Liquid to EPL semi

Liquid came from behind to beat EnVyUs 2-1 and progress to the last-four stage at the ESL Pro League Season 5 finals.

The series kicked off on Cobblestone, Liquid's map pick, and it was the North Americans who came out the livelier of the two as they stormed to an 8-1 lead. EnVyUs' defence then finally came to life as they picked up two rounds in a row, the second of which thanks to a quad kill from Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom, but Liquid kept the Frenchmen at bay and closed out the half with a commanding 11-4 lead.

With the sides now reversed, EnVyUs took control of the game. A triple kill from Christophe "⁠SIXER⁠" Xia in the pistol round set his team up for a massive run to tie the game at 11-11.

Liquid then brought EnVyUs' streak to an end on a force-buy, with Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski getting three kills with the CZ, and they followed that up with another round. Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer immediately called a tactical pause to keep the momentum from swinging to the opposing side, and the move paid off as they won five of the next six rounds to take the map, 16-14.

Liquid through to the semi-finals

Train was the map that followed, and here EnVyUs got out to a fast 3-0 lead on the Terrorist side. After building up their bank, Liquid won four rounds in a row, with EnVyUs restoring parity thanks to three very important kills from Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy. Liquid responded by taking three rounds in a row, but EnVyUs did not let their opponents run away with the lead and brought the deficit to a minimum at the end of the half.

The second half began with Liquid taking the pistol round with a B execute, with Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz picking up three kills. After losing both eco rounds, EnVyUs finally got a few rounds on the board on the CT side, cutting the gap to 11-10. However, Liquid were unwilling to let their lead slip and won five rounds in a row to lock down the map, 16-10.

SIXER put in a great display, but it was not enough

It all came down to Nuke, where Liquid jumped out to a 5-0 lead on the CT side. After calling a timeout, EnVyUs almost secured their first round of the map, but Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano clutched a 1v2 situation, leaving the Frenchmen frustrated.

Liquid continued shutting EnVyUs down, with the scoreline blooming to a 12-0 advantage for the North Americans. It was only then that EnVyUs finally managed to get a round, courtesy of a 1v2 clutch from SIXER, but they were unable to follow it up, with Liquid ending the half with a dream 14-1 lead.

EnVyUs found a lifeline by taking the pistol round as CT thanks to three quick headshots from Alexandre "⁠xms⁠" Forté in the lower bombsite. The following anti-eco also went their way, but once Liquid got money in the bank it was all over for the Europeans.

ESL Pro League Season 5 FinalsBest of 3 EnvyMatchpage 1 2 1st June 2017 Liquid 16Cobblestone 14 10Train 16 4Nuke 16

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	63 - 48	+15	101.0	1.40
Josh 'jdm64' Marzanojdm64	66 - 46	+20	78.8	1.30
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	58 - 46	+12	87.3	1.29
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	59 - 50	+9	83.1	1.22
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	50 - 42	+8	65.0	1.02

Envy	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Adil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomScreaM	56 - 60	-4	76.4	1.03
Christophe 'SIXER' XiaSIXER	48 - 51	-3	69.3	0.98
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	46 - 61	-15	68.7	0.85
Alexandre 'xms' Fortéxms	44 - 61	-17	66.5	0.83
Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy	36 - 63	-27	66.1	0.65

Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy Age: 27 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 644 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.70 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 19 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 543 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.70 Christophe 'SIXER' Xia Age: 26 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 232 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.65 Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer Age: 25 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1019 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.66 Alexandre 'xms' Forté Age: 20 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 239 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.69 Josh 'jdm64' Marzano Age: 27 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 544 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 470 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom Age: 22 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 949 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.65