Liquid eliminate BIG
BIG's Cologne dreams have ended even before it could get underway as Liquid eliminated tabseN and his boys in the IEM Cologne 2023 Play-in. Liquid now will face 9INE to get a spot in the Group Stages of IEM Cologne 2023.
It was BIG's pick of Vertigo that got things underway and Liquid took the opening pistol starting on the T side. Liquid started strong on the T side as they were 6-2 up in no time, with BIG struggling to keep up. It was a prosus triple which saw BIG put up their third and first convincing gun round. A YEKINDAR 1v2 on the B site saw Liquid win the half but BIG strung five in a row and ended the half with a 7-8 deficit.
Source: ESL
A Krimbo double saw BIG pick up the second pistol to tie the game at 8-8 but a YEKINDAR 1v3 on the B site saw Liquid keep their lead. Liquid ran away on the CT half as they posted map point at 15-9 but BIG fought back through a couple of Krimbo and s1n multi-kill rounds to 13-15. Liquid eventually managed to close the map at 16-13 and it was YEKINDAR on top of the scoreboard with 27 kills which included a couple of crucial clutches.
Mirage was Liquid's pick as it was the Germans starting on the CT side. A s1n triple from short saw BIG shut down a Liquid B hit to pick up the opening ground. A Krimbo 1v1 against YEKINDAR on the B site in the first gun round saw BIG go 3-0 up. A Patsi triple on an upgraded pistol buy from Liquid saw them put up their first round and tied the game at 3-3. The teams kept trading rounds but it was a NAF 1v2 to put Liquid on six. BIG replied on deagles and then a prosus double including an opener in Palace saw BIG tie the game at 6-6. YEKINDAR came in with another 1v2 on the A site post plant to put Liquid on eight and they ended the half with a 8-7 lead as S3NSEY and tabseN came in with a full house to close out the half.
Liquid picked up the second pistol and then went on a five round streak before BIG got their first T round thanks to a S3NSEY 1v2. NAF replied immediately with a 1v2 of his own to put Liquid on 14. BIG, just like on Vertigo, weren't going down easily and pulled six in a row to tie up the game at 14-14. A S3NSEY double put BIG on map point but an oSee FAMAS double from Ticket Booth saw Liquid take the match to overtime.
Source: ESL
A quick shut down from Patsi and YEKINDAR saw Liquid take the first round of overtime but it was BIG who ended the first half with a 17-16 lead as tabseN ended the half with an ace, helping his team convert a 3v5. S3NSEY's AWP double from Market put BIG on map point again but unlike regulation, they managed to close it out this time at 19-17.
The final map was Overpass and starting on the CT side it was an early 2-0 lead for Liquid before BIG put up their opening round. Liquid kept the rounds coming and quad kills from YEKINDAR and Patsi saw Liquid win out the half at 8-2. A tabseN 1v2 saw BIG gain some momentum at the end of the half with Liquid taking a 10-5 lead.
Liquid took the second pistol as well and were 13-5 up before both sides brought out the guns. A NAF quad put Liquid on 14 and closed the map at 16-9. It was YEKINDAR leading from the front as he ended Overpass with 28 kills, on top of the scoreboard.
LiquidBIG| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
80 - 56 | +24 | 92.8 | 74.4% | 1.39 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
70 - 51 | +19 | 83.9 | 76.7% | 1.28 |
 Robert 'Patsi' Isyanov |
68 - 63 | +5 | 81.2 | 61.1% | 1.08 |
 Aleks 'Rainwaker' Petrov |
49 - 56 | -7 | 63.8 | 74.4% | 0.95 |
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
53 - 54 | -1 | 62.2 | 66.7% | 0.95 |
| BIG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Elias 's1n' Stein |
60 - 65 | -5 | 77.3 | 77.8% | 1.07 |
| Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa |
64 - 63 | +1 | 73.9 | 67.8% | 1.00 |
 Efekan 'S3NSEY' Topaloglu |
50 - 55 | -5 | 57.7 | 65.6% | 0.92 |
| Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz |
49 - 67 | -18 | 70.4 | 67.8% | 0.91 |
| David 'prosus' Hesse |
56 - 70 | -14 | 68.2 | 62.2% | 0.88 |
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