SK got revenge from their ESL One New York semifinal match against Liquid, by winning two out of the three maps played at the ELEAGUE Arena in Atlanta. They started out losing big on Inferno, 8-16, but brought it back on Overpass, 16-8, and Mirage, 19-17.

Two glock kills by Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski got Liquid off to a flying start, as the North American team went on to kill all enemies to win the pistol first pistol round on Inferno. SK answered by winning the first two gun rounds, but lost to a force buy by Liquid on the sixth round.

Liquid quickly took the reins of the first half of the map, winning eight out of the ten first rounds, until Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David, winning four 1vs1 for a quad kill including a 1vs2 after plant to score a tally for the Brazilian side. Liquid then went a rampage again, winning every round except the last for an 11-4 partial at the half.

After the match restarted and the teams switched sides, Liquid was back at it, winning the pistol round and then winning the following round with a 1vs2 after plant clutch by Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella. SK were able to win four rounds to conceal how one-sided the map was, but Liquid ultimately took the first map, 16-8.

SK survived Liquid after a third map overtime to keep the playoff dream alive

The second map, Overpass, started better for the Brazilian team, as they were able to win the first three rounds, and the second gun round, immediately putting Liquid at an economic disadvantage. SK, on the attacking side, didn’t give the North American squad a chance. Liquid were only able to link two rounds, twice during the half, as SK cruised to the half up 10-5.

Liquid had the keys to the half after winning the pistol round, but losing two anti-ecos—the latter thanks to a great double p250 entry by Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga—in the first five rounds of the half gave SK a hefty 12-8 lead, which they were able to extend after winning an anti-eco. Eventually SK closed it out, taking the match to a third and final map.

EliGE & co. fell just short of beating SK for a spot in the playoffs

Mirage started with Liquid taking the pistol round on the defending side, in big part thanks to a triple kill by nitr0 playing in underground. Liquid kicked the map off by taking a 7-1 lead before letting SK chain more than two rounds together, when in the ninth round Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo got two entries and four kills to get his team back in the game.

After winning two more rounds, SK gave up one up, but quickly reset Liquid, bringing the half back to an very close 7-8 partial despite a slow start. The second half of the map started with Liquid winning the second pistol round, but two desert eagle headshots by coldzera and two desert eagle kills by fer gave SK on the second half of the map as they took the lead for the first time, 10-9, after winning both anti-ecos.

Liquid brought it back to a tie thanks to a huge four kill round by Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken on A, but SK kept the lead winning three rounds in a row. After winning two rounds, getting to 12-13, Liquid misread SK’s economy. The Brazilians took advantage of a half-buy by Liquid, whose plan to fill their coffers with SMGs backfired as EliGE was immediately taken out by Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo with an AWP.

Despite that loss, though, Liquid won a critical 27th round to get back within one, 13-14, and forcing SK to a triple SMG buy with limited utility on the 28th, which ended with Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano beating FalleN in a 1vs1 after plant. Winning the anti-eco, Liquid and SK found themselves on the 29th round. Liquid tried to explode onto B, but SK were able to stop the North Americans on their tracks to take it into overtime.

SK won two of the three first rounds of the overtime, as Liquid were able to get their one round of the first overtime half to give them a chance to bring it back on the CT side. The North Americans started by winning the first round, tying it 17-17. SK didn’t throw the towel, however, and won the following two rounds to close the match out, 19-17, and stay alive in the tournament.

ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 Best of 3 Liquid Matchpage 1 2 SK 16 Inferno 8 8 Overpass 16 17 Mirage 19