As the quarterfinals of the Berlin Major concluded, we saw some of the heavy favorites fall at the hands of those who could be labeled as underdogs without performing like one.
ENCE VS RENEGADES
ENCE and Renegades kicked things off with the odds heavily favoring Renegades, but the outcome was quite the opposite. The pundits over at Berlin predicted a clean victory for ENCE while prominent analyst and form pro player SPUNJ stuck with his home team to make it through to the next stage. The match saw yet another exceptional performance from Jks who had one of the best tournaments of his life. The match started off with Renegades picking Mirage which is a stronghold for their side – ENCE didn’t stand a chance. The scores favored Renegades 11-4 in the first half, with ENCE managing to get only one round at the T Side, eventually handing Renegades a 16-5 victory. The second map was Nuke which seemed on paper to be a tactically elected map from ENCE as they have quite the history favoring them in Nuke. Quite the opposite could be said for Renegades, but things didn’t turn up as the stats showed. Renegades were able to come out on top again despite trailing in the first half by 3 rounds, but once they moved over to the T-Side, they controlled the momentum around the map by taking 10 rounds and only giving ENCE 3 rounds on Nuke – what is believed to a CT sided map.
AVANGAR VS VITALITY
The 2nd favorite to fall was the French side in Vitality although they managed to take the second map after losing the first map against the side from Kazakhstan. They fell short in the third map handing Avangar their best finish in a major. All of this was made possible by poor micromanagement and a misfiring Zywoo who was much needed to step up but failed to do so. Their clash began on Mirage with Avangar leading on the first half by a round and winning 8 in the latter half, thus closing the map with a 16-9 scoreline. Vitality were quick to respond taking the following map Inferno with a solid performance managing a 16-11 victory as they evened out the series. But Buster and Jame came through for Avangar in the third map as they closed Dust 2 with a 16-10 victory making their way into the semis.
NAVI vs NRG
This was a match heavily favoring the Ukrainian side both in terms of star power and experience, but NRG under veteran IGL Stanislaw was able to upset the side whose squad boasts about having the best player in the world in mighty s1imple. But yet again another favorite walked into their doom despite having enough confidence but a rough tournament by their standards. The teams fought off on Dust 2 what seemed to be a pretty even map for both sides as they shared almost the same statistics on paper. The match was fairly close with NRG leading the first half by 5 rounds and NAVI managing 6 rounds on the second giving NRG a 16-12 scoreline going into the second map Mirage. Mirage was a much closer map as NAVI managed to force overtime but managed only 2 rounds past the first 30. NRG qualified by winning 4 rounds in OT with Tarik and Cerq playing exceptionally well for the North American side.
LIQUID VS ASTRALIS
The highlight match of the quarter final was the final clash between the former and current best team. On paper, the odds heavily favored Astralis as Liquid managed to get the better of them throughout the year taking every single series from them. But Astralis came to stage prepared and made a statement by upsetting the obvious favorites with a clean 2-0 victory. Momentum swayed both ways but the Danes were able to come out on the top with two consecutive victories on Overpass and Vertigo, 16-13 and 16-8 respectively. Dev1ce certainly showed he is ready to be back in the conversation for the best player in the world beside s1imple and Zywoo lately. Astralis were tactically superior and held their nerve and didn’t let Liquid players and their history get into their heads. Overall a solid performance from the Danish side to book themselves a spot in the Semi-Finals.