Team Liquid vs Ghost Gaming – ESL Pro League NA Season 9

The ESL Pro League NA Season 9 has kicked off with the group phase. Some of the best teams in the NA are competing for supremacy in one of the oldest competitions. The first phase of the competition will end on 23rd May. After the playoffs, the winners will qualify for the finals.

You can catch all the live action on the official streams of the ESL. The streams are available on the renowned streaming platforms: YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. We should remind you that final event of the ESL PRO League Season 9 is included in the Grand Slam Circuit of Intel. The Intel Grand Slam is a special prize of $1,000,000. This attractive amount will be awarded to the team that wins four out of ten Grand Slam competitions. Last year it was won by Astralis. Now, we will have to wait and see if they can win it again in 2019.

Format

In Round 1 of ESL, teams from the Americas are divided into four groups of four teams each. The groups are being played in the points system, where the games will be played in a best of three (BO3) format. The first ranked team from each group will qualify directly for the world finals. While the second and third-ranked sides will have to try their luck in Round 2. In Round 2 the teams will be divided into two groups of four teams each, with matches played also in BO3 format. The winners of each group qualify for the world finals. The championship world finals take place between 21 and 23 June in France. The 16 best teams in the regional qualifiers will compete for a total prize of US $ 750,000.

The meeting is between Team Liquid and Ghost Gaming. The purpose of picking this match is to have a comprehensive look into Team Liquid. The NA side has flourished since they made a couple of changes to their roster. Let’s see if this team has what it takes to defeat the NA underdog, Ghost.

Team Liquid vs Ghost Gaming (ESL Pro League Season 9, Best of 3 series, APR 19, 2019, 2:15 AM CEST)

Team Liquid

Over the years, it is fair to say that Team Liquid has become a force to be reckoned with in the NA region. In 2018, they were ranked 4th place in the global ranking, but since the turn of the year, the NA side has been quite exceptional. They have beaten Astralis in two of the past three meetings of 2019. This just shows that the team will be eyeing the 1st spot come to the end of 2019.

The exceptional rise of Liquid can be attributed to the recruitment of Stewie2k into its ranks. The young starlet previously competed for the Major-winning team of Cloud9. After that, he surprisingly signed for SK Gaming where he didn’t exhibit impressive performances. As a result, the Brazilian side traded Stewie for TACO. Initially, the fans criticized Liquid for signing a “one hit wonder”, even some of the renowned analysts expected Stewie to fail. Yet, it is safe to say that, Liquid is a much better side than they were with TACO.

The NA team still needs to improve at some positions to become the best. Since Liquid disappointed in the Katowice Major. Nonetheless, we believe that the NA side is in a good position and the results will only improve for the team.

Liquid going Strong

Liquid has participated in four tournaments since the arrival of Stewie2K. The first competition was the iBUYPOWER Masters IV where the team was proclaimed the champion after defeating Astralis in the final. After this impressive result, Liquid was expected to finish in the top 4 of the Intel Extreme Masters XIII – Katowice Major 2019. But, the team failed and the side was eliminated in the quarterfinals by ENCE. This should have brought some criticism on the NA side, but since ENCE even beat Na’Vi, the fans were just satisfied with the result.

A few, weeks after the Major Liquid was invited to participate in the BLAST Pro Series: São Paulo 2019. On the Brazilian soil, they barely made it to the final after finishing at the 2nd place by only rounds-won difference. But they gave their grand finale opponents a tough time. After the end of the best of three series, Astralis won 2-1. In the league phase of the competition, Liquid beat FaZe, NiP, and MIBR.

So close yet so far

The last competition Liquid competed in was the BLAST Pro Series: Miami 2019. The NA side was absolutely reckless in the first phase, where they beat, Astralis, Cloud9, Na’Vi, MiBR and Faze. They finished the group phase with a flawless 5-0 record. Yet the team again failed to win the competition, since they were defeated by FaZe in the final. It is fair to say that Liquid was completely demolished as they were beaten 16-6 in one of the games of the series.

The team will be arriving in the Blast Pro Series, for redemption. They will not face either Astralis or FaZe in this phase of the competition. But Liquid can meet them in the ESL Finals, before that, they will have to win the first round by beating Ghost and other teams in the group.

We believe that Liquid will come out as the strongest team of NA. Teams like Ghost stand little to no chance against one of the best teams in the world.

Lastly, this will be a best of three series so it is highly unlikely for Ghost to win the series. They might take a game off Liquid. Yet, with the recent form of the team, it will be an impossible task for Ghost to win.

Final Verdict

Team Liquid 2-0 Ghost Gaming

Odds on bookmakers

Bookmakers	Team Liquid Odds		Ghost Gaming Odds
	European	American	European	American
GG.bet	1.21	-476.19	4.07	+307.00
1Xbet	1.16	-625.00	5.60	+460.00
Pinnacle	1.17	-588.24	5.02	+402.00
Betway	1.15	-666.67	4.75	+375.00