Historical comeback powers Liquid domination

One of the most exciting matches we have seen in a while was set to take place between Liquid and Vitality, the team that denied the Americans the crown at ESL Pro League Season 16. Liquid want their revenge, while Vitality want to make a mark on their first LAN appearance in the Spodek in the team's history.

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The match started out on Overpass, where things went immediately sour for Liquid as they found themselves in a 0-12 hole. There is only a record of one team ever coming back from being down 0-12 on the T-side of Overpass to win the game. Liquid had history stacked against them, but you already know how this story goes.

Round after round, bit by bit, Liquid held strong as Joshua "oSee" Ohm silenced his doubters as he and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski powered his team to an incredible comeback after losing the first half 13-2. Liquid would eventually go down to 10-15, but they would not be stopped as they eventually recovered and secured Overtime. In Overtime, Liquid continued their momentum to win the map 19-17 and take home an incredibly valuable first map.

Also read: T.c on Grim: "[Liquid] forced a system upon him that wasn't meant for him"

Moving to Nuke, this was once against all about Vitality as the French were strong offensively and Liquid looked extremely awkward throughout — which included one botched post-plant where the Americans thought it was at a completely different site. Whoops! Vitality took the first half 9-6.

I would like to say that Liquid were able to make another comeback like they did on Overpass, but that's not what happened. Liquid just didn't have it in them to steal away Vitality's pick, so they ended up losing the second map 16-7.

Liquid would now finally go back to one of their home maps, Mirage. It was here that Liquid would be more comfortable, and it was here that Liquid would need to do everything possible for a chance at the semifinals. Opening up on their T-side, Liquid were hot right out of the gate as they dominated the French en route to a 9-6 first half.

While the second half got off too slow, it was easy for Liquid to get back into the game as they would provide a staunch defense against the French as they cruised to a 16-12 map win to secure a semifinals appearance.

IEM Katowice 2023

Bo3

Liquid

2 - 1

Vitality

All maps

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.0
Keith 'NAF' Markovic	59 - 53	+6	80.2	72.4%	1.14
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski	65 - 63	+2	78.2	60.9%	1.03
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis	51 - 64	-13	77.7	62.1%	0.96
Josh 'oSee' Ohm	50 - 55	-5	66.3	65.5%	0.93
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella	48 - 57	-9	53.3	67.8%	0.85

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.0
Emil 'Magisk' Reif	64 - 54	+10	78.2	75.9%	1.20
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi	66 - 51	+15	78.2	72.4%	1.16
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut	65 - 57	+8	82.7	73.6%	1.16
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire	47 - 55	-8	60.9	73.6%	0.93
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen	49 - 57	-8	71.2	69.0%	0.92