ESL Pro League S18: Team Liquid and Eternal Fire advance to Group D Mid Bracket quarterfinals

The emotions of the ESL Pro League S18 continue, and, with two days of action, we are already very close to knowing who will complete the 16 teams in the playoffs of what could undoubtedly be the last tournament in the CS:GO era.

The table is set for the imminent launch of CS2, and everything points to it being next September 27, 2023. However, this doesn’t mean that CS:GO will shut down immediately, as the ESL Pro League S18 has yet to be finalized.

Now, after two intense and exciting matches, we have Team Liquid and Eternal Fire, asserted their status as favorites to take the victory and advance to the quarterfinals of the Mid Bracket of Group D. As a result, they are now much closer to becoming the Group’s third playoff qualifier.

Let’s see what happened in Team Liquid and Eternal Fire’s matches.

Team Liquid destroy Lynn Vision 2-0

The Group D actions started with the match between the European Team Liquid and the Chinese Lynn Vision, where Liquid pulled out all the stops to take a solid 2-0 victory.

It all started in Anubis, the map pick of Lynn Vision, where we enjoyed an intense and balanced match in the first half, as Team Liquid only managed to take a partial victory by a tight score of 8-7. However, when the sides changed, things changed radically, as Liquid’s offense easily overcame the Chinese defense to take a comfortable 16-9 victory.

Then, the teams moved to Ancient, Liquid’s map pick, where the international squad proved that what happened in the first game against VP was a simple slip. In the first half, Liquid’s offense, once again, wreaked havoc with the defense of the Chinese squad to take a 10-5 partial victory. Finally, at the change of sides, after 7 rounds, Team Liquid took a solid 16-6 victory.

.@TeamLiquidCS send @Lynnvision_ down to the Last Chance Bracket after defeating them 2-0!

16-9 Anubis
16-6 Ancient#ESLProLeague pic.twitter.com/F1sacsvFno

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 21, 2023

Eternal Fire defeat 9INE by 2-0

The other match played in the Mid Bracket of Group D was between Eternal Fire and 9INE, where we expected a very intense series, so we had it. Eternal Fire got a 2-0 win, but both maps were evenly matched, and any of the two could have taken the victories.

It all started in Anubis, Eternal Fire’s map pick, where we enjoyed a back-and-forth match and a pitched battle from the beginning. In the first half, the Turks managed a narrow victory over the Poles by 8-7. However, 9INE didn’t sit back and worked in a big way in the second half to win 8-7 and send the map to Overtime. Finally, after 4 rounds in OT, Eternal Fire took the victory by 19-15.

On the second map, Vertigo, things started just as evenly as on Anubis, as this time, the Poles of 9INE took a partial victory in the first half by 8-7. However, at the change of sides, the Turks stepped up and put up a really solid defense by Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş (2.22 Rating and 148.3 ADR) to win 9 out of 12 rounds and thus take an excellent 16-11 victory.

.@eternalfiregg get their first win of #ESLProLeague Season 18 after a 2-0 victory over @9INEGG!

19-15 Anubis
16-11 Vertigo pic.twitter.com/6VXI1QMIHW

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 21, 2023

Header: ESL