EG to face Astralis in the finals of ESL One: New York 2019

Cover Image Courtesy: ESL Counter-Strike | Thumbnail Image Courtesy: ESL Counter-Strike

The third day of ESL One: New York 2019 witnessed the two semifinal matches take place, which resulted in a grand finale revenge match-up between Astralis and Evil Geniuses, set to go down tonight at Barclays Center in New York City.

Astralis Defeat Liquid. Again.

The Danes seem to have figured out the playstyle adopted by Team Liquid, as they take them down ‘2-1’ to move on to the grand finals.

With revenge on their mind, after a loss in the quarterfinals of the Berlin Major 2019, Liquid once again found themselves to be ineffective on Vertigo. Astralis did not take the match-up lightly and selecting Vertigo as their map pick, secured themselves a comfortable ‘1-0’ lead in the three-game series.

But Liquid was not done yet as the NA squad made a comeback on their map pick, Dust 2. After a shaky start, Liquid hit Astralis hard in the first half playing T-sided and went on to secure the game to equalise the series.

Down to the last map, it was all down to Overpass once again. With Astralis winning a game under similar circumstances, Liquid was a bit concerned, and this reflected in their gameplay. The boys in blue did not enjoy a successful CT-side and could not do much in the second half as well.

The decider was close but Astralis secured the game in its favour to move on to the grand finale.

This time around it wasn’t device that led the charge, instead, gla1ve and dupreeh, who don’t come into the limelight often, were the once who lead the Danish attack.

Evil Geniuses - Undefeated

After staying undefeated throughout the Group Stage, which involved a ‘2-0’ victory over Astralis as well, the newly formed NA squad took it up a notch by reaching the finale without a scratch upon their armour.

G2 Esports are in good form and they didn’t commit all too many mistakes, but the way EG have been playing at the moment, even your best seems to be mediocre in front of them.

Giving Brehze a bit of a break, CeRq continued to hammer through the opposition, but joining him was Ethan, who top fragged for his side against G2, finishing with a +16 KDA.

EG went on to defeat G2 on Dust 2 and Nuke, but the thing that was concerning is the way in which G2 lost. EG did not let the French side reach double digits on the scoreboard. Even after combining their scores from the two matches they only managed to win a total of 15 rounds.

Highlights

• NAF using his sidearm to guide EliGE through burning mollies who was blinded by a flash.
  
  

• EliGE getting his 30,000th kill after clutching a 1v3 situation.
  
  

• Device holds the site with his AWP.
  
  

• EliGE almost gets a clutch defuse.

With this, EG goes into the finals to faceoff against Astralis once again in a three-match series. Let’s see if EG is able to win the first tournament it steps into or do Astralis attain victory, reaching closer to their aim of toppling Liquid from the top spot and reclaiming the throne.