Liquid eliminate Rare Atom from ESL Pro League S17

Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's men claimed revenge against the Chinese team to stay alive in the last chance bracket.

Liquid have advanced to the fourth place decider match in ESL Pro League Group D after dismantling Rare Atom 2-0 in the last chance bracket. The North American side came into the match with a chip on their shoulder after the Chinese team had sent them down to the lower bracket to kick off the tournament, but this time around the match unfolded in completely different fashion as Liquid and Rare Atom opted to switch up the map pool with Nuke and Mirage, a choice which ultimately helped nitr0's side claim victory on both maps.

Liquid are not through to the playoffs quite yet as they must face the winner of Spirit versus Astralis on Sunday for the final spot out of Group D. The North American side have struggled to perform since arriving in Malta and are by no means guaranteed to go through; Spirit already defeated nitr0's men in the lower bracket, and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz always proved a difficult individual for Liquid to shut down in past iterations of their roster.

Rare Atom's run through ESL Pro League also ends following the defeat. They initially impressed with a one-sided win over Liquid and stole a map away from Natus Vincere in the lower bracket before losing the series, but couldn't maintain their upset run deeper into the event. The Chinese team can now turn their attention to the European BLAST Premier Spring Showdown from March 29 - April 2 and have the BLAST.tv Paris Major Asia RMR following immediately afterward.

Rare Atom's punish pick of Nuke backfired heavily at the onset of the series; Liquid put up a stalwart defense coming out of the gates, with a 1vs2 clutch from Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm in the opening pistol round being the catalyst in an 8-1 start for the North American side. Rare Atom finally cracked through the Liquid defenses with an outside smoke wall, and from there the Chinese team reduced the deficit substantially thanks to a handful of clutch rounds going their way, losing just one more round as they brought things back to a more respectable 9-6 scoreline at the break.

Liquid gave no opportunity for Rare Atom to continue that trajectory once the second half got underway, immediately seizing momentum on the attack and winning five rounds in a row, 14-6. Rare Atom managed to only add one round to their tally before Liquid closed things out, 16-7, moving the series on to their own pick of Mirage.

There, Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis ran rampant on the attack, not allowing any room for Rare Atom to respond. An incredibly dominant 12-3 scoreline on the T side gave way to a three-round spree to kick off the second half as Liquid reached match point in swift fashion, with the team bringing the map to an immediate end, 16-5, to eliminate Rare Atom from contention.