Team Liquid failed to avenge their Starladder quarterfinal loss and lose to Astralis in the first semifinal of ESL One: New York.

Astralis Fends Off Liquid. Evil Geniuses Crush G2 For Slot In Grand Final

Team Liquid opened up the first map (Vertigo) with six quick rounds off of Jonathan “Elige” Jablonowski’s magnificent defense. Astralis managed to get around via the B site bomb plant to end the drought at the 7th round. Liquid’s Russel ” Twistzz” Van Dulken answered right back for the home team, winning a 1v1 against Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen. The Danish squad tried clawed their way back into the game but ended the round at a 6-9 deficit.

It was all Astralis in the second half, however, thanks to opening frags by their IGL Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander. The Danes silenced the home crowd through their patented executes as they swept the second half 16-9.

Astralis 1 – 0 Team Liquid

It was quite the opposite on the second map (Dust 2), which was Liquid’s map selection. Astralis blitzed through the first 4 rounds on CT side. Liquid then won the next 3. In round 8, Liquid managed to plant the bomb on A site. A beautiful retake by Astralis left Elige alone on short facing 3 Danes on top of the bomb. Despite having zero frags at that point, he scored 3 headshots to clutch out the round for Liquid. This prompted a thunderous roar from the crowd. The clutch gave the American squad enough momentum to shut out the rest of the half from Astralis, 11-4.

Liquid started the second half strong, earning match point after winning the first 4 rounds on CT side. Astralis then refused to back down and wins the next 5 to bring the score to 15-9. However, when Astralis tried to rush B in round 25, chaos ensued. Elige opens the round with a frag on gla1ve as he and AWPer Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz push through double doors. Emil “Magisk” Reif and Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth then pushed through a smoked tunnel and into the B site defenders. They traded frags with Jacky “Stewie2k” Yip who got himself caught in a molotov. In the end, Liquid managed to get all 5 members of Astralis, forcing a final map in the Bo3.

Astralis 1 – 1 Team Liquid

The third map (Overpass) was more of the same with Liquid leading 5-1 then Astralis taking the next two rounds.

Any time you watch two top teams in the world playing at their absolute best, fans are in for a treat. That was the story of this entire series. Even if HLTV ranked Team Liquid #1 and Astralis #2, I’d say they could be 1a and 1b. No other team has even come close to these two teams for quite some time.

Astralis tied the first half at 7 apiece after Elige manages to win a 1v1 against gla1ve but was a split second too late to defuse the bomb. They then ended the half on a win, pulling ahead 8-7.

It was more of Astralis in the second half as they win the first 5 rounds, 13-7. In round 21, Liquid pushed through monster and right into Astralis’ crosshairs but they managed to get into the site. Stewie2k, left alone, clutched a 2v1 against dev1ce and dupreeh for Liquid’s first round of the half. The two teams traded rounds until round 29, the score 15-13 in favor of Astralis. With Liquid desperate to stay in the game, they force a B site to execute again. Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella gets picked off in Along trying to fake Astralis. Keith “NAF” Markovic traded his life for B site control. Magisk then fragged Twistzz in construction, leaving Stewie2k and Elige in a 2v4. Elige took out Magisk while Stewie planted the bomb. The crowd was on edge as they prayed for their home team’s survival.

It wasn’t meant to be. Stewie2k lost his duel against dupreeh in monster, pre-firing too early and Astralis overwhelmed the remaining Liquid member, Elige. They ended the match in thrilling fashion, 16-13.

Winner: Astralis 2-1

Evil Geniuses continued to surprise; edge out G2 Esports in the second semifinal of ESL One: New York

Evil Geniuses open up the series by winning the first 6 rounds of the first map (Dust 2). They were led by Ethan “Ethan” Arnold who had 8 frags and no deaths. G2 broke the streak in round 7 off of an A-site retake. However, EG continued to put the hurt on G2 though, pushing the score to 10-2. In round 13, G2 Esports successfully defended the A site against a similar execute, thanks to a 2v1 clutch by Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey. That boosted their morale and their economy en-route to finishing the half down by 5, 10-5.

G2 tried to make it close, scoring 3 rounds in the second half to make it 11-8. However, it was the EG show after that as they won every round thereafter, 16-8 and up one map in the Bo3.

Evil Geniuses 1 – 0 G2 Esports

Evil Geniuses continued to display their dominance in the second map (Nuke), winning the first 8 rounds on T side. In round 9, Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz opened the round with a pick on kioShiMa. After a series of trades, Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov was left alone and tried to save his weapon but François “AmaNEk” Delaunay caught him going up the vents, scoring G2 their first round of the map. EG then quickly won two rounds back, putting them up 10-2. G2 won 2 more before Tarik “tarik” Celik frags Lucas “Lucky” Chastang with a deagle headshot, ending the half on an intimidating 11-4 score.

The French squad tried to be competitive in the second half, winning 3 rounds. They almost won a fourth but Audric “JaCkz” Jug came up short couldn’t find the last frag as time ran out. That was the story for this G2 team all series as Evil Geniuses closed out the map and the series 16-7.

Winner: Evil Genuises 2-0

Astralis and Evil Geniuses will face off in the CS:GO Grand Final of ESL One: New York on Sept. 30.