ESL Professional League Season 16 Quarterfinals Recap

We transfer one step nearer to the tip of one other season of EPL — and what a step it was

After two days of thrilling motion, the Quarterfinals of ESL Professional League Season 16 have come to an finish. The unique 24 groups are actually down to only 4 — Cloud9, Workforce Liquid, Workforce Vitality and G2 Esports. Throughout the subsequent two days, one group will probably be topped Season 16 champions, whereas the others can have solely the expertise — and a good paycheck for making it this far — to cherish.

If you happen to haven’t been following the Playoffs, you'll be able to check out our Spherical of 12 recap to stand up to hurry. For individuals who are absolutely up to date, right here’s a quick breakdown of every match. 

Cloud9 vs FaZe Clan 

Coming into the event as favorites, FaZe undoubtedly had excessive expectations of themselves regardless of a comparatively shaky Group Stage the place they misplaced to G2 and dropped maps to MIBR and Outsiders. They presently have arguably the strongest group on paper, and with the million-dollar Intel Grand Slam on the playing cards, would have liked to wrap issues up with this event. Nonetheless, the CIS boys of an American group had different plans.

The Match

The series started with Inferno, which was FaZe’s choose, and so they confirmed precisely why with a 16-13 victory. Helvijs “broky” Saukants and Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken outperformed the remaining to hold their group to victory, coming in sturdy to take 8 rounds on T-side after a shaky activate the CT-side. Sergey ”Ax1Le” Rykhtorov was in kind for C9, however his efforts went in useless.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR4Pu7evBCM[/embed]

On C9’s choose of Historical, nonetheless, issues modified drastically. Ax1Le stepped up massively for an unimaginable 1.79-rated efficiency with 27 kills because the Russians and Kazakh marched to a complete 16-9 win. Grabbing a whopping 9 rounds on T-side earlier than FaZe salvaged just a few of their very own, C9 utterly shut down any makes an attempt at a comeback with a 7-2 scoreline on the protection. Robin “ropz” Kool was nice for FaZe, however his teammates had been merely not on top of things.

It’s a mark of simply how in-form Ax1Le is that he outperformed everybody else as soon as once more, including an extra 27 kills to his title as his group received 16-11 on Mirage. Abay “HObbit” Hasenov was additionally sensible this time round with 25 kills of his personal. As soon as once more, it was the T-side that stood out for the CIS group. 

MOUZ vs Workforce Liquid 

MOUZ had been the shock quarter-finalists at this occasion, with everybody having anticipated Astralis, Heroic, and even ENCE of their stead. The younger squad, nonetheless, doesn’t fairly have the consistency required to win such an enormous occasion — no less than not but. Workforce Liquid aren't any stranger to such runs, and so they proved that they're able to make yet one more. 

The Match

Regardless of an incredible effort from David ”frozen” Čerňanský, Liquid cruised to a snug 16-10 victory on their very own map choose of Inferno. Keith “NAF” Markovic and Liquid’s predominant man Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski had been in prime nick for their very own group as they took a whopping 11 rounds on T aspect and closed it out regardless of a scary begin to their protection.

Historical was just about the identical story, with frozen standing head and shoulders above the remaining however thwarted by EliGE and, this time, Joshua “oSee” Ohm. MOUZ had a good begin to the match with 6 rounds on what's unarguably a tough T-side, however Liquid confirmed that their very own strats had been no much less harmful as they closed out the map and series with a rating of 16-11 on the previous. 

G2 Esports vs Natus Vincere 

This was one of the eagerly-awaited matches of the Playoffs to this point, and it paid dividends to these hoping for it to be an excellent recreation. It was a battle between long-time superstars and a famous person within the making all thrown in collectively, with revenge, delight, and popularity all on the road for 2 huge groups.

The Match

On Na’ Vi’s map choose of Mud 2, the Ukrainians had a good T-side with 6 rounds, however shut down the attackers to take the map 16-13. Who else however Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev topped the charts with an HLTV ranking of 1.55, undoing the arduous work of fellow famous person Nikola “NiKo” Kovač on the opposite aspect.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pvHep7fJCk[/embed]

On Inferno, nonetheless, the story was reversed as NiKo and Justin “jks” Savage boosted G2 to a assured 16-9 win. The French group successful each halves and completely outclassing their opponents.

It’s a mark of simply how good younger Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov is that he had a ridiculous 1.89 ranking towards the likes of Na’ Vi. Supported by NiKo, the Russian dismantled his opponents on each halves as his group waltzed to a snug 16-9 triumph, successful the series 2-1. 

Workforce Vitality vs Outsiders

Hardly ever can a CSGO recreation with an in depth scoreline be referred to as “boring,” but when something can come near that, it was this matchup between the 2 most defensive and affected person groups on this planet. Each groups started saving any time one or two gamers on their aspect died, and whereas we perceive it may be an efficient technique underneath sure circumstances, it was painful to observe at instances with the throwing of a easy smoke being part of the spherical’s highlights because it ended with 8 folks alive. 

The Match

Vitality had a dominant begin to Mirage as they took a 10-5 lead on the CT aspect, and regardless of an awesome try on the protection by Outsiders on what was their map choose, the French clan took the win 16-13. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut was the standard suspect who led the way in which for his group, with Pyotr “fame” Bolyshev’s efforts falling brief.

Mud 2 was a slow-burn warfare of attrition as the 2 groups had 9-6 halves to take the match into Extra time. In the long run, Vitality managed to shut out the sport, with ZywOo as soon as once more stepping up — this time joined by Emil “Magisk” Reif.

We may even be protecting the Semifinals and Grand Last, so be sure you be a part of us for the recaps of these matches.

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