The decider phase of the Champions Paris group stage began today with a fateful rematch between KIWOOM DRX KIWOOM DRX Korea Rank #5 yong Kim Ho-yong (김호용) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) Flicker Kim Tae-hee (김태희) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) and Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #13 purp0 Semyon Borchev nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin kamo Kamil Frąckowiak trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Kicks Kimmie Laasner . After sweeping past Liquid in their opening match, DRX put EMEA's top seed away once more, this time punching their ticket to playoffs and eliminating Liquid on home soil.

The map veto was a puzzle for Liquid. Both of the maps that they had won versus EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰) in the lower bracket, Abyss and Bind, were the same exact maps that they had already lost previously to DRX.

In need of a change, Liquid picked a surprise Corrode despite being 1-2 on the map this year. The real curveball, however, was a shocking Waylay pick by nAts of all players, making it his first time ever playing Duelist after over five years of competition. kamo and trexx also switched up their agent picks, going over to Neon and Vyse.

The first half was a back-and-forth 6-6 affair. After Liquid won the pistol round and the first buy round to lead 3-1, DRX stabilized their defensive setups to string together four in a row, but Liquid replied with an attack Operator from nAts in round 9 to keep the half close.

The second half was where DRX pulled ahead. Liquid took an eco in round 16 after falling to the bonus, but that was one of only two rounds that they managed to win for the rest of the map. DRX demonstrated greater polish with the double-Duelist composition, overwhelming Liquid with clean B executes, while Liquid struggled with gaps in execution in many of their aggressive set plays. The Korean squad ultimately took Corrode 13-8. Flashback and MaKo topped the scoreboard statistically, with the former going 22/14 on Yoru and the latter going 20/12 on Omen.

The next map was DRX's pick of Abyss, which had gone 13-8 in their favor the last these teams faced. Neither side changed compositions, putting the onus on Liquid to prove that they had learned from their previous encounter.

Liquid got off to a strong 5-2 start, winning five rounds after dropping the pistol with patient, methodical play and some individual heroics from kamo, who totaled 13 kills in the half. DRX, however, found the adjustments they needed, leveraging their ultimates to draw even at 5-5 and then 6-6.

A frenzied round 12 is clutched out with a 1v2 from BeYN .

Much like the first map, DRX once more distinguished themselves in the second half, winning a second pistol round to open up a lead. A 1v3 from Flashback was the nail in the coffin—from there, DRX tore away with seemingly unstoppable site hits, winning out to a comfortable 13-7 victory.

Flashback pulls off an unlikely 1v3 to seal Liquid's fate.

Sharp shots from HYUNMIN close out the series for DRX.

HYUNMIN commanded the server on Waylay, ending the map with 24 kills, 222 ADR, and a 1.47 rating, while Flashback on Yoru delivered across the series with a cumulative 40/26 K/D and 180 ADR over both maps.

With this win, DRX continues their trend of qualifying to Champions playoffs every year even as Pacific's fourth seed, sending Liquid home empty-handed and cementing themselves as a contender to watch for the rest of the event.