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Top Aussie squad SemperFi showed plenty of fight in their final European outing at ESL Pro League Season 23, but ultimately they'll return to Australia without a series win in the Swiss stage.
SemperFi took a map from a hapless Team Liquid in the eliminator and cut it close against PARIVISION in the opening series of the event, but otherwise it was an expected result from a team ranked lowest in attendance.
.@TeamLiquidCS crush the dreams of @semperfiESC and send them packing from #ESLProLeague S23 with a 2-1 victory 💔 pic.twitter.com/2C7cSVq3cs
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 3, 2026
It was a tough road to begin with for SemperFi who were drawn against top-two squad PARIVISION for their Swiss stage opener. The OCE squad struggled on Mirage, but pushed Dzhami "Jame" Ali's men to the edge on Dust 2, winning nine rounds from 10 to threaten a comeback boil over.
PARIVISION rallied to hold off SemperFi on Dust 2 13-11, before French squad 3DMAX dispatched of the OCE squad 2-0 (13-8, 13-7) with relative ease. In both maps, SemperFi entered the second half tied 6-6, but struggled to hold off the Bryan "Maka" Canda-led T-sides.
It was more of the same against Liquid in the eliminator, at least to begin with. A 6-6 first half on Dust 2 was all but forgotten after Guy "NertZ" Iluz led TL to a seven-round shutout of SemperFi's CT side.
There was hope for the series after a keen (17-8. 1.40) and ADDICT (14-9, 1.37) masterclass on Mirage CT side — their first solid CT side at the event — was eventually converted into a 13-7 win.
.@semperfiESC put AU CS on the map and close out Mirage 13-7 against @TeamLiquidCS and send us to Inferno as the decider here at #ESLProLeague S23 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BOSVPXvcTK
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 3, 2026
Map three saw Inferno, and a brutal 10-2 Liquid T-side seemingly consigned SemperFi to doom. The boys kicked into gear, putting together a valiant comeback attempt, but Liquid's lead was too strong, closing out the series 13-9 and sending the OCE squad home.
The EPL exit wraps SemperFi's EU excursion which included the online Swiss stage, three offline events, and two online qualifiers for PGL Bucharest. SemperFi head home with a 9-20 map record and just one best-of-three win over Lilmix in the United21 Esplay Challenge.
According to HLTV, SemperFi gained approx. 30 VRS points from these events, but with THUNDER dOWNUNDER dominating opposition at home, their no. 2 spot behind FlyQuest was lost throughout February and March.
SemperFi now aim to snatch that spot back when they head home to Brisbane for the DFRAG Wildcard LAN Season 1, kicking off March 12.
