud Kirill Nehozhin runneR Emil Trajkovski westside Miłosz Duda tomaszy Tomás Machado in the Lower Round 2 to continue their fight for survival.

Abyss was the first map selected of the series, courtesy of Team Liquid, who last played it in their series against KOI KOI Europe Rank #40 grubinho Grzegorz Ryczko sheydos Bogdan Naumov Filu Dawid Czarnecki flyuh Xavier Carlson soulcas Dom Sulcas and finished with a dominant 13-3 scoreline. Apeks, however, did not plan to submit so easily. The newly-complete roster fielded young Turkish prodigy batujnax for the first time, and the squad hit the ground running.

Early on, Apeks found rounds and momentum by looking for early fights together, allowing them to snowball towards sites against weakened defenders. However, an early timeout called by LohaN on Round 5 after a 1-4 deficit resulted in Liquid slowing down their aggressiveness and disregarding the baits put out by Apeks.

Despite the early picks and multi-frags put out by superstar duelist florescent, Apeks was unable to keep up with Liquid after the change of half. Little by little, Liquid strung rounds together in succession to build a lead Apeks could not catch up to. Two notable players in paTiTek and Keiko displayed spectacular utility and precision, each ending the series with a 1.53 and 1.20 rating as well as a 31% and 54% headshot percentage.

Apeks was not willing to bow out without putting up a fight, however, and exploded onto Pearl before Liquid could compose themselves. The squad racked up an 8-0 lead on defense while burning both of Liquid's timeouts in the process. No longer shackled by Sova, batujnax was a completely different player on Yoru, easily demonstrated by his first half performance. The talent boasted a 2.12 rating on defense accompanied by a whopping 417 ACS, the highest of the entire series. Alongside flor, the two secured a comfortable 9-3 half for Apeks.

Despite the Duelist duo completely dismantling their opponents in the first half of Pearl, Liquid began mounting a comeback in the second half. Even after losing the pistol, they managed to turn a 3-11 scoreline into an 11-13 finisher, one single kill off of taking Apeks to overtime.

To the surprise of none, florescent and batunjax claimed top spots on the leaderboard, but it was Keiko who remained above them both; the remade Controller player ended Pearl 25-17 on Astra with a 1.47 rating, just 0.02 ahead of florescent. His consistent performance in his newfound role was a refreshing sight for Liquid all throughout the series.

Eager to close out the game and rest up for their next series, Liquid took a page out of Apeks' book and rocketed into Haven with an explosive lead. kamyk , who had been playing flex throughout the series, helped bring new ideas and plays to the table on Tejo. His utility and firepower throughout the series were a constant thorn in Apeks' side, allowing for constant reclears and fights.

Everyone on Liquid stepped up, and it seemed as if no wrong could be done. Lurks from nAts returned value, stuns from paTiTek set up kamo , and Keiko could not miss. By the end of Haven's defense, Liquid had flipped the script and set up a 9-3 lead.

Unfortunately for Apeks, there was no comeback to save them; the most the Ascended squad could put together was three consecutive rounds after losing the pistol and eco. Back on Sova, batujnax sat meekly at the bottom of the leaderboard at a 4-16, while florescent held her own but could not turn the tide of the game. After two more rounds, Liquid sealed the deal and sent home Apeks in 13-6 fashion.

Keiko and florescent played miles above their team throughout the series, with the former boasting an overall rating of 1.43 and the latter 1.23. Keiko in particular ended with a +22 K/D and a 50% headshot percentage, standing out from the rest of the competition. He has secured himself another opportunity to showcase his crisp aim and sharp reflexes.

Apeks will have plenty of time to prepare for the next stage of competition, while Liquid aim to keep their run alive against GIANTX. By the end of the day, only eight teams will remain in Kickoff.