Selfless' well-known aggressiveness got them a ticket to the NA Upper Bracket Final, while Liquid, FaZe and Rise Nation end up in the Lower Bracket.
Think you missed something or maybe couldn't watch due to timezones? Don't worry, here's a recap of today's NA action.
Selfless Gaming vs FaZe Clan - Selfless wins, 2-0
Selfless saw a very strong start to the match, putting the pressure on FaZe early on and not letting up until the clock ran out. The first map, King's Row, was the Battle of the Tactical Visors for quite a few battles, with ShaDowBurn going up against Dafran on multiple occasions. Emongg's Roadhog had a few good plays - specifically a triple kill that resulted in Selfless getting the first point and unlocking the payload - but it was the active pressure that Selfless is known for that kept FaZe from really coming into their own on King's Row. Mikeya had a great quad kill with his D.va's Self-Destruct, but it wasn't enough to keep Selfess from blocking them. Selfless secured the first map, 3-2.
Lijang Tower went similarly, with Selfless constantly on the attack and not letting up until the point was captured. Rawkus had two huge Resurrections with his Mercy, both of which turned a losing battle into a convincing victory, which kept Selfless on their toes. His impact was stopped when Emongg put pressure on him, though, and Rawkus was unable to really shake his D.Va and Roadhog during some clutch situations, which kept the Resurrection from going off in the same impactful way it was earlier in the game. Sinatraa helped Emongg out with his Tracer, zooming into the backline to soften up FaZe and Pulse Bomb the enemy into submission to help give Selfless the win on Lijang, 3-1.
Team Liquid vs Rise Nation - Team Liquid wins, 2-1
Rise Nation's roster was switched up a bit, with newcomer Primodulce entering in as a tank trial player for the team.
Route 66 saw Team Liquid looking like the stronger team, with better communication and targeting of enemy heroes throughout the map. AZK in particular did work, taking out Locke's Ana and Primodulce's Reinhardt on multiple occasions; this allowed Liquid to complete the map. When the sides were switched, it was Xretzi's turn to light up the killfeed on his Tracer at the start of the push, which kept up into the first point capture. Unfortunately for him, though, Rise's Spirit was left alone by the majority of Team Liquid for most of the map, which he punished Liquid for with multiple fight-winning kills. Once he was taken care of by Mesr and Shadder2K, it was ID's Widowmaker that took out Spirit's Genji twice to cripple Rise enough for them to fall to Liquid, 4-3.
Lijang was slightly more action-packed, with both teams being able to capture a map apeice to start off the match. Thanks to an early ultimate bank, though, Rise was able to take the third map and get ahead of an ultimate-lacking Liquid. Liquid didn't look as composed as they were on Route 66, with little-impact ulimates and a few mistteps that cost them the map. Rise's Spirit misplayed a Rocket Barrage, which almost allowed Liquid to come back into Lijang. However, Spirit redeemed himself shortly afterwards and was able to clean up a few kills with Xretzi's Tracer to take Lijang for Rise, 3-1.
The decider map, King's Row, had Liquid bouncing back from their Lijang loss to claim victory over Rise. Shadder2k and AZK were able to take out Locke's Ana just as the spawns switched, further delaying Rise from being able to push with a full team. Liquid had over five minutes to take the first point, which they used to channel their inner Selfless and spawn camp Rise until the point was only a few meters away from map completion. A final Tactical Visor from ID had Liquid speedrunning to the third point, with 3:33 left. Rise Nation struggled to make any impact at all while Attacking - getting the first point with thirty seconds on the clock and the second in Overtime - but their luck (and time) ran out and Rise failed to get the third point, resulting in Liquid winning King's Row by a score of 3-2 as well as the match.
Selfless Gaming vs Team Liquid - Selfless wins, 2-1 (with a tie on Hanamura)
Hanamura started off with Selfless on bad footing, with ID's Widowmaker and Rapha's Lucio able to 1-v-2 Emongg's D.va to help Team Liquid blaze through the first point. Liquid had over six minutes to take the second point, but only used about a minute of that time to get two ticks on the point thanks to ID and Shadder2K getting a double kill apiece and AZK cleaning up to open the point up so quickly. Selfless turned into a brick wall on the second point, however, with Emongg's Tactical Visor clearing out most of Liquid at the end of those six minutes to keep them from completing the map. Despite an opening for Selfless to blitz the second point after staggering Dahang's Ana after capturing the first point, Shadder2k's Soldier: 76 helped to lock down the second point for Liquid, resulting in a tie on Hanamura.
The tiebreaker map, a best-of-three Oasis, Liquid was able to take City Center despite a brilliant Pulse Bomb from Sinatraa that took out Dahang's Mercy and ID's Pharah. Successful Pulse Bombs seemed to be bad luck throughout Oasis, however; AZK got a Pulse Bomb double-kill himself - and Mesr even cleaned up with an Earthshatter - but that wasn't enough for Liquid to take University. The two teams were tied up as they went into Gardens, with a misplayed Sound Barrier from Selfless' Dhak proving costly, as it only caught three players from Selfless while Liquid's response Sound Barrier hit all six and allowed Liquid to decisviely win the battle. Selfless forced themselves onto the point shortly thereafter and had an opening to win the map, but Liquid was able to overcome it and take Oasis, 1-2.
King's Row came next, and Selfless rebounded fairly well. Kresnik's Reinhardt had a clutch play where he was able to take ID's D.va out before she was able to go back into her mech to force an opening for Selfless' second point, while Dafran and Sinatraa once again kept up the DPS pressure to complete the map in Overtime. Selfless seemed to respect Liquid going into their defense stage, with Selfless being more cautious in their defenses. It didn't work out for them, though, as Liquid was able to breeze through the first point with over four minutes remaining. Rapha and Dahang were the silent MVPs of the map, with them not only keeping their team alive, but also each other; Rapha's Lucio in particular was a hero for Dahang's Zenyatta when he was hooked by Emongg, booping Emongg before he could complete the kill. Liquid completed the map with :30 left and forcing the map into Overtime.
King's Row went into Overtime, resulting in Liquid having 1:30 and Selfless having 1:00 to go as far as they can on the map. Selfless seemed to come back to themselves, using their minute to go on the offensive completely and get just before the second point. The team was able to press Liquid out of the point for most of their Overtime, resulting in Liquid failing to even capture first point and conceding the map to Selfless, 4-3.
With the match tied, the deciding map went to Nepal, where Selfless took an early lead on Village. Selfless looked like their old selves, able to wipe the floor with Team Liquid and take Village in a decisive 100-0. Liquid started to fight back on Shrine, but it wasn't enough to curtail Selfless' push. Sanctum started out heavily in Selfless' favor which continued throughout the round. Liquid didn't go down fighting, with a hard push that got them to over 60 percent, but it was Michael3D that had the final word, taking out AZK to finish off Liquid and winning the map and match for Selfless.
With that, Selfless moves on to the NA Winners Final, while Liquid moves down into the Losers Bracket alongside FaZe Clan and Rise Nation. The second half of the NA Playoff phase kicks off tomorrow at 4 PM PDT/01:00 CEST.
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